 number 1012
---------------------
week 52 ---------------------
Vital Weekly, the webcast: we offering a weekly webcast,
freely to download. This can be regarded as the audio-supplement to
Vital Weekly. Presented as a radioprogramm with excerpts of just some
of the CDs (no vinyl or MP3) reviewed. It will remain on the site for a
limited period (most likely 2-4 weeks). Download the file to
your MP3 player and enjoy! Listen to the podcast on Mixcloud! before submitting material please read this carefully: http://www.vitalweekly.net/fga.html Submitting material means you read this and approve of this.
DENEUVE - UGLY (CD by Blowpipe) * MULLER - WORKERS (CD by Comfortzone) * SILK SAW - IMAGINARY LANDSCAPES (CD by Kotä) * THE BALUSTRADE ENSEMBLE - RENEWED BRILLIANCE (CD by Serein) * RANT – MARGO FLUX (CD by Schraum) POST OFFICE – THE MARYLEBONE GREENWAVE (CD by Minority Records) ELEPHANT9 WITH REINE FISKE – SILVER MOUNTAIN (CD by Rune Grammofon) ESPEN ERIKSEN TRIO – NEVER ENDING JANUARY (CD by Rune Grammofon) ZENIAL - MINOTAUR (LP by Zoharum) GX JUPITTER-LARSEN & ACE FARREN FORD/LE SCRAMBLED DEBUTANTE FEAT. EMERGE (split LP by Attenuation Circuit) THE NORDIC SOUND ART (compilation LP by Nordic Sound Art) THE NORDIC SOUND ART (compilation cassette by Nordic Sound Art) JLIAT - DECEMBER 7 AFTERNOON (CDR by Jliat) * CREVER – CRVR (CDR by Crever) DAMIAN BISCIGLIA AND FRIENDS - VOLUME ONE: THE 1980S (CDR by Ri Be Xibalba) * DAMIAN BISCIGLIA AND FRIENDS - VOLUME ONE: THE 1990S (CDR by Ri Be Xibalba) * PHAERENTZ - AUTOFINGER (CDR by Phaerlag) * SLOW SLOW LORIS (cassette by Staaltape) DENEUVE - UGLY (CD by Blowpipe) Sometimes I think I am on a repeat mission. That I am re-writing the same bit of information over and over. Sometimes it is because releases are sparse, such as in the case of Deneuve, or as they prefer it deNeuve, and re-introductions seem necessary. They being Andre Bach and Marc Tegefoss, who have been together for some thirty-five years now. First they were part of Tox Modell, then Tecnoville (together with musicians from Dutch punk band Workmates) and for a long time known as Det Wiehl. In those years (roughly 1985 until 2010) they more and more concentrated on creating music for theatre and dance performances, and a lot less on releasing music or in fact playing this music live. As Det Wiehl their music was mostly abstract but recently Bach and Tegefoss also had the urge to play something that was more song based; pop if you will, but this is still quite far off. Anyway, much of this you knew from the previous reviews (Vital Weekly 831 and 923) of course, nonetheless there you have it (again). Now back in the day I was a huge fan of Tox Modell and to some extent also of Det Wiehl, dismissing Tecnoville as too punky for my taste (back then). These days I am open to anything really and I see no objection to allowing a song structure here and there. So I was already quite pleased with their first two releases from the new guise, but this twelve-track album is absolutely excellent. I really am clueless why this is called 'Ugly' as it comes with a great fold out leporello (144 cm!) booklet and digipack, and the music is awesome. The music has very little to do with their earlier work as Det Wiehl and all the more with Tox Modell and Tecnoville. Rhythm is for one something both these earlier bands used; Tox Modell via repeating guitar patterns (they had no drummer) while Tecnoville (and, come to think of it, the short-lived Scratch, of which Bach and Tegefoss were also part in the early 80s) were their most conventional bands, including a drummer. With deNeuve the rhythm comes out of a box, and it hammers away mechanically, playing at times almost techno based 4/4 rhythms. To that Bach and Tegefoss add their trademark guitar sound: full of feedback and distortion, howling nicely about, but unlike Tox Modell, pushed to the background, forming a wall of sound. Also new is the addition of sampled voices, which I think are sampled from movies, such as '2001' and 'All Quiet On The Western Front' - song titles are indications in that respect. Quite rocky, quite dancy, but above all: great music. These are songs by mature (older!) man, so it's very unlikely they will score a big hit out of this, but I can easily see a great video, sampled from those movie influences to go a long and making some novelty thing out of this. I believe deNeuve will start playing live as of next year, so it would be good to see that. I have no idea if their music could easily be translated to the stage, but they should really do and make sure their music is heard to a wider audience. The funniest piece, for me at least, was '1980 Anger', in which they 'remix' Tox Modell 'Numbers Two' (I think!), including the feedback guitars, Xavier Martin's super angry vocals but set to a fast almost gabber like rhythm. That said, this isn't about fun as such, but this ain't 1980 no more: you can't be angry all the time. Excellent release, and hopefully something that will pick up more audience. (FdW) Address: http://www.blowpipe.org MULLER - WORKERS (CD by Comfortzone) There was once a time that Oval was a band with a massive influence. Their broken CD sound provided glitch music, skipping and bouncing with 'wrong' sounds, which certainly on their second and third CD found it's peak. It has been a copied a lot since then, hardly surpassed by at best applied and incorporated in other musical forms. Lots of the copyists missed out on the musical edge of the first Oval records, maybe including Oval themselves on the works that came after that, all ambient or noise and no longer pop sensitive (that is altogether a different story). Ryuta Mizkami, who works occasionally with Yui Onodera, but solo as Mulllr took up the Oval inspired cut-up sound, no doubt these days something that is a plug-in or a max/msp patch, but not only lacks the pop sensibility, the melodic touch, it lacks also ideas and composition. Here we have twenty-one tracks/songs, some quite short, which essentially all sound the same: chopping up techno beats into break core beats, laced with delay pedals and ambient textures, randomly dispersed all over this. Everything gets the same treatment, nothing is different or standing out. It would seem that much of this was generated in the one hour this album lasts. Put up some track markers here and there and sell it as a twenty-one-track album. I have no idea why I am playing this for a second time and thinking about it. This is no good at all. (FdW) Address: http://comfortzonemusic.com SILK SAW - IMAGINARY LANDSCAPES (CD by Kotä) It's been nine years of silence since we last heard from Silk Saw, a duo of Marc Medea and Gabriel Severin, from Brussels. I have no idea why things were quiet for such a long time. I must also admit I never heard much of their music, even when this is their 11th album. Their last CD, '8 Reports' was released by Ant-Zen Recording, and reviewed by NM. I must have heard their earliest work by Sub Rosa in the years I worked in a record store, but it didn't leave a lasting impression. One could think 'Imaginary Landscapes' is a tribute to John Cage, and maybe it is, but then it's not to be heard. It's probably also my introduction to their sample heavy music. In the middle of everything they do is rhythm, which is partly owing to the world of techno and part-time more drum & bass. I am not a big fan of the latter genre, but what Silk Saw does is not something that is very strict in the drum & bass department, plus they add a bunch of different instruments all together: guitars, a piano, some voice material, string instruments and such like. Throughout these eight pieces, clocking in at one hour, there is a strong cinematic approach and it's not a bright movie they show us. Overall I thought the mood was quite depressing, such as in the opening piece 'Lonely Planet', with its dark string section, beats that sound like pouring rain and insect sounds from a synthesizer or two. Big city speed comes in 'Torment For Some People Is A Need' (see: no fun!) or slowed techno stomping in both part of 'The Decision To Exist'. I wasn't in a particular good mood this morning and you would expect grim music like this to be even more depressing, but that didn't happen. There is now a bit of sunshine outside, neatly warm inside and the darkness of Silk Saw effectively lifted the mood quite a bit. Quite an excellent first impression, or maybe that should be: a re-acquaintance? (FdW) Address: http://kotaerecords.com THE BALUSTRADE ENSEMBLE - RENEWED BRILLIANCE (CD by Serein) After I played this the first time round, I started reading the press text and looking at the cover. Upon first hearing I expected this to be a solo project from someone who enjoyed calling himself 'an ensemble'; people do like that sometimes. It sounded, again, upon first hearing a guy with a guitar and a bunch of sound effects, or perhaps sound-processing using max/mps, stretching out these guitars. But lo and behold, this is an ensemble indeed, led by composer and guitarist Grant Miller, also including Liam Singer on piano and organ, Wendy Allen on voice, Erik Friedlander on cello, Monika Warchol on French Horn, Zeena parkins on harp and there are credits for 'vintage manuals' (which are orchestron, mellotron and dulcitone) by Matt Henry Cunitz while there is an important role for Scott Miller, for recording, mixing and 'tinted vapors'. Upon a second (third, fourth; I like to obscure such facts) listening I started to hear all of these instruments, especially as the CD continues to play (and evolve). There is a sensitive modern classical sound to this music; not academic, serial or whatever goes in the official classical world, but these songs (are they called songs?) are quite dreamlike and introspective pieces of music. What's even more curious is the fact that most of these pieces are rather short and to the point. Something between just under the three minutes and just over four minutes. This is music to dream by, sleep by, meditate by but it also functions very well as music requiring your full attention. You can sit and listen and notice all the finer nuances this music has. Maybe some of the melodies are a bit tacky (such as the opening notes of 'Aerial Verandis', bordering close to the world of new age), but there is also some nasty sounds thrown, towards the end of 'Processionary' for instance, in order to keep this balance right, even when the overall spirit of the album is atmospheric. Great music for a cold winter's day! (FdW) Address: http://www.serein.co.uk RANT – MARGO FLUX (CD by Schraum) Rant is a duo of Merle Bennett and Torsten Papenheim. They released three albums on Schraum: ‘Seumsund/Sundseum’(2004), ‘A Direct Sensuous Pleasure’(2006) and ‘Land’ (2011). So these two musicians know each other very well and enjoy making a statementfrom time to timer. Yes, they have created their very own little musical universe that is worthwhile visiting. As a composer Papenheim produced works for several ensembles. As a performer he often plays solo, but he is also busy with his ensemble Tru Cargo Service. Bennett comes from Hamburg. Moving to Berlin she studied Jazz and Popular Music, and worked for a long time with a modern dance ensemble. Pop she plays with the band Eric and Me. With her duo Rant she is more into unusual instrumental music as this new release proves. Influences of pop, improv and minimal music can easily be detected. They play amplified cymbals and drums, bells, bottles, dictaphone, guitars, drum set, inside piano, minidisc recorder, piano, zither. Contrast is a word that describes their music well. In each track they chose for a different sound, although dominated by guitar and percussion. Also the tracks differ a lot in structure. What they have in common is that the music is always stripped down to its essence, and transparently recorded. Each piece breaths a sympathetic simplicity. Their music sounds fresh and engaging, and has a positive, sometimes even childlike, atmosphere. (DM) Address: http://www.schraum.de POST OFFICE – THE MARYLEBONE GREENWAVE (CD by Minority Records) This one is already some time on my desk. A difficult one. A line up of seventeen musicians is at work in this typical English work. The ensemble Post Office invites us for a trip that lasts about 65 minutes. Music that is closely related to UK progrock tradition. Eddie Stevens and Daniel Darriba are the central forces as they wrote and produced this album. Stevens worked with Freakpower, Fat Boy Slim, a.o. Together with Darriba he worked with Irish singer Róisin Murphy, Moloko, and recently with Danny Valentine & The Meditations. So both have a background in pop. With ´The Marylebone Greenwave´ they debut with their own project. A very ambitious one. The title of this concept album refers to a London myth ´where taxi drivers try to drive through King's Cross to the Marylebone flyover in one attempt, without stopping at any red traffic lights`. Performance, arrangements and production are absolutely top and very professional. But the music somehow fails to make any impression on me. Too many clichés. Can´t relate it to the here and none of my musical tastes. So I might me the wrong guy to review this one. (DM) Address: http://www.minorityrecords.com ELEPHANT9 WITH REINE FISKE – SILVER MOUNTAIN (CD by Rune Grammofon) ESPEN ERIKSEN TRIO – NEVER ENDING JANUARY (CD by Rune Grammofon) Elephant 9. What a band. What a players! Gorgeous. Their progrock inspired music is very convincing in some aspects and for sure very powerful. Especially the first track ‘Occidentali’ appealed to me. In the other tracks I found myself asking what are they heading at. They seem to lose focus and just keep going on for some reason. The weak spot is that their compositions don’t have that much to offer. Srlokken plays old keyboards and synths (mellotron, fender, Hammond, minimoog, etc). It is a tribute to these ´old´ instruments. If you love their sound, this one is for you. But also the guitars played by Reine Fiske are impressive as is the intensive drum work by Torstein Lofthus. Nicolai Haengsle completes the crew playing mainly bass. Elephant 9 are around since 2006 and are not to be missed live on stage I think. Must be a joy to lose oneself in their spun out instrumental wanderings, as part of the audience. This is neo-progressive music of a highly technically advanced level. But personally I hope to experience more necessity in their structures next time. The Espen Eriksen Trio bring us to other territories. Melancholic, jazz-oriented music is what they offer on their third release, demonstrated in eight well-defined compositions by the hand of Eriksen. Pianist Espen Eriksen has a background in jazz and pop. Lars Tormod Jenset plays bass, also in other Scandinavian projects like of Hot n Spicy, Bendik Giske Kvintett and Rodent. Andreas Bye is a much asked drummer and worked with Bugge Wesseltoft, John Scofield, Joshua Redman, among others. As a trio they exist since 2007. Eriksen plays his piano with an elegant touch. Bass and drums complete the sound of this trio that focuses on accessible, introspective instrumental music where harmony, melody are important. No avant-garde manoeuvres here. But music of a quiet and balanced nature, that will bring your mind to peace. (DM) Addresss: http://www.runegrammofon.com ZENIAL - MINOTAUR (LP by Zoharum) Luksz Szalankiewicz' project Zenial has been going for quite some years now and in the last years it has been mostly by the Zoharum label. Much of the material on his latest LP 'Minotaur' has been recorded at Stockholm's EMS studios, where one can find analogue beauties such as a Bucla and Serge synthesizers. It's a place where people usually tape a bunch of sounds to take home, and use it there to create new compositions. Judging by the sound of the new Zenial record, that's also something he did. He samples the sounds of those synthesizers, and adds field recordings and EVPs (not that I heard that a lot in here; they are probably heavily transformed). There is also a DVD of films to each of these pieces, by such artists as Władysława Szulca and Mariana Kraczkowskiego. I haven't seen that DVD, so I can't comment there. The music is quite what we expect from Zenial: a deep electronic sound, with lots of dynamics going. The drone plays an important role in this music, but Zenial has quite a vibrant sound. Sounds move in and out of the mix, maintaining an excellent level of tension throughout these seven pieces. One could say this is dark ambient music, but there is more happening than just that. As easily it refers to modern electronica, but lacks, thankfully the notion of being academic. The music is quite intense, but also cinematic; one could easily envisage a horror movie to go along with these pieces. In the opening (title-) piece I was taken off guard by the sound of running water, and thought my heating system was breaking down. It's this sort of use of sounds that make this into quite a powerful record. Maybe this is his most powerful statement to this date? If you like your music to be all dark, electronic, at times to be ambient, but also maybe a bit more industrial, then this one surely is worth your time. (FdW) Address: http://zoharum.com/ GX JUPITTER-LARSEN & ACE FARREN FORD/LE SCRAMBLED DEBUTANTE FEAT. EMERGE (split LP by Attenuation Circuit) Both sides were created by way of collaborations. I started with the side that is credited to Le Scrambled Debutante feat. EMERGE (i.e. the band behind the label). Behind Le Scrambled Debutante we find Allan Zane and a rotating cast of musicians such as (in this particular case) Kimathi Moore and Ms La-Dee-Dada & Her Pet Eye Ov Tomato, plus sound input by Emerge. There have been various releases by the Debutante by Attenuation Circuit before, which I quite enjoyed. I have no idea how they generate their music, even when I can wildly speculate about that. One of my favourite theories is that they have an ancient 8-track reel-to-reel machine which they load up with sounds, spinning the speed control freely when recording, and when it comes to mixing this down, they take mixing inspirations from The Beatles and Nurse With Wound, and probably also a similar diet of hallucinatory drugs. A hit or miss, and I always like the more or less free aspect of the music. Here on 'Electric Jackass' it is not always a hit, I must say. It's quite loose on the compositional aspect, as expected, but it also seems a bit too 'easy' for me. The bit of drum & bass cut-up at the end of the piece just doesn't have it; other parts before that work better, but overall it is a bit thin, this collage of sound. More sounds, more layers are required; make it more trippy guys. The big surprise is on the other side where we see Haters frontman GX Jupitter- Larsen work with Ace Farren Ford, of Smegma fame, but also known for his work with The Los Angeles Free Music Society, The Mystery Band, The South Pasadena Free Music Ensemble, Super Heroines and The Child Molesters. Previously I was aware of his work with Jupitter-Larsen and The New Blockaders (see Vital Weekly 991), but don't know much of his other work. Their piece 'Vertigone' also fills up the entire side of the record but it's not the blast of noise one would probably expect. I never know what the difference is between Jupitter-Larsen when he works under his own name versus his work as The Haters, or what in fact Ford's part is here, but this is a twenty-minute drone piece that holds a firm middle ground, frequency-wise, and below there are some darker frequencies happening, which are also a bit more muddy and mildly distorted. It works however very fine here, the cleaner mid-high and the muddy low mid creating some excellent piece of drone music. Think perhaps Phill Niblock but much cruder or Alvin Lucier testing out his sine waves, but fine-tuning them as he is already recording them. This is a piece I enjoyed very much and wished was a bit longer than the side of a LP. Quite a surprise; maybe the virtue of getting older is that noise isn't always necessary. Maybe it's time to move on and do more of this? (FdW) Address: http://attenuationcircuit.de JLIAT - DECEMBER 7 AFTERNOON (CDR by Jliat) "Are you sure this is the same Jliat?" When I worked in a record store I managed to sell the very first releases by Jliat to one of those lovers of drone/ambient/ cosmic music lovers that was one of our best customers, but once Jliat started to poke his nose into counting bitrates and thinking about digital silence, this customer's love affair was cut short. I am pretty sure he never returned as I do occasionally speak this gentle older man and never again Jliat is mentioned. He might surely not have liked those harsh noise wall releases or the conceptual releases, but all the same he might be interested in 'Days', which is apparently a new series of works by Jliat, returning to the world of drone music. All of this was recorded in real time, using equipment by Nord, Yamaha, Roland, Boss and Korg, looping and delaying the material, taking in account the work of messrs Fripp, Eno and Riley. These are limited to twenty copies and while creating the music on an endless sustain, the twenty covers are hand drawn (and there is a free download on soundcloud possible). This sounds like a project that Jliat could do for some time to come. This brings back happy memories of '16:05:94', 'The Dancing Horse' or 'The Ocean of Infinite Being': one long form synthesizer piece, with everything on 'endless sustain', creating beautiful overtones, slowly mingling together. Upon the surface nothing much seems to be changing, and perhaps one is not required to 'listen' as actively as one would perhaps do with any other piece of music; maybe one is to 'undergo' this rather than actively listen. But even when listened to closely this offers enough small changes to enjoy this. I was cooking dinner, reading a bit and simply enjoying this as it was. That is sometimes the best. On Jliat's website one can find a short video clip from that very afternoon this was created; if I would post a video of the day this review was written it would be very much alike. That probably ties it all together. A great return to something old. (FdW) Address: http://www.jliat.com/ CREVER – CRVR (CDR by Crever) Crever is a project of the Dutch musician Joey Beentjes and exists since 2011. The album “Venus in White” was his first release in 2012 at Het Donkse Oog. Crever has been influenced by the sound of machines and industrial music from the eighties. CRVR is a CD-R of about 17 minutes and consists of three tracks. “N250” is a ongoing edited industrial and minimal beat. There is hardly any development in the sounds and that’s the strength of this composition. “Husslage” starts with a flowing pulsating noise with some minimal rhythms in the background. Some layers are added and the track becomes more and more intense. The last track “E” is a more abstract dark ambient track and has some more experimental moments. CRVR is a beautiful follow-up of the first two albums and Crever is a master in creating a maximum result with a minimum of sounds, especially in the first two tracks. (JKH) Address: http://crever-industrialnoise.blogspot.nl/ DAMIAN BISCIGLIA AND FRIENDS - VOLUME ONE: THE 1980S (CDR by Ri Be Xibalba) DAMIAN BISCIGLIA AND FRIENDS - VOLUME ONE: THE 1990S (CDR by Ri Be Xibalba) Ri Be Xibalba? Isn't that the current guise of Anomalous Records, once a mighty mail-order, and slightly less successful label, and these days still selling old stock and occasionally releasing a piece of vinyl by the likes of Sun City Girls and The No-Neck Blues Band? I must admit I gave up following all of this some time ago, mainly because I am not a big fan thereof and maybe I thought there was an element of snobism in the releases, very limited, arty and no doubt (a bit) more expensive. So much to my surprise then I received these two CDRs, which I would assume a label like Ri Be Xibalba would think as a highly inferior medium, with music by Damian Bisciglia, whom you may also know as Agog. From the mid-80s to 2004 he released a handful of cassettes and a CDR, and also had two releases under his own name. He was also a member of Points Of Friction. In December 2012 he took his own life. I must admit I never heard a lot of his output, as certainly in the 80s there was so much to hear and evidently so much you'd miss out upon, so I hardly have an idea what his music was about. On these two CDRs we find stuff from two decades of music, recorded with friends such as J. Alexander, T. Alexander, Rick Potts, Adam Bohman and others. However the majority of the pieces are solo pieces. Only for one piece on Volume Two there is an indication towards instruments used, but not for the other pieces on both discs, unless, also on the second disc, the title of pieces give away something: 'Guitar Stuff', 'Guitar Improv' or 'More Turntables, Etc'. There is one piece that is credited to Points Of Friction. A large on the first disc is for 'The Gods Speak January 1981', an early piece of six people and a bunch of microphones, using mainly the mouths to make wordless sound poetry before exploring the living room with a bunch of sticks: one large percussion instrument, with more burping going round than strictly necessary. For it's time, 1981, surely a radical piece of sound art/voice poetry/non music. This is followed by the Points Of Friction piece, which uses improvised electronics. Then there are four short pieces of acoustic sound treatments, which are not bad, but maybe a bit too haphazard. I prefer the two longer on this disc, which combine the banging around the house, wordless sound poetry with a bit of electronics. Especially 'Dinosaurs With Horns' (together with Jeannie Cohen and Rick Potts) is a very fine piece in that respect. The second disc had more musical variation to it. Not just the 'living room' music approach of the other disc, but also pieces that deal with turntable abuse, 'multi-tracked zither, etc' and more extensive improvisations with others. Whereas the '1980s' disc seems to be more a statement of 'non music, any sound goes' and that sort of Cageian approaches, the '1990s' disc is more a matured disc of experiments that make up music people find more easily to identify with in terms of engaging experimental music. It's good to see some of Damian Bisciglia's music become available again. (FdW) Address: http://www.ribexibalba.com/ Note!: I am asked to point that the Ri Be Xibalba label as run by Eric Lanzillotta has nothing to do with these releases, and it's unclear where they originate from. We at Vital Weekly also don't know where they are from. PHAERENTZ - AUTOFINGER (CDR by Phaerlag) It's been quite a while since I heard 'III' by Petr Ferenc, who calls himself Phaerentz when it comes to doing music (see Vital Weekly 925). Besides being a promoter (Stimul Festival, Wakushoppu concert series) and journalist (HIS voice magazine), he's also part of Birds Build Nests Underground, Radio Royal, Z Veseleho Sveta, Prkvoj, MCH Band, PPPP, Biokovo. Back then he had a one-sided cassette, now he has a single piece that lasts forty-nine minutes on a CDR. This work was recorded in various places and that is something one can hear. The piece has three sections and slowly crossfade into each other. It opens with a twenty-minute section of electronic sounds and some highly obscure field recordings, mingled together. These could be synthesizer tones, but just as well something processed from those field recordings. The middle part is a loop of percussive sounds, very slow and shifting from left to right in the stereo spectrum, growing slowly in intensity. Gradually a piano sound is added, in similar slow-motion, but it takes over from the percussive sounds and becomes the third piece. The piano is played, chord by chord, slowly with spacing in between, and here to the most curious kind of sound processing is going on, like there is something burning (maybe the piano, I was thinking). Phaerentz' music is, as before, quite slow and sometimes a bit too slow, I think. Especially the opening part is quite long but does not necessarily stay interesting for all this time, or it doesn't captivate enough to be hallucinating. In that respect some of this work needs a bit of re-thinking, but the sounds he uses are quite good; all of this has the potential to grow and bloom further. (FdW) Address: http://phaerentz.bandcamp.com SLOW SLOW LORIS (cassette by Staaltape) On Staaltape something is a somewhat bigger edition this time: fifty copies. There is an A6 sized booklet, partly full colour and the cassette all wrapped up in a magazine with lots of tape. Behind Slow Slow Loris we find Angie Yeowell, who was a ballerina, who lived in Ostrava (Czech Republic), Prague, Amsterdam and New York. After leaving the world of ballet she went on to live with Buddhist beatniks in Colorado and once that ended she started to play music. Yeowell recorded ‘From Monster Till Morning’ with her partner Robert Heim in Berlin. There are no instruments mentioned on the cover, but judging by the music there is all electronic set up; a few synthesizers, all connected to each other, so that everything remains in sync, and on top there is Yeowell's voice. There is a fine element of repetition in this music; a cold and clinical bang, reminding this listener of the cassettes he heard in the 80s. Slow Slow Loris is an ancestor to that old school industrial sound. I was thinking of the Inner-X label and all those offshoots of Sleep Chamber (and curious enough perhaps not a lot of Sleep Chamber themselves). I am not sure if the lyrics had any significance, but if they did I must admit I found them hard to understand. Having said that (I shamefully also admit I never listen to lyrics that much anyway), I quite enjoyed this dark synth-heavy industrial pop noir. It along the lines of many current dark-wave acts, except that Slow Slow Loris still sounds old-fashioned, with their analogue synthesizers in what sounds like a basement studio. Powerful! (FdW) Address: http://staaltape.wordpress.com/ • Vital Weekly is published by Frans de Waard and submitted for free to anybody with an e-mail address. If you don't wish to receive this, then let us know. Any feedback is welcome <vital@vitalweekly.net>. Forward to your allies. Snail mail: Vital Weekly/Frans de Waard Acaciastraat 11 6521 NE Nijmegen The Netherlands All written by Frans de Waard (FdW), Dolf Mulder (DM) <dolf.mulder@hetnet.nl>, Niels Mark (NM), Jliat (Jliat), Freek Kinkelaar (FK), Jan-Kees Helms (JKH), Michael Tau (MT), Peter Johan Nijland (PJN) and others on a less regular basis. This is a copyright free publication, except where indicated, in which case permission has to be obtained from the respective author before reprinting any, or all of the desired text. The author has to be credited, and Vital Weekly has to be acknowledged at all times if any texts are used from it. The complete archive of Vital Weekly including search possibilities: http://www.vitalweekly.net • |