ANTONELLA EYE PORCELLUZZI & DEAF SOCIETY – THE VELOCITY OF VELOCITIES (CD by
Opa Loka Records) *
CUTS – A GRADUAL DECLINE (CD by Village Green Recordings) *
JESSICA SLIGTER & ILBERT BULSINK – UNTITLED #2 (THE MUTE) (CD by Unsounds/
Gaudeamus) *
ZENO VAN DEN BROEK & GAI PETROVIC – OB-LITERATE (CD by Unsounds/Gaudeamus) *
GENETIC TRANSMISSION – SPÓJRZCIE ПОЖАЛУЙСТА, JAKIE PIĘKNE MACIE (CD by
Zoharum) &
VIDNA OBMANA – THE SURREAL SANCTUARY/THE CONTEMPORARY NOCTURE (2CD by
Zoharum) *
MACHINEFABRIEK WITH ANNE BAKKER – SHORT SCENES (CD by Zoharum) *
TANCE SNU – MEANDER (CD by Zoharum) *
LECH NIENARTOWICZ – WZDLUZ PASMA (CD by Kosmodrone) *
DEREK BARON – RECOLLECTS (LP by (LP by Reading Group) *
MARCIN BARSKI – WANDA’S DREAM (LP by Reading Group) *
MARK BOKOWIEC – VISITATIONS (CDR by MPS Music and Video) *
FERGUS KELLY – TREMBLING EMBERS (CDR by Room Temperature) *
MUGWOOD & LANDSHIPPING (5″ lathe cut & CDR by Static Caravan) *
DOC WÖR MIRRAN/STADLMEIER/GORMLEY – UN-ART-ED (CDR & 3″ CDR by Marginal
Talent) *
KEROAÄN – PULSARS IN RHOMBUS FORM (cassette by Nada Recs)
CELER – I WISH YOU COULD (cassette by Constellation Tatsu)
CALINECZKA – THE CITY BEHIND THE FENCE (cassette by Park70)
BREBUS TAPES I (cassette compialtion by Brebus tapes)
ANTONELLA EYE PORCELLUZZI & DEAF SOCIETY – THE VELOCITY OF VELOCITIES (CD by
Opa Loka Records)
You don’t often see a cover that says “A few short quotes from Wikipedia: Mina Loy (1882-1966)
was a British artists, writer, poet, playwright, novelist, futurist, feminist. Saint Teresa of Avila
(1515-1582) was a prominent Spanish mystic, Roman catholic Saint, Carmelite nun and author
during the Counter Reformation and theologism of contemplative life through mental prayer”. One
Antonella EYE Porcelluzzi “radically rewrote” texts by these two women and Deaf Society, being
one Ivan Murlika set these to music. It was already released on Bandcamp in 2017, but it is now
available on CD. They call it an album, but at twenty-three minutes, one could also think of this as
an EP. I expected something with some more text being upfront, which is usually not really the sort
of thing I like, as I always am not sure how often one would play such a thing, but to my pleasant
surprise the balance between words and music is quite on an equal level here. I know nothing
about either Porcelluzzi or Deaf Society; I assume the first is from Spain or Italy, judging by the little
accent in her voice. There is also some treatment to her voice, delay, reverb and such, so it sounds
slightly more mysterious. The music is all electronic, atmospherically and supportive of the music,
but in the second part also surely something that stands well by itself as it seems to be all
instrumental. It would think the music stems from a digital background, with processed piano
sounds, software synthesis and such like, no doubt brought to by the delights of working with
something like Ableton Live. I couldn’t figure out what this radical rewriting of the texts brought up
here, but perhaps in my defence, I have no idea about the original texts either. It is some nicely
poetic release, with strange atmospheres and, maybe, stranger words. (FdW)
––– Address: http://opa-loka-records.com
CUTS – A GRADUAL DECLINE (CD by Village Green Recordings)
“My only musical influence on this was William Basinski’s Disintegration Loops’. Not the music, but
the process. The idea of a decline in sound really suited the concept of this record”, says Cuts, also
known as Anthony Trombling Jr. It is one of these things that make me scratch my head when I hear
what it would sound like, knowing the original. “All this music and instrumentation in this declining
digital signal”. I certainly have a different view on that. The music here is all electronic indeed, with
perhaps a bunch synthesizers, rhythm machines and guitars with a fair amount of effects that make
it sounds heavy, atmospheric and despite what Cuts think, at times also pretty dark. There is surely
a strong influence from shoegazing bands (Cuts did a remix of Slowdive) and the element of
decline I guess is something that I simply don’t hear in these eleven pieces; not even if I am not
thinking of Basinski. The rhythm is at times chaotic and bouncy, taking me back to the early days of
Morr Music. Rock-based rhythms that were once the sound of the late 90s. I am quite surprised to
hear it these days, but maybe music like this never disappeared and simply wasn’t on my radar. I
liked Cuts best when the music came without much rhythm and was more towards an ambient side.
Here it seems to have been stuck in a bunch of loops and effects, which, maybe, just maybe with a
bit of phantasy could be called ‘declining’, but just as well, maybe not. It is all not great, not bad
either, just quite decent and not always coherent in approach. I am not sure if that’s enough. (FdW)
––– Address: http://villagegreenrecordings.co.uk
JESSICA SLIGTER & ILBERT BULSINK – UNTITLED #2 (THE MUTE) (CD by Unsounds/
Gaudeamus)
ZENO VAN DEN BROEK & GAI PETROVIC – OB-LITERATE (CD by Unsounds/Gaudeamus)
Both albums mark the start of a new series – ‘Sounds of Young Avant Garde’ – a collaboration
between Unsounds and Gaudeamus. Gaudeamus is already for about 70 years promoting new
music, with a yearly festival as an important event in Holland. Unsounds started in 2001 as label
founded by Andy Moor (The Ex) and composer Yannis Kyriakides. Gaudeamus originally
commissioned both new works here. ‘Untitled #2 (The Mute)’ is the second duo-work by Sligter
and Bulsink and the follow up to ‘Untitled #1’ that was created in 2014. Sligter has a history in
experimental pop and improvisation with a focus on combining singing with abstract electronics
and textures. Recently she released a new solo-album ‘Polycrisis.yes!’ Wim Bulsink is a young
Dutch composer with a strong interest for live-electronics, improvisation, etc. He wrote for the Asko
Ensemble, Nieuw Ensemble, among others. ‘Untitled #2(The Mute) is a collaborative composition
and was premiered in 2016 during the November Music Festival in Den Bosch. Sligter (voice, live
electronics) and Bulsink (live electronics) are also both performers of the work together with
Norwegian musicians Kari Ronnekleiv (violin) and Ole-Henrik Moe (viola), aka The Sheriffs of
Nothingness. Their concept originated from the question: “When does what is muted begin to
resonate? Centering on the idea of voicelessness, The Mute explores a concept that can be
investigated acoustically, but that can also be approached in social terms. How can those who
have no voice in our society be heard?. The piece brings forth new ideas and connections around
what the voice represents: a voice is like a home, a voice travels, a voice can be cancelled out or
amplified by other sounds.” Their ideas are shaped and condensed in five episodes that make up
the composition. They consist of long sustained drones of electronic origin or played by the violins.
Especially the drones produced by the violins are of a hypnotic effect. Sligter vocal contributions
accentuate different aspects of the voice. In the fourth part she sings isolated and short melodic
lines. In the closing part Sligter above all screams and has her screaming disappearing in the
sound environment.
Another – even more – intriguing collaboration is the one between Zeno van den Broek and
Gagi Petrovic. Belgrade-born Petrovic grew in the Netherlands where he works as a teacher and
composer of music and sound. As a composer he often combines acoustical and electronics sound
sources. In his work he often seeks to keep contemporary music, electronics and alternative pop in
the game. Zeno van den Broek is a Dutch-born composer with headquarters in Copenhagen. For
‘Ob-literate’ ‘The Destructive Character’ by philosopher Walter Benjamin inspired the two
musicians, as well as writings of Dick Raaijmakers and the poetry of Adam Staley Groves. From
this a work originated for five voices, organ (played by Jacob Lekkerkerker) and electronics by van
den Broek and Petrovic. It was premiered in Utrecht in 2016. The recording for this release dates
from the same year and took place at Orgelpark in Amsterdam. Just like the composition by Sligter
and Bulsink, this one is not so much about movement. Instead we are confronted with a static and
massive presence of sound; a radical and dark work with a sometimes-frightening effect. The solo
voices move in a distance, what gives a strong impression of an enormous room or space. There
is something static in this work. Long linear moving abstract electronic sounds, or long sustained
organ sound, are interspersed with other sounds and cracks. The five voices dwell around as lost
lonesome souls in this enormous spatial emptiness. This is music with an enormous emotional
and disorientating impact. (DM)
––– Address: http://unsounds.com/
GENETIC TRANSMISSION – SPÓJRZCIE ПОЖАЛУЙСТА, JAKIE PIĘKNE MACIE (CD by
Zoharum)
VIDNA OBMANA – THE SURREAL SANCTUARY/THE CONTEMPORARY NOCTURE (2CD by
Zoharum)
MACHINEFABRIEK WITH ANNE BAKKER – SHORT SCENES (CD by Zoharum)
TANCE SNU – MEANDER (CD by Zoharum)
Here’s another bundle of delights from the world of Polish Zoharum, who seem to release CDs
like there is no end. There are always new names to discover as well as the happy return of the
legends. I am not sure however if I would call Genetic Transmission a legend; this is already the
fifth album in an archival series by this project of Tomasz Twardawa, but does that constitute a
legend? Maybe the project is better known in Poland than elsewhere and yes, I started to use the
word legend in this review, sure! Previously this was released on a CDR in 2002. The title means,
if Google is right about these things, ‘Look, Look, how beautiful you are’. The music of Genetic
Transmission is to be found in the world of noise, more particular that of collage, found sound, tape
treatments and a bit of nasty sounds. The seven pieces on this release span some sixty-seven
minutes and at the brutality by which this material is played out makes this quite the listening effort.
Some of this stuff is quite informal sticking and stitching together of random sounds for sometimes a
bit too long or with a tendency towards true noise, which isn’t always my thing (anymore). The label
mentions the influence of Nurse With Wound and sure, there is something in this to justify that but it
also misses some of the brilliance of what is truly a legend. Maybe it is all a bit long and a bit
chaotic, but served in small portions surely great food for the ears.
While Dirk Serries announced the end of his days with the release of ‘Epitaph’ (Vital Weekly
1134) his back catalogue as Vidna Obmana is vast and mostly out of print. Zoharum does fill the
void with re-issuing these works (as they did with Hybryds, Maeror Tri and Rapoon, besides of
course the just mentioned Genetic Transmission) and here they have two albums from the late
90s, both released by Hypnos and both previously reviewed in Vital Weekly. I am not sure if I heard
all of Vidna Obmana’s releases properly back then to be able then as well as now to put it all in
perspective, in terms of musical development. Zoharum informs me that both album could be seen
as companion albums, with the same guest players (Jim Cole, Joris de Backer and Steve Roach)
on a couple of tracks, but also musically as an extension of each other. I wrote back then (and I am
remixing both reviews from Vital Weekly 218 and 252 together) about the music being made of
dark hums of keyboards, which hisses and hushes in harmonic overtones. Even when it all seems
smooth, it’s not. The overtones (in a more metaphoric sense now) are dark, like watching the sky at
night: you see a lot of black, with small lights, endless amounts of small lights in fact, but the
background remains black. This is what Vidna Obmana represents in his music, a dark sky but with
the sense of light present, and the assured knowledge that a new day will break at the end of the
night. And this album is just half of a two-chapter work… more light in the darkness to come. Even
when it all seems smooth, it’s not. The overtones (in a more metaphoric sense now) are dark, like
watching the sky at night: you see a lot of black, with small lights, endless amounts of small lights
in fact, but the background remains black. This is what Vidna Obmana represents in his music, a
dark sky but with the sense of light present, and the assured knowledge that a new day will break
at the end of the night. And this album is just half of a two-chapter work… oh well that line doesn’t
make much sense now as these works are now combined. Good to see this in print again.
Machinefabriek is perhaps also a legend, already. His work ethic is admirable, even when it
seems he releases not as much anymore, moving towards music for TV, theatre and games. I am
sure that’s a better-paid job, if not now then in the future. This is already his sixth album for
Zoharum and I believe the second he does with violinist Anne Bakker. She recorded her violin
on a separate occasion and gave the recordings to Rutger Zuydervelt, the machine factory worker,
who constructed twenty short pieces out of it, spanning a total of forty-one minutes, adding his own
sounds to the violin, rather than taking these apart and playing around with these as sound
sources. This is clearly a collaboration of adding sounds together. Maybe inspired by his recent
soundtrack for documentary work these pieces are called ‘Scene’ and I can easily see these used
as such. Zuydervelt adds his usual drones and crackles, but also drum sounds, which perhaps
inspired by his other recent interest, music for games. It clearly shows his development as a
musician that he uses a broader palette of sounds and instruments, which makes his music much
more mature I guess. There is a fine modern classical element to this music, which might be a
shock for some, but then Machinefabriek never ceases to change his interests. This is surely a
great album, but perhaps a bit too short for me; not the actual album, the pieces. In almost each
of them I could easily potential for a longer piece. Suggestion for a next title would be ‘Long
Scenes’.
The last one is the second album Tance Snu, a group with India Czajkowska, Sebastian
Madejski and guitarist Christoph Matyaschek and drummer Adam Rozenman. The latter two
recently joined the group. I missed out on the first album by them. I am not sure what to make of
this. Vocals by Czajkowska and Madejski happen most of the time at the same time, along with
zither player, tribalistic percussion and some moody guitar bits. The music is at times mediaeval,
ethnic, folky and it reminded me of Dead Can Dance, which is a group I actually hold in high
regard (something which you would probably not expect, but there you go), but Tance Snu
sounds altogether like a primitive version of that. It lacks the sophistication and joyous energy,
but its stays more on level of improvisation, such as in ‘Unsara Edit’. Perhaps of course it is such
a thing that gives Tance Snu their edge with this kind of moody music and as such it works quite
well, even when I am not overtly enthusiastic about the music. Maybe I am not so in the mood for
a slightly improvised gothic tune on this rainy afternoon? Or maybe the end of year blues setting
in? I am not sure. I might change my opinion come time, no doubt. (FdW)
––– Address: http://www.zoharum.com
LECH NIENARTOWICZ – WZDLUZ PASMA (CD by Kosmodrone)
With that title, some letters should be written differently; there is no translation in the information
and also Google translate remains quiet. Lech Nienartowicz is the co-boss of the cassette label
Pawlacz Perski, and member of The Perpetual Motion Food and Poszmeg improvisation collectives,
as well as duet Porcje Rosolowe with Mateusz Wysocki (see Vital Weekly 896) and much more.
This is my first encounter with his solo work. There isn’t a lot of information to go by here and it is
certainly not easy to figure out what it is that Nienartowicz is doing here. I hear electronic
instruments, synthesizers perhaps, of the modular variety maybe, some sound effects, but also
acoustic instruments (kalimba maybe), field recordings, all of which are mixed together in a pretty
neat way. Perhaps not the most original of ways but Nienartowicz does a good job. The musique
concrete techniques of layering sound events together that seem somehow unrelated to each
other make pleasant pieces of collage music. There are no swift cut-ups or changes as
Nienartowicz opts for more careful approach of slow cross fading. In ‘Dwa Kamienie’, with twenty-
four minutes the longest track here (little over half the length of the CD) this results in some
carefully built intense and dark atmospheres, before moving over towards loops of machines and
processed percussion. It is not as rough and bold as some of the current lo-fi ambient trend
prescribes, as Nienartowicz certainly likes a more polished approach in the way he treats his
sounds and how he approaches the compositions with these sounds. Delicate and careful and
that is surely a fine way of going. Maybe finding his own niche is the next step. (FdW)
––– Address: https://www.facebook.com/kosmodronelabel/
DEREK BARON – RECOLLECTS (LP by (LP by Reading Group)
MARCIN BARSKI – WANDA’S DREAM (LP by Reading Group)
So far I had not come across either of these musicians (although work that including Barski was
reviewed in Vital Weekly 1118, but not by me) and this label. First there is Derek Baron, who had
releases on Power Moves Library, Penultimate Press and Pentiments, with his second LP. This
record is the result of a trip he did in September 2016 in the Boundary Waters between Superior
National Forest in northern Minnesota and Quetico Provincial Park in southwest Ontario. The trip
was often re-scheduled and together with his father and someone named Mike, he goes out on
this canoe and forest trip and in the resulting record he also uses recordings of interviews his
grandfather made interviewing people for a local paper in Evanston, Illinois. This is all pretty
interesting and possibly there are more connections to be made in the personal realm of Baron,
but let’s stick with the music and enjoy what is carved in these grooves. There is lots of rumble,
water sounds, crackling of leaves and an airplane, along with some talking (a conversation of
which hardly can understand what it is about) on the first side, which is called ‘Sagard’s History
Of Canada’, which is all about the trip. Some of these sounds made also be used on the second
side, ‘Recollects’, which is, obviously I would say, includes the tapes with the interviews. While
we can follow certain interviews for some time, I believe it is not necessarily to hear them as an
interview, but in combination with the canoe/field recordings and talking aboard it becomes a
more or less abstract radio play. It is all quite dense, I think, with many layers of sound, upfront
recording, mixed with voices and without electronics, and it is surely a fascinating aural trip. What
means I may not know, not now, nor ever, but great stuff.
Also on the subject of personal audio recordings is the album by Marcin Barski. There are
some extensive liner notes and if you follow the link on the website of the label you’ll end up with
an even longer essay about how in Poland in the 1980s cassette recordings were made for private
use; of phone conversations or audio letters, such in the case of Barski’s father, working in the USA.
Barski has access to a whole bunch of such cassettes and was wondering some cases what the
hell they were recorded for. Quite rightly he put those tapes on this record. There is for instance
‘Conversation With Father’, which could contain such talk between father and son, but it is mostly
obscure stumbling around a room and some far away noises, such as a radio in the background.
The title piece is a recording of a man snoring, assumingly dreaming of his wife; recordings with
their conversations on the phone were part of this find. The two other pieces, ‘Jammed By The
Soviets’ and ‘Sermons Over Modern Talking’ are more collage like of radio sounds and I could
think Barski adds a bit of electronic processing but I might very well be wrong. One is a collage of
radio sounds while the other is even more obscure as to it’s meaning, even when it’s also the title
of his essay. Vague or otherwise, this is surely quite some fascinating stuff. Highly obscure as it
may be, it is the aural snapshot from a entirely time. It made one wish one had a box of old
cassettes from those days! (FdW)
––– Address: http://readinggroup.co/
MARK BOKOWIEC – VISITATIONS (CDR by MPS Music and Video)
The music on this release was inspired by trip to Greece and Iceland where Marc Bokowiec also
taped sounds in situ, of waterfalls, thermal pools, geysers, caves and shorelines, all of which
“were subjected to various granular processes and combined with various synthesizer elements
to provide the raw material for all tracks, save the sixth, which is also the longest piece. That one
was influenced by Delphi and “the premiere of a new Bodycoder piece ‘Pythia Delphine21’, above
the ancient archaeological site and in the grounds of the musueum of Delphic Performance – on
the evening of a full moon and during a small earthquake”. Which calls for the question ‘what is a
bodycoder’? Mark Bokowiec is a composer from Yorkshire and in his work dark ambient, drone
and electro-acoustic music meet-up and he developed the Bodycoder system, “a wireless, on-the-
body array, worn on the body that enables live gestrual control of a range of sound processing”.
Although not mentioned in the liner notes or information, I could believe that piece is a live piece.
That is surely all quite some information, which is not something that I all could easily link back to
the music itself. Had I not known this I would have indeed guessed that heavily treated field
recordings with the use of granular synthesis is at the core of the music. Something like the
Bodycorder I would probably not have guessed (obviously, as there isn’t a visual component).
The result is surely something that I would say call dark ambient with a fair amount of techniques
from the world of computers. This is partly abstract music, but with surely a musical element not
forgotten. In ‘A Barrow Full Of Watt’ there is the strongest tendency towards musique concrete,
whereas ‘Kirkjufell’ is the noise counterpart. The live piece, if indeed that is what it is, isn’t
something that is hugely different, just longer. There is nothing here that is very spectacular or
different and Bokowiec does a fine job within the field in which he operates. (FdW)
––– Address: http://www.juliebokowiec.com/bodycoder.html
FERGUS KELLY – TREMBLING EMBERS (CDR by Room Temperature)
If possible, listen to “Trembling Embers” before reading anything about whom the artist is or what
he does. In fact, maybe I ought to begin this review by telling you that the album is exceptionally
good and you ought to go hear it now. The reason I’m putting my opinion up front and details next
is because if you were told only the details of how it was made, you might get a mistaken mental
image of what this music is and then, perhaps, think you already have a sense of what it will sound
like. Fergus Kelly performs on string instruments (home-made and otherwise) with electronic
processing and field recordings. However, it’s not just another solo-improviser document. Kelly is
more Adam Bohman or Michael Prime than Keith Rowe, more interested in self-contained and
meticulously constructed electro-acoustic sound worlds than in the preservation of austere
improvisation. Across these ten pieces, Kelly’s music shifts from the familiar world of human-
moving-things-around-on-a-table to some much more alien audio environments. Early tracks
describe small spaces of creaking wood and metallic sheen. Elongated tones and are coaxed
out of zithers and violin-like instruments, sometimes resembling gongs or large bells. The sonic
detail is wondrously rich and full, imbuing individual gestures and playfully buzzing layers with
dramatic weight and depth. By the middle of the album, the “player” recedes to the background
and it becomes harder and harder for a listener to recognize the source of specific sounds… but
that transition happens so gradually that it’s not apparent when the train left the station… or rather,
one might (as I did) get the sudden shock that “Trembling Embers” had ended and a different
album had started, but confusion about when and how that happened. By the album’s closing
pieces, all trace of recognizable instruments or sonic objects is gone, replaced by thrumming
resonant machinery. The occasional twack of closely-mic’d fretboard or fluctuating buzz of
magnetic interference provide reminders of where the album began, but they’re taken over by
train stations, footfalls and confusion. A very impressive album. (HS)
––– Address: https://roomtemperature.bandcamp.com
MUGWOOD & LANDSHIPPING (5″ lathe cut & CDR by Static Caravan)
Sometimes the releases by UK’s Static Caravan are mildly and pleasantly confusing and this one
is on that game. Inside the package we find a 5″ lathe cut record and a CDR. The cover tells us
that this is a release by Mugwood & Landshipping and mentions two titles, ‘Lundy irish Sea’ and
‘At The Sea’s Retreat’, both composed by Anthony Ryan and John Benton. Some turntables, and
mine is one, have a difficulty to play 5″ vinyl records so I headed over to the Caravan’s website to
check if the CDR contains the same stuff. It reads: “Static Caravan Recordings are rather chuffed to
be able to release a two-track single collaboration between Antony Ryan, of Isan, working here
under the name Mugwood, and John Brenton of Landshipping. Released on a 5″ lathe cut single,
download & streaming. 2 tracks on the 5” lathe. 4 tracks (original extended mixes and lathe tracks)
on CD”, so it probably means that the CDR has the original lathe cut songs, right? But hold on,
which is which? I assume that the third and fourth track, being the shortest here, is the lathe cut
record and the other two the ‘extended’ mixes, both over a minute extra music. I must admit I didn’t
keep up with the music of Isan over the years, which releases on Morr Music (and as we saw last
week with Styrofoam’s recent release, we don’t get their releases). John worked with Tonfedd Oren,
Metrotone and solo as Landshipping. Together they worked in 1998 on a collaborative song, so
now, twenty years later, again. John posted a new song on Soundcloud and Anthony liking, and
suggestions were made to add a more narrative aspect to the music, along with more guitars,
rhythms and electronics. The narrative aspect is quite on top of the music, and both pieces deal
with beaches and seas. On ‘At The Sea’s Retreat’ this is more ambient, with washes of synths,
crackles of vinyl, a far away strum on the six strings and spoken word, while in ‘Lundy, Irish Sea’,
they go out on the all out instruments, adding those rhythms, guitars and arpeggio synthesizer lines,
making the music somehow oddly jumpy, but both pieces keep a fine air of melancholy. You’re on a
beach, alone and the sky is grey; that sort of thing. This is by all means a lovely little thing. (FdW)
––– Address: http://www.staticcaravan.org/
DOC WÖR MIRRAN/STADLMEIER/GORMLEY – UN-ART-ED (CDR & 3″ CDR by Marginal
Talent)
It is quite possible that I mentioned this before, but I am not sure and it is that Doc Wör Mirran
mastermind Joseph B. Raimond is not only a musician, but also a writer of poem and a painter.
All of his releases show is colourful painting as artwork, partly abstract but also showing faces
and bodies. He calls it Plop Art and on October 13th 2017 he had an exhibition of his paints at 84
GHz in Munich. Doc Wör Mirran played a rare concert; rare for them, as they exist most in the
studio space, but I believe these days they can found more and more on stages. Adrian Gormley
has a double gig here, holding his saxophone. There is a small disc on which he duets with
Sascha Stadlmeier, also known as Emerge and with the whole band on the big discs. A band
that includes Raimond of course, but as Stefan Schweiger, Michael Wurzer and Stadlmeier and
Gormley, plus of course some backing tapes courtesy of Conrad Schnitzler, Jello Biafra, Bernard
Worrick, Paul Lemos and Vera. In more recent times Gormley’s saxophone is a dominant presence
on the music of Doc Wör Mirran and when he does his all out jazz figures it is not always my cup of
tea, but when there is a slower playing and others pick up the thread and make it delicate, dark and
atmospheric the music becomes more alike the Doc we love. The sound is picked in the space in
which the music is performed and that adds surely some mysterious sounds to the music. The
music easily around a more free jazzy approach, electronic improvisation, concrete sounds and
just a minor bit of krautrock like rhythms this time.
On the small disc there is the collaboration between Adrian Gormley and Sascha Stadlmeier.
I could easily believe the latter picks up saxophone sounds from the former and gives them the all-
electronic make over. There is a fine interplay between the two, almost on an equal level, but
seemingly with Gormley leading until you realize that Stadlmeier is responsible for the entire
rumble. This is short yet powerful. (FdW)
––– Address: http://www.dwmirran.de
KEROAÄN – PULSARS IN RHOMBUS FORM (cassette by Nada Recs)
I quote pretty much all of the cover text, perhaps because I am not sure what it is I am reading.
“Pulsars in Rhombus Form is a real-time generative music agent with two major components: a
listener and a player. The listener takes as input and audio stream from the album Planisphærium
by sci-fi technical death metal band Wormed (ES). It identifies kick and snare drum strikes as well
as vocal phrasing and communicates its findings to the player in order to trigger gestural events
and compositional shifts. The player consists of an 8-voice Max/MSP implementation of pulsar
synthesis (Roads). It’s parameters are controlled by various chaotic maps and stochastic methods.
The program performs with no human intervention whatsoever.” Plus there is the notion that this
was “developed by Ian M Fraser and Reed Evan Rosenberg”. From what I think this means there
is some sort of stand alone computer program running music from Wormed, splicing it up, shifting
and pitching up and down, crackling the music about like some early computer music, when
laptops were all black with the apple logo upside down. Remember that? The early days of Mego
(without Editions), Alku, Or and such like, in which the next generation announced itself with some
brutal, digital noise music. This is sort of the same thing with a strong conceptual edge that is also
rooted in the world plunderphonics. All of this is very consistent in execution and when it is over
you know as much as you did when you started; most likely none the wiser. Nice. (FdW)
––– Address: https://nadarecs.bandcamp.com/
CELER – I WISH YOU COULD (cassette by Constellation Tatsu)
CALINECZKA – THE CITY BEHIND THE FENCE (cassette by Park70)
Two long pieces by Celer, thirty-three and thirty-four minutes each. Along with this Will Long
send two short stories, of which I am not sure if they are available for anyone else to enjoy. Both
deal with sleeping and dreaming (and remembering) and it sure fits the dream like music. As
almost always I have no idea Celer made all of this. Sometimes I think it is all very much based
on computer-processed sounds, but then sometimes I have the impression it is tape-loop based
and perhaps all analogue. For these two pieces I was thinking about a synthesizer, which is set to
playing a repeating phrase over and over again. On ‘Everywhere I Go You’re All That I See’ this
phrase seems to be shorter than the one on ‘Wishes Would Be Grand If Only They Came True’.
As I reviewer I am of course supposed to stay awake and pay all the attention so I can say ‘ha, this
doesn’t change at all’ or ‘while you think it doesn’t change, it does’ but as I was suffering from the
Friday afternoon blues and have no drinky time with my office colleagues (that’s by the way no
complaint), I set back in my comfy chair, and drank some coffee; I tried to figure out if it was raining
and if I should go out if it does. I believe I fell asleep for a brief moment, which may or may not be
seen as a compliment to Celer. Personally I don’t subscribe to the whole ‘music while you sleep’
ethic; music for me is to be heard. But I woke from this hazy state of half sleep and Celer’s cassette
was on repeat and at some point in time I had no idea if I was playing the first or the second side,
and also not really for how long. Sometimes I lost track of time there, but it was a slow afternoon
anyway. I decided to let it continue for some more and write some words. Maybe these, maybe
others.
About a day or so later I find myself listening to Calineczka’s new tape. I reviewed a previous
with an impossible long Polish title back in Vital Weekly 1129 and wrote that before that
Calineczka worked as Aleph. Now normally I don’t like to lump things together, trying to treat
things individually and yet there are some things that ties these two together. There is length;
Calineczka’s tape is fifty-seven minutes and also has two pieces per side. Calineczka wrote that
these are “two miniatures for (tiny) modular synthesizer, dedicated to historical uranium enrichment
fanily located close the label’s headquarters”, which is Knoxville, Tennessee. Both pieces are very
minimal, and I hesitate but I could think they are as minimal as the ones produced by Celer. But
whereas Celer produces a warm bath of ambient synthesizer tones, Calineczka is austere and
sound like the humming of a ventilation shaft. It is cold and distant, but it has a bit of variation. It is
this variation, however minimal it is, that makes the music fascinating. Celer can get away with no
changes but perhaps because he’s aiming at something else than pure listening (dreaming,
relaxation) where as Calineczka is all about consciousness listening and that’s what makes that I
find this equally fascinating, even when it doesn’t go into repeat modus straight away. (FdW)
––– Address: https://ctatsu.bandcamp.com
––– Address: https://park70.bandcamp.com/
BREBUS TAPES I (cassette compialtion by Brebus tapes)
Ah yes, the compilation, my beloved subject of both contempt and interest. The tool for a label to
present itself, which may be what Brebus Tapes does. “Brebus Tapes 1 is a compilation of various
artists released in 2018″, which you could also read as a “compilation of various artists, released in
2018″. I assume that is the case here, as the Bandcamp page of Brebus only shows this release
and not others by various artists. On this tape we find music by Alain Ledezma, Flavio Scutti,
Alberto Picciau, Ian Battenfield, Matteo Campulla, The Modern British Slave Trade and Reset;
none of which are names that I heard of before. The tags for this release reach from ambient to
drone, experimental and (harsh) noise. That surely is true. Ian Battenfield plays with a slab of
feedback, just like The Modern British Slave Trade is all about distortion and Campulla works from
the musique concrete end. Reset is the only one with a slight connection to the world of pop music.
All of these are on the second side of the tape. The other three on the first side are surely more
ambient and drone (experiments are all around I would say) with some mellow tunes of which
Ledezma uses a bit of ethnic voices and Picciau a more monolithic drone approach. Seven mildly
different approaches and seven times something to look forward to; just as a good compilation
should be. (FdW)
––– Address: https://brebus.bandcamp.com/releases