number 1100
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week 40 ---------------------
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CHIHEI HATAKEYAMA & FEDERICO DURAND - SORA (CD by White Paddy Mountain) * TAMARU & CHIHEI HATAKEYAMA - LUNAR ECLIPSE (CD by White Paddy Mountain) * FRANS DE WAARD - HOT AUGUST NIGHT (CD by White Paddy Mountain) * LUDOVIC MEDERY - EMERGENCES (CD by Unfathomless) * LA BARACANDE – SAME (CD by La Novia) NAOMI BERRILL - FROM THE GROUND (CD by Ethnorth Gallery) AKMEE – NEPTUN (CD by Nakama Records) SIROM - I CAN BE A CLAY SNAPPER (CD by Tak:til) BIRGIT ULHER - MATTER MATTERS (CD by Hideous Replica) * SUM OF R - ORGA (CD by Cyclic Law) * PROJECT VAINIOLLA - NOCTURNAL (CD, private) MIRT & TER - WHERE ARE YOU (LP by Monotype Records) THOMAS DIMUZIO & ALAN COURTIS - MONK STYLE OR SCREAM (LP by Monotype Records) LEIF BRUSH - STITCHING IN PROCESS: WINDMIXED DATA (2LP by Pentiments) DARREN MCCLURE - NATURE MIRROR (CDR by Glistening Examples) * JODA CLEMENT - TIME + PLACE (CDR by Glistening Examples) * WILDER GONZALES AGREDA - PARAÍSOS, REVOLUCIONES Y TÚ (CDR by Super Space Records) * ISHISHCHA - NA (CDR by Super Space Records) * GRIER EDWARD CARSON - DAWN MORNING MID DAY SUN AFTERNOON EVENING DAY IS DONE (CDR by Recycling Recordings) * UBIQUE - SHINING (CDR by Recycling Recordings) * PETER WULLEN IN THE KATJA INSTITUTE - FINE TUNED WOOD (CDR, private) * THE SOMMES ENSEMBLE – HEEL FLIPPER (cassette by Small Scale Music) DESTRUCTION DES ANIMAUX NUISIBLES/MIGUEL SOUTO (split cassette by Attenuation Circuit) CHIHEI HATAKEYAMA & FEDERICO DURAND - SORA (CD by White Paddy Mountain) TAMARU & CHIHEI HATAKEYAMA - LUNAR ECLIPSE (CD by White Paddy Mountain) FRANS DE WAARD - HOT AUGUST NIGHT (CD by White Paddy Mountain) More current releases from the White Paddy Mountain label (see also last week) and this time we have two that contain the music of label boss Chihei Hatakeyama, and both are in collaboration with somebody else. On the first album he works with Federico Durand, and I think I only see his work in connection with Japanese labels and musicians, so I was wondering if he is already honorary citizen of that country. ’Sora’ means ‘sky’ in Japanese and it is his second collaboration with Chihei Hatakeyama, following ‘Magical Imaginary Child’ (see Vital Weekly 995). This was made through file exchange on the digital highway, so Durand is probably still in Argentina. At the core is a ’simple analogue synth tone’ and that is processed with “a modular synth, an effector, a cassette tape etc.” The label compares this to the music of William Basinski and it is not difficult to see why that is. A certain decaying sound takes place, perhaps not as literal as with Basinski, but the gliding scales and descending notes of longer sustaining blocks of sound work quite well, in which sometimes there is the sound of crackle, percussive bits or an additional layer of hiss to be heard; and sometimes it’s nothing else than just the intertwining of sound waves. Sometimes when I hear music like this in concert it seems that an overwhelming volume is deemed necessary, and it’s not said that these two gentlemen do that, but when I am playing this kind of music at home I always wonder which is the ‘right’ volume for playback. ‘Right’ meaning of course whatever feels ‘right’ for the listener, but sitting at home here and listening I would think that a somewhat softer volume worked best for me. Let the music play a more organic role in my space, and be part of the living room. The five pieces by Hatakeyama and Durand are quite an interesting mixture of approaches. From the hissy textures of ‘Kisa’ to the processed piano of ‘Ilse’ or the percussive nature of ‘Luisa’, this works entirely very well, and there is hardly a repeat in idea or approach. The second collaboration is with Tamaru, a name we didn’t see in Vital Weekly since issue 673, when I reviewed his ‘Figure’ CD on Trumn. He was also involved in the Silver World label, and plays the bass. Here it is said he also released on Zero Gravity and that he has his own labels, 1040 and 1050. “Lunar Eclipse’ is the first collaboration between Tamaru and Hatakeyama and it is inspired by ’temporal change of harmonic overtone and light frequency’, and has electric bass and electric guitar. Obviously, I’d say, the music is very atmospheric, again, very moody and shimmering darkly. The electric guitar sounds like a steel guitar from time to time, like rain drops on a metal plate, before moving over into another piece of slow sustaining sounds, where the guitar and bass sound like this endless glacial landscape. It is these metallic sounds that give these pieces that little bit of edge, the ringing tone, whatever it takes to keep it out of the book of new age music, which it might become it was just these ambient washes. (FdW) The third new White Paddy Mountain release features Frans de Waard. Hot August Night exemplifies his most restrained, minimal and emotional work. Conceived and executed of the course of several months in “a period of personal sadness”, as De Waard himself states, while his mother was terminally ill, the long drawn gestures of twinkling piano and slowly moving sounds that resemble bowed percussion and shimmering chimes, invoke notions of (longing for) the ease and peace of zen gardens or breezily drifting clouds. This major repetitive work with the subtlest of developments might in itself already be an antidote to turmoil; constructing it as much as listening. A safe harbour too, extrapolated from the highly personal out towards the all and everyone in dire need of some peace, quiet and air to breathe: windows drawn open, again. Hot August Night doesn't project sentiments of loss or sadness, but – instead – quietly proclaims and supports a sense of aural belonging and comfort, via passing gusts of thin air caressing unconditionally. A lovely quite loving piece of work that hits home hard like a ton of bricks, while maintaining the lightest of feathery touches. (SSK) ––– Address: http://whitepaddymountain.tumblr.com/ LUDOVIC MEDERY - EMERGENCES (CD by Unfathomless) As I didn’t recall hearing this name before I looked it up on Discogs and of the sixteen albums Ludovic Medery released so far, fifteen are released by himself, two of them being a twelve CDR set and the rest digital. The sixteenth album is ‘eMERgences’, released by Unfathomless. The Discogs entry he made himself, so it seems: “My name is Ludovic Medery. I am a sound artist and a social worker. I practice music and composition for about 15 years. I am interested in all the sounds of the world. I also practice free improvisation on upright bass and with an electronics devices composed of tape recorders and various microphones”. The music on ‘eMERgences’ he recorded in Normandy, near the sea; hence the highlight of MER, the French word for sea. Recordings were made during a period of seven days, both during the day as well as night. The result is rather short as there is only one piece that last thirty minutes and eight seconds. As usual with this sort of thing I have no idea in what way there has been interference of the composer. Is the (contact-) microphone or hydrophone is one place and is the recording from one perspective, as a general observer? Or is the composer walking around and do we also hear his walking on shells and wood, or maybe even ‘playing’ with bits of wood, stones or shells and recording this action, as a documentation? Obviously there has been some extended mixing and editing of the material as how else could this be recorded over a period of seven days? Listening to this particular music this is not easy to say to what extent Medery does his work. I would like to think there is quite some hands on involvement in this music, rummaging small objects and working around with them, and then, once all the recordings have been made, the meticulous editing and subtle layering of the material in which the sea is the constant presence, but also animals living near the sea, insects, birds and what have you, and the crackling of leaves, branches and such like. Medery crafted quite a beautiful piece with all of this. Not really a radical new look on the subject of field recordings, which is of course no problem, and the only ‘sad’ thing is that it could have been a bit longer as far as I was concerned. (FdW) ––– Address: https://unfathomless.wordpress.com/ LA BARACANDE – SAME (CD by La Novia) La Bacande is part of the La Novia collective, a group of musicians from central and southern France. They are into renewing traditional French folk music. Finding ways to revive traditional material in an experimental context. This includes searching for new ways of applying traditional folk instruments. La Baracande is one of the projects that work from this mission. The group has following line up: Basile Brémaud (vocals), Pierre-Vincent Fortunier (bagpipess, violon), Yann Gourdon (hurdy gurdy, etc.) and Guilhem Lacroux (guitar, lap steel). Their debut CD consists of seven songs, of which are sung by Brémaud. I´m not sure, but I think they sing already existing material as Brémaud sings the melodies in a typical traditional folk manner. Some of the songs have a strong rock feeling, like the opening track ´La haut la haut dedans la tour´. In most songs however layers of drones produced by the other players back Brémaud. They don´t play the melody but concentrate on producing thick and noisy drone like sounds. I miss development in these drones. They don´t much interfere with the melodies that are sung. Because of this, the music makes a schizophrenic impression. But taking folk music as a starting point for experiment is a great idea and makes this statement an interesting one. (DM) ––– Address: https://www.la-novia.fr/ NAOMI BERRILL - FROM THE GROUND (CD by Ethnorth Gallery) Berrill grew up in Ireland where music was part of her life from a very young age. Both her parents were music teachers. She studied cello at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin and also at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow. In Glasgow she also studied electro-acoustic composition, jazz piano and Scottish folk cello. Nowadays she lives and works in Florence, Italy. ´From the Ground´ is her first solo work and has Berrill singing and playing cello. She interprets and arranged existing music, ranging from traditional Irish and Scottish folk music, to classical music from Purcell to Debussy, to popular music from Nick Drake, Pete Seeger, Vera Lynn, a.o.; a daring selection and undertaking. Around 2010 she started experimenting using the cello accompanying her voice. Also in live situations as you can see on Youtube. This CD documents this project. It has, in most of the compositions, Berrill singing with a breakable, soft voice. In many tracks multi-tracking is used, as well for her voice as for the cello. Playing the cello using her fingers only dominates in most tracks. Although it counts for all compositions that they are arranged and performed in a new way by Berrill, it is not an experimental work but instead a very nice and entertaining one. Released by the Japanese Ethnorth Gallery label. (DM) ––– Address: http://ethnorthgallery.com/ AKMEE – NEPTUN (CD by Nakama Records) Here is a new release from the Nakama Collective by Oslo-based Akmee, a collective started in 2015, arranging concerts and projects, and starting the Nakama label. Akmee who makes their debut with ´Neptun´ started in 2013, initiated by Andreas Wildhagen who you may know from Paal Nilssen- Love’s Large Unit. It is a quartet of Erik Kimestad Pedersen (trumpet), Kjetil Jerve (piano), Erlend Albertsen (double bass) and Wildhagen himself on drums. Both Wildhagen and Jerve play also in Lana Trio. Pedersen worked with Danish pianist Jeppe Zeeberg. Albertsen participates also another Nakama-unit called Filosofer. Up till now the quartet did only a few concerts and spend most of their time in their laboratory building their music and sound. With the chosen title they want to refer to a mysterious planet in our solar system of the same, as well to the Roman god of the sea. This is what inspired and focused them. This resulted in four compositions that are lyrical and melodic in nature. It is open and stretched out jazz-inspired music, in a less is more style. The music sounds relaxed but at the same it asks for attention, as most of it, happens under the surface. This makes it an intriguing and fascinating album and a strong debut. (DM) ––– Address: http://www.nakamarecords.no/ SIROM - I CAN BE A CLAY SNAPPER (CD by Tak:til) Sirom is a young trio from Slovenia: Iztok Koren (banjo, three string banjo, bass drum, percussion, chimes, balafon, various objects), Ana Kravanja (violin, viola, ribab, cünbüs, balafon, ngoma drum, mizmar, various objects, vocals) and Samo Kutin (lyre, balafon, one string bass, frame drums, brač, gongoma, mizmar, various objects, vocals). All three members participate in numerous other projects, and are experienced musicians. Early 2016 they debuted with an album for the Slovenian Zars label. Tak:til, a new sublabel from Glitterbeat, is the home of their second release. Like on their debut, they use a wide range of instruments from around the world plus handmade ones. This makes their music very multi-coloured. Their acoustic music is a kind of hypothetical, imaginary folk music. All music is composed and arranged by themselves and grows from intense interplay and improvisations, I suppose. They succeeded in creating their very own musical world. On the one hand it evokes many influences, but Sirom surely makes it is very own personal brew. Yes, they really have something in mind. All compositions show fine, carefully thought over arrangements and a dedicated performance. A lot happens in their well-constructed compositions. At the same time the music remains at an accessible level. A tasty and delicate job with a lot to enjoy! (DM) ––– Address: http://glitterbeat.com/artists/sirom/ BIRGIT ULHER - MATTER MATTERS (CD by Hideous Replica) Recently trumpet player and sound artist Birgit Ulher pointed out that I spelled her name wrong; not always, but most of the time. Don’t go looking for it in our archives, as I changed them all to its proper spelling. She is mostly known for her work with trumpet, radio and objects and the solo releases that have been made (Vital Weekly 950, 827, 521) but also improvising with the likes of Felipe Araya (Vital Weekly 1069), Lucio Capece (Vital Weekly 781), Gregory Büttner (Vital Weekly 724), Heddy Boubaker (Vital Weekly 636), Damon Smit & Martin Blume (Vital Weekly 499), Gino Robair, Lou Mallozi, Michael Zerang, Lars Scherzenberg and Michael Maierhof (Vital Weekly 497; three different releases), Ute Wassermann (Vital Weekly 452), Ernst Thoma (Vital Weekly 415). Just to mention a few of these. On her new solo CD she plays three pieces, all of which are in some way planned, with scores and such. In ‘Traces’ that is for instance based on data from the Chicago and Elbe rivers, noting the oxygen, nitrate, phosphate and such and Ulher uses trumpet, radio, speaker, objects and tape. It has various layers of sound and I believe the trumpet is played live. In this piece the start/stop playing is very clear, and an example of the score is enclosed. This is quite an intense piece of music here, with strong rattling sounds, and intense trumpet work, but it also quite minimal. Christoph Schiller composed ‘Die Schachtel’, and is a tin box with fragments of numbers, texts and pitch structures based, originally from two polar expeditions in the 19th century. It is very open for interpretation. I believe this is a piece for just trumpet and works very much with sustained sounds set against silence and the trumpet as object. It is a very minimal piece, very distilled after the controlled outburst of the first or ’Splitting 21’ at the end. That one she composed with Michael Maierhof, who provided a ‘splitter’ and the ‘concept of splitting the trumpet tone in combination with the tape, which enlarges the 10 minute piece into the orchestral’, it says on the information. I am not sure how that works but the result is an interesting exploration of the trumpet as instrument and object in a fascinating interaction. (FdW) ––– Address: https://www.hideousreplica.co.uk SUM OF R - ORGA (CD by Cyclic Law) When I first reviewed Sum Of R, back in Vital Weekly 659 it was a trio of Reto Mäder, Christoph Hess) and Roger Ziegler, whereas now it is Reto Mäder and Fabio Costa. Mäder is the main man and the band is ‘focusing musically on the sharpening of the senses and the stimulation of the mind’ and to that end they ‘create slow moving instrumental music with a sensibility for hypnotic and complex song structures’. Their previous release sounded like a weaker of KTL, but as I haven’t followed what they are doing these days, I can’t say this new one is still alike. Also I thought the previous album lacked something in production value. On this new there is a bunch of instruments used; Mäder plays guitar, synthesizer, organ, piano, electronics, drums, percussion, amps, horn, mellotron, tubular wurlitzer, voice, electro acoustics, effects and samples whereas Costa plays drums, percussion, synthesizer, effects and samples. ‘Orga’ stands for ‘organic, organism’ and surely that’s how we should see this music, as an organic grown accumulation of sound. Slow it surely is. The rhythm is slow, chords even slower, and to that cluster of organ drones are added, some bangs on a guitar, or playing it with e- bow. The mood is in minor, which judging by the black cover was not difficult to guess. Reverb is present with some abundance to emphasize the darkness in which this music works best. There is certainly a rock like quality to this, and I am sure this kind of music will appeal to all daring metal heads willing to try on something new. I think the production here is better than I recall from the first (I missed on their 2013 album ‘Lights On Water’) but it’s perhaps not the kind of music that I would play very often. Maybe too much rock alike for me? Maybe the whole dark atmosphere within that slow rock context that has a fine soundtrack character works better for people who dress in black with patches on their jackets, have beards and tattoos? You know I’m joking but you get my point? (FdW) ––– Address: http://www.cycliclaw.com PROJECT VAINIOLLA - NOCTURNAL (CD, private) Kalle Vainio is the man behind Project Vainiolla and he is a man who likes to prepare his piano. Nothing new of course since John Cage did that in the late 1930s already, sticking nuts and bolts in the strings to make it sound like percussion (because the orchestra pit at the theatre was too small to house his percussion group), but Project Vainiolla wanted to make it sound also like a bass drum or upright bass, so he stuck some more in, bottle corks, tape, toy figures and had his piano painted. I am not sure if the nine pieces on this release are all played live or if there have been some overdubs. I would believe the latter to be the case, but then, I might also be wrong. I wouldn’t call this pop music, despite the flashy painted piano and the shortness of the songs, or in fact say it is techno or such like. What Project Vainiolla does is a crossover between a lot of these interests, and to which one could also add modern classical and minimal music. I am not sure what to make of this. These nine pieces are surely very pleasant to hear, there is no doubt about that, maybe even too pleasant I was thinking. Project Vainiolla knows how to play a most entertaining tune and surely there is some showmanship at work here, and I can imagine this is attractive, semi ‘experimental’ music that will appeal to a big audience and good luck with that. Make a catchy video to the song ‘Oolconnected’ with its techno-based 4/4 beat, plucking of strings and fine build-up and you have a winner. In the meantime I cleaned the floor and did the dishes and I enjoyed myself with this music. When sitting down I thought ‘yeah that was nice, as is an ice cream. I never want two in a row’. (FdW) ––– Address: http://kallevainio.com/ MIRT & TER - WHERE ARE YOU (LP by Monotype Records) THOMAS DIMUZIO & ALAN COURTIS - MONK STYLE OR SCREAM (LP by Monotype Records) Both of these two new records by Monotype Records contain collaborations, but they might be conceived in different ways. I believe Mirt and Ter recorded together, whereas Dimuzio and Courtis exchanged files through the Internet. I believe so for the simple fact that Mirt & Ter have worked together before and are both from Poland, which might make these matters easier. Mirt in particular is quite active with the releasing music, which is at the edge of ambient and dance music. In my last review, of ‘Random Soundtrack’ (see Vital Weekly 1056) I called him the ‘grandson of The Orb’, which might give some clue as to what he does. Lots of field recordings, a bit of voices, and all the synthesizers connected together, in perfect sequenced harmony. That is modus operandi, which is also at work on this new release, with five lengthy pieces of slow developing rhythms and sequences, with nicely driven pulse at the controls of the heart of the sun. This is psychedelic, spacious but also with a fine touch of experiment, so that you don’t think this is all very smooth commercial dance music. Maybe it’s the influence of Ter, whose work usually operates in the same field but a bit more left of centre I guess, that all of this is tad more atmospheric, a tint darker and as such a most lovely record. Of an entirely different nature is the work composed by Thomas Dimuzio and Alan Courtis. Well, works actually, as each composed their piece of music, using source material by other. Dimuzio has been around for quite some years now with his own fine brand of musique concrete, using analogue and digital means. Courtis is also active for many years, just a bit younger I guess and his tools of trade are perhaps more to be found in the analogue domain or even lo-fi; he’s the punk rocker of musique concrete, I guess. He’s also way more active when it comes to releasing music, although not all reaches this desk; the same of which can be said from Dimuzio I guess, except that he also releases a lot less music. In their approaches to the material of the other there is not much difference I should think. Much seem to lie in altering the sounds and then using a computer to mix them. The difference lies in the result. Whereas Dimuzio opts for a more delicate outcome and a collage approach with some swift montage techniques, is the interest of Courtis going towards a sonic overload of the material in the first half of the piece and something very subdued in the second half of the piece. Courtis interest is more towards the radical dynamical opposites and Dimuzio uses it less radical. He’s more the storyteller, meandering about but also adding a few elements of surprise in here. Dimuzio creates dense patterns; Courtis reduces them to just a few layers. What at the start might have been the same material, is no longer at the end of the trail; two quite opposing pieces, but it works wonderful. Lovely green vinyl also and no doubt limited; for those who care about that. (FdW) ––– Address: http://monotyperecords.com LEIF BRUSH - STITCHING IN PROCESS: WINDMIXED DATA (2LP by Pentiments) No doubt the oldest artist still alive in this week’s issue is Leif Brush, born in 1932. Probably the oldest among many issues, come to think of it. Somehow it seems a name that I heard before but checking Discogs for some obscure cassettes as a reminder turned out nothing. He has two online releases and a cassette, released by Pentiments before. And that’s it. The website of the label tells me that they will be “cataloguing Leif Brush’s extensive body of work” and judging by the music on this double LP surely something to look out for. They describe Brush as a “pioneering sound artist who for over five decades has built something of a vast labyrinth of an artistic presence, in a certain sense having existed on the fringes of the more esoteric strands of early sound practices. During his time as a student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the late 60’s, Brush explored large- scale installations that would often utilize the city’s landscape as a platform for steel-strand based sounding constructs. After going on to become a professor at the University of Minnesota Duluth, he began to expand upon his ever-evolving concept of the “terrain instrument”, generally defined as a physical construct situated in nature that would harness the forces and vibrations of the earth in order to generate various types of sonic phenomena, often via the activation of triggers and sensors”, which is a long quote but gives a very good description of who Brush is. (So why try to improve on the quote? You’ll only make it worse). Listening to the music on these records and think what a “terrain instrument” might look like, I envisage pictures of various pipes catching rain, tunnels used as microphones capturing sound events and natural elements (wind, rain, thunder) as players of these instruments. A bit like wind chimes, no doubt, but with a much grander sound design; cruder perhaps also. There are also pieces which I believe contain instruments, maybe transformed in one way or another, and it’s not easy to say how. But this record is more than a bundle of pieces of music. Some of these pieces are introduced with spoken word intros, sometimes as part of the music already. Sometimes it sounds like words captured at a lecture and at times a bit distracting I guess, especially when you hear it for the second time, but sometimes, as on ‘Witnessed Collage’, it becomes multi-layered and almost like a radio play. These voices, so I understand, in combination with the music deals with the fact that Brush has always been interested in networks and connections, so it becomes an overall thing to have sounds and words connected. Partly because some of this work has been reconstructed; this is more like a documentation post facto than something lifted out of an archive. The music meanders about, like it’s been left out in the open, for other elements (natural, human, otherwise) to play around with. Sometimes drifting too much about, but it remains a fascinating thing to hear, I must say. It’s like a time machine explosion. Someone you never heard of, music that is not conventionally linked to any movement or scene (or even tradition I would think) and which provide you much food for thought. This is a solid strange release that looks and sounds great (glossy gate fold sleeve on sturdy stock). (FdW) ––– Address: http://pentiments.tumblr.com/ DARREN MCCLURE - NATURE MIRROR (CDR by Glistening Examples) JODA CLEMENT - TIME + PLACE (CDR by Glistening Examples) Here are two releases by people who are active since a long time, but never seem to release that much music. Darren McClure lives in Japan and is along with Tomotsugu Nakamura one half of Suisen and sometimes works with others, through mail exchange (Uwe Zahn and Porya Hatami for instance, see Vital Weekly 1032). In the springtime of 2017, when the rice fields of Nagano are being filled with water and planted, he composed the four pieces on ‘Nature Mirror’, and McClure writes, “these paddies surround my home area and are a common sight throughout Matsumoto. Punctuated by lines of rice stalks, the water is still and perfectly reflects the environment above and around. The four tracks on this album were greatly influenced by these flat mirrors of water and contain location recordings from these areas. Stillness, parallel lines and nature are represented in the music just as clouds and mountains are reflected in the flooded fields”. There are four pieces on this release, ranging from seven to fourteen minutes. Judging by the sound of birds in ’Smooth Manifold’ it is an easy guess that McClure uses field recordings somewhere in his music, but it might very well the case that everything is based on field recordings but that through computer manipulation everything is heavily altered; heavily as many rounds of transformations have been made and the result is very ambient music. Quiet, slowly evolving along the lines of computer technology. If anything I’d say all happens with the realm of zeroes and ones and the result reminded me very much of laptop music around 2003; the great era of warm ambient glitch, with plug ins running amok to create gentle music, and McClure still works along those lines. As such this is hardly a surprise, but he does a totally fine job in what he does. Maybe it’s time for a small revival of this kind of laptop music (not on stage, please!)? Who still has the black mac laptop with the entire classic plug-ins? McClure is obviously one of them. This is a very fine retro release. Also Joda Clément, from Vancouver, is someone who has his releases over the years, on imprints as Alluvial, Unfathomless, Notice Recordings, and Caduc; mostly solo but sometimes more electro- acoustically involved in improvised music. There is not a lot a of information for this, other than that it was recorded at home, in 2016 and 2017 and there is extra musicians helping out, Tomasz Krakowiak (percussion on Track 1). Mathieu Ruhlmann (objects on Track 2) and Judith Hamann -(cello on tracks 2 and 3) and the total amount of tracks are four, and it lasts forty minutes. Those are the basic facts we need to know. I am not sure if there is some kind of Glistening Examples label sound or overall approach, but somehow I think there is some kind of general aesthetic; McClure’s release might be the odd-ball. That overall approach is perhaps a combination of working with concrete and acoustic sounds, heavy processing through laptops but also analogue means (reel-to-reel, cassettes) and sometimes with the addition of real instruments and the results are often a bit rough at the edges. None of the composers on Glistening Examples seem to work along strict lines of composition, and have overall an interest in what you could call ambient/drones/mood/atmospherically music. Joda Clément is one of those composers; all the boxes I just mentioned that make an excellent Glistening Examples release are ticked here; a bit of improvisation on the instruments, field recordings of water, rain pipes, train station in the distant or a street close by, and some excellent sound processing going so that everything melts together pretty smoothly in a delicate layered cake of atmospheric sounds and it becomes that ambient drone piece that is not just lulling the listener to deep sleep, but keeps him awake and present, listening to the music merging with the environment it is played it in. Clément does a wonderful job with this release, and made something that is very much ‘now’, as opposed to McClure, which is more ‘then’. And all of that is not intended as a qualification, it is more statement of fact. They are both great. (FdW) ––– Address: https://glisteningexamples.bandcamp.com/ WILDER GONZALES AGREDA - PARAÍSOS, REVOLUCIONES Y TÚ (CDR by Super Space Records) ISHISHCHA - NA (CDR by Super Space Records) New music from Peru, never a daily happening I guess, composed by Wilder Gonzales Agreda, of whom releases were reviewed before (see Vital Weekly 1037 and 951). He calls himself a "Peruvian spacey non-musician”; I won’t repeat his history again. This time around the space non-music spans seven pieces, with a total length of forty-five minutes. From his previous release I gathered that he used rhythm machines, sampling keyboards and a bit of synthesizer, which I think is still something that he uses here, but in an even more abstract manner than before. It’s at the sixth track, ‘No Puedo Con La Depre’ that the rhythm machine is allowed to produce a beat, even when it comes with quite some delay and this being the almost shortest piece here, at just four minutes. As said, the other six pieces are of a more abstract nature with sounds floating about, some high pierced noisy sounds (in ‘Porno Para Mis Neuronas’), a bit of distortion here and there, but also reaching for a more cosmic edge in ‘Pan Sonic’ (maybe a tribute to the late Mika Vainio? Who knows), without the same drive as the band who may have given the name. Like before this is quite a rough release, which may be due to the technological means that he doesn’t have, or perhaps just something he loves. This spacer can be placed at the noisier end of ambient and industrial music. Jorge Alejandro Vargas Prado, who is also known as Ishishcha, has six tracks on ‘Na’ and he is responsible for “composition, letter, voice, metalophone, violin, flute, percussion, toys and software management”, as it was translated from Spanish. This is something entirely different. Just what it is, is not easily said; it is perhaps to an extent something that could be called pop music, I guess, but then with a very naive, childlike manner of playing. It sounded very French; I was thinking of DDAA, Die Klimperei or Pascal Comelade, but with the addition of voice material that reminded me Dominique Petitgand. This means very personal music, which sounds like it was recorded in a living room, with a box as drums, and some keyboards on a stand, and the kids playing in the backyard. It is all recorded in a very direct way (someone no doubt would say ‘honest’, as in ‘no touching up’), with a streak of experiment, such as the radio of ‘Peruano Eslavoq Takin’, but which still has that lovely naive keyboard sound. At twenty-eight minutes this seemed rather brief to my ears and I would have loved to have two or three more of these lovely tunes. (FdW) ––– Address: https://superspacerecords.bandcamp.com GRIER EDWARD CARSON - DAWN MORNING MID DAY SUN AFTERNOON EVENING DAY IS DONE (CDR by Recycling Recordings) UBIQUE - SHINING (CDR by Recycling Recordings) For the release by Grier Edward Carson the number ‘6’ plays an important role. It is mentioned three times on the inside text (and I am sure that’s no coincidence). Each of 6 pieces lasts 10 minutes, exactly, and use samples from 6 musical recordings and it uses a sampler/sequencer, a reverb and delay FX processor and an equalizer. I have no idea who Grier Edward Carson is and didn’t hear his 2014 release ‘Sample Work 07-13’ which Clean Error Records released, but on Discogs it is explained why he finds sampling so very attractive; “Musicians can now bypass the limitations of note-based/ rhythm-based composition, rooted in the logistical constraints of performance and interpretation, and create works expressly designed for repeated listening, like sculpture which benefits from prolonged and repeated examination. This is the perspective that informs the production of all GEC music.” Judging by the black cover and white lettering I suspected something darker, maybe along the lines of an amorphous mass of sound, droning about, but that’s not the case. This is actually all quite interesting, taking many orchestral sounds, voices, jazzy bits, and stretches them in and out, topping with some granular shifting about. It is, however, not along the lines of plunderphonic artists, delivering a comment on society with many samples from everyday media. It seems to me that for Carson the quality of the sound is the most important thing and how to recombine existing musical fragments into a new context, a new configuration through the use of long form sound structures. In each of the ten-minute pieces there are shifts happening which may not match up with the beginning or the end of the piece, and so the whole sixty minutes become one long piece. Or at least: that’s how it all sounds to me. It made me think: whatever happened to John Wall? From Poland hails the no-doubt one man band Ubique, and nothing else is known than this list of keywords “alterations - ambient - arrhythmia - avantgarde - cacophony - clik'n'cuts - deconstruction - drone - eclecticism - electronic - experimental - fractals - glitch - idm - meditation - noise - occultism - plunderphonics - recycling - ritual - sampling - terror - trance - variations”, although for ‘Shining’ the list on Bandcamp is slightly different “afterlife - darkness - death - emptiness - evil - hopelessness - loneliness - misfortune - rejection - vacuum”. Obviously I was trying to look for references to the Stephen King book or Kubrick movie, well, or both I guess, but couldn’t find it. Here too the recycling of sounds through the use of the sampler plays an important role. But whereas Carson keeps his music in the serious electronic music world with them orchestral bits, Ubique seems to more interested in playing some kind of demented dark-wave/electro/gothic version of it; at least his pieces are in such a length that he deems necessary and not dictated by the clock. Of course this is not really song like, as many of the pieces are bit on the long side when it comes to duration, and not always holding enough to be fully interesting. There are some interesting moments on this release, or probably in every song to be spotted, with a variety of sounds, sampled and electronically generated, but it suffers in execution at times. Things carry on a bit too long and that’s a pity. If Ubique would either cut his pieces or spread out sounds and create different, more exciting build-ups and break downs it would be much more enjoyable than what it is now. Not bad, surely not, but it doesn’t fulfil it’s potential. (FdW) ––– Address: http://recyclingrecords.com/ PETER WULLEN IN THE KATJA INSTITUTE - FINE TUNED WOOD (CDR, private) This new band name of course consists of adding together the name of Katja Institute and that of Peter Wullen. The first have been responsible for a series of works that are masterpieces of obscurity, such as a CDR with no cover, no text. This one has just an image and you have to look up the Bandcamp page to known just a tiny bit more. Peter Wullen is from Belgium and his ambient works exist mainly online, so it’s no surprise why you didn’t come across his name before in these pages. The only other bit of information we learn from the Bandcamp page about this release is what is one track on the CDR are nine individual ones here, but opening up the WAV file this also becomes quite clear. I am not sure how this collaboration was generated, i.e. is Wullen reworking sounds from Katja Institute or vice versa? Or is it all more complicated with bouncing sound material back and forth? Whoever had the final say in this work, it sounds very much along the previous work of Katja Institute, which means very minimal and very dark blocks of computerized ambient music. Well, maybe not computer. I am actually not sure here; maybe the machine like hum that lingers on inside the Institute makes me think this more computer actually. Though pieces are minimal they are not without movement or even melody, as in the piece towards the end (and here I noticed the CDR doesn’t match up with the Bandcamp version) there is vaguely going back and forth of what could be called a melody. The Wullen influence, maybe? I am not sure. Seventy minutes of pure minimal ambient bliss. The four- plus hours of last time was perhaps a bit much but this is the perfect length get fully immerse yourself into what is offered here. I think a near dark room would work perfect for this. (FdW) ––– Address: https://katjainstitute.bandcamp.com THE SOMMES ENSEMBLE – HEEL FLIPPER (cassette by Small Scale Music) The Somnes Ensemble from France is a quartet of Pierre-Antoine Badaroux (alto sax), Julien Desperez (guitar), Maxime Petit (electric bass) and Will Guthrie (drums, percussion). Their cassette, released by Montréal-based label Small Scale Music consists of three tracks: ‘Vendee meltdown’, ‘Swiss Payz’and ‘Polite Paname’. All three tracks are recorded on live occasions in the years 2015-2016. Badaroux is a Paris-based alto saxophone player, composer and producer. Also Desprez is a musician and performer based in Paris who moved from playing jazz and rock to free improvised music. Petit is bass player since 1984 and has a history in punk and free noise bands. Guthrie is an Australian drummer living and working in France, and initiator of this ensemble. The energy of the ensemble is clenched in nervous and noisy excursions. Their dynamic free rock breathes a punk attitude and made me think of the projects by Luc and Terry Ex. Combing repetitive patterns with free playing. Their improvisations and playing are very concentrated, tight and effective. There is no escape! They offer fine intertwined playing, with nice answer-response sections. It all sounds very fresh and totally convincing. Great work! (DM) ––– Address: https://smallscalemusic.bandcamp.com/ DESTRUCTION DES ANIMAUX NUISIBLES/MIGUEL SOUTO (split cassette by Attenuation Circuit) The name of the first band means “Destruction Of Injurious Animals” and is a (new?) trio by Miguel A. Garcia (electronics, manipulations), Marta Sainz (voice, effects) and Enrique Zaccagnini (percussion, electronics). I do know Garcia’s work, but not the other two, and had not yet encountered this trio before. The music sounds quite dark and improvised, based on some continuous drone/organ sounds, all heavily processing, so perhaps Gracia’s input is sine waves and manipulation, whereas the voice is very much controlled, just doing some vocalizations (not unlike Juxtaposition, reviewed elsewhere, but very much in control) and the percussion is an object on a surface. It builds slowly but doesn’t peak and it stays a firmly dark, greyish cloud of sound. I think what’s missing is the instruction to play this loud. On the other side we find Miguel Souto, also a new name for me, whose piece is just a minute longer, and almost fifteen minutes. What he does is very difficult to say. It seems he has an electric violin, scraping it irregular, allowing for silence, cable hum and adapter distortion. Slowly the silence disappears and the sound becomes thicker and thicker, adding percussion of some kind, while broken cables are still in play. Not really noisy as such, but nevertheless quite disturbing music. Here I would like to suggest maintaining some volume and letting this overwhelm you; I believe such is the intention of the composer. (FdW) ––– Address: https://emerge.bandcamp.com |