VARIOUS ARTISTS – GRAND MOFF WORKS 002 (Double CD-R by Grand Moff Works)
AS 11 – 00:00 (CD by Antifrost)
RADBOUD MENS – “SINE” (CD-EP by Staalplaat)
KK NULL – 0.0004 (CD by Vinyl Communications)
SKYLINE – NOISEOTICA (CD by HarshHouse)
IMMEDIA – VIIRTUAL RECORDINGS OF IMAGINES SPACES (CDR)
FRANCISCO LOPEZ – UNTITLED #92 (LP by Mego)
MIRROR – FRONT ROW CENTRE (LP by Die Stadt)
DARREN BROWN – DARREN BROWN (CD)
STEVE PETERS – IN MEMORY OF THE FOUR WINDS (CD by Pianissimo)
C. SCHULZ & HAJSCH (CD by Sonig)
VARIOUS ARTISTS – GRAND MOFF WORKS 002 (Double CD-R by Grand Moff Works)
Please excuse me if I give you the wrong name here, but Cyrillic writing is
not my native one, so I’m just trying to get it right. It seems that this
release is a compilation featuring several bands with the following names
(I hope): MIG37, Barras, Radiance, Neu.X, Neutra and (probably) Dash. The
two CD-R’s come in a black rubber sleeve, which gives it a pretty kinky
look.
CD 1 is called ‘Coolaged’, which is quite a nice pun, of course, but
doesn’t sound like a collage at all. Radiance have two tracks on this disc,
the first of which is quite noisy with some loops. The second one is a lot
more quiet and subtle. Etheric ambient with some pops and cilcks here and
there.
Dash is the band closest to ‘regular’ music, using drums, bass tec.,
combined with noise elements. MIG37 is going more in the direction of power
electronics with loops and distorted sounds. Neu.X combine electronics with
acoustic recordings.
CD 2 is called ‘Arco2000’, of which I have no idea what it means. This disc
contains five longer tracks (all about 12 minutes), starting with Neu.X,
and actually this sounds a lot more like a collage than CD 1. Records and
probably a lot of other sources are mixed into one piece, which is at times
noisy, but certainly not too much. The atmosphere is kind of psychedelic
and dense. The use of records is so obvious, that I wonder if Neu.X isn’t
some kind of DJ thing. Next up is Barras with a pretty fierce blast of high
pitched noise, that dies away slowly into some kind of noisy impro session,
but ends up as a noise set. The development is pretty static: it stays
noisy for most of the piece, until there is some rest with a weird piece of
music with a slowed down singer. Then it gets noisy again. MIG37 are next
with a noisy piece as well. Their’s is a bit darker and has pumping rythms.
Neutra starts with a dark rumble with a slight rythm, which is cut off by
distorted feedback, which returns to the rumble again. This happens a few
times and gradually the piece builds up with the addition of other sounds.
The second part of the track is quiet and gentle. Last is Radiance with a
track that seems to be based on the voices from a film or something, but
heavily distorted. During the piece the voices dissappear and other sounds
are layered on top of the distortion.
A little more information about the origins of the bands would have been
nice, I guess, but I’m sure that you can get it from the adress below. (MR)
Adress: gmf@wanadoo.es
AS 11 – 00:00 (CD by Antifrost)
In a very nice cover comes a document of last New Year’s Eve, which is
defenitely the most remarkable one of the centuries to come. AS 11 recorded
the the event around 00:00 hrs. on December 31th 1999 and January 1st 2000
from several radio stations around the world and mixed it into this
collage. So, of course we hear a lot of counting in different languages,
followed by party music from all over the world. As a musical piece, this
is not really interesting, but as a historical document it certainly is.
This one can be enjoyed as such. (MR)
Adress: antifrost@siteilios.gr
RADBOUD MENS – “SINE” (CD-EP by Staalplaat)
The new release in Staalplaat’s ‘material series’ by Dutch ‘clickmaster’
Mens is made of perforated steel (this is the cover. mind you). The music
is made of pure electronic waves (sinewaves, I presume). Five tracks with a
steady beat and extremely clear sound. The first track is almost like an
intro to the rest of the disc. Mens is still holding back here, only to
unleash his full capacities in the next four tracks, which are all well
thought over and constructed, with a certain laid-back groove, but without
real dancefloor aspirations. The sound is deep, rich and complex at times,
and I even wonder if they were constructed purely from sinewaves (not that
this really matters, of course). And it has the sexiest basses I’ve heard
in a long time. This is a must for all the ‘clickheads’. (MR)
Adress: www.staalplaat.com
KK NULL – 0.0004 (CD by Vinyl Communications)
Bankrolled by Zeni Geva, K.K. Null gets to work on his
sound-sculpture/noise-ambient experiments. 0.0004, unlike the stiffer
TERMINAL BEACH, has a spontaneity that is centered, yet searching. Each
track — 1 through 11 — carries me along its own set of eerie
transcendental experiences. With guitar and “patented” nullsonics, Null
spans an extraordinary range of voices and barrage and although he risks
much — he connects it all with spider wire. Null’s din for me is clear and
cosmological — opening me up to the possibilities that lie in between the
measured and distinct polarities and raw expression sanctified. (GS)
Vinyl Communications – P. O. Box 8623 – Chula Vista, California 91912 – USA
SKYLINE – NOISEOTICA (CD by HarshHouse)
NOISEOTICA, the debut CD release from the US-based SKYLINE, demonstrates a
boundless talent for making fresh and challenging forms and breathing new
life into existing noise. The first sound is guitar (Skyking = D. Catera of
CONDEMEK), and it chews and claws up the air, soaring high. With a snap
it’s met by a rachetting beat that satellites down and is stitched in
entrail deep. The tools that made this recording — guitar, vinyl, and
other electro-induced manipulations — are not new by any stretch, but
their deployment on the house influenced “ABC,” as well as the vivisecting
“RAZORBARBREAKFAST” — offer a further sense of the angry consolation that
brings me, in my flight from monotony and tethered monodies, too hunt for
noise and beat in the first place. At every level — head, heart and gut,
NOISEOTICA — arouses and then haunts. (GS)
Address: Harsh House – PO Box 387 Canal Street Station – New York, New
York, USA 10013
IMMEDIA – VIIRTUAL RECORDINGS OF IMAGINES SPACES (CDR)
Immedia is a UK duo that focuss on the inaudible sound range via a series
of self-produced CDRs and one CDR for Microwave Recordings. Here they
present 10 pieces (all around 3 minutes) of recordings of silent spaces –
ranging from industrial to domestic sites. These recordings are looped and
merge with digitally created noise. The sound is very low and you really
have to listen very carefully – just as you would try hard to listen to
silence. Silence, we know since Cage went into the anechoic room, does not
exist, so it can be recorded. The very subtle sounds here have a strong
Lopezian taste – he could be Immedia, yet he is not. The big difference is
the length of the pieces – Whereas Lopez likes the long endurance, Immedia
keeps things short. It puzzles me why this is. The length seems almost
popsong like, but I am not sure if this is their intention, I guess not.
Not music to sit and listen to while reading the newspaper, but one that
requires a lot of attention. 31 minutes is enough, you need a good walk
afterwards. (FdW)
Address: <immedia@hotmail.com>
FRANCISCO LOPEZ – UNTITLED #92 (LP by Mego)
Music by Francisco Lopez is probably music to be reproduced by compact
discs. His sometimes – I dare not say always – low volume is hard to
reproduce on vinyl. Yet Lopez has done a handful of 7″s and they are nice,
since his silent music almost disappears in the crackling of the vinyl. To
do something with the crackling of vinyl might be the fundament of this LP
– his first. This is audible stuff, is the first remark we need to make
(the first question many people ask: “is this Lopez to be heard?”). In
fact, this is very present music, and very rhythmical music too. Lopez
recorded a bunch of sounds of records on a record table, but just the
rhythmical surface noise. The sounds are layered or slightly processed.
There are four tracks, of each roughly 10 minutes. One thing I don’t
understand is that the label says: “To be Multilayered with several
copies”. I always thought Lopez didn’t want to give any titles,
instructions etc, but leave it to the listener. This advice might be for
DJs, or maybe because it’s vinyl? I mean, you can multi-layer CD’s too? The
press thing says that you should play these four tracks simultaneously and
giant mass (maybe the blurb means mess?) of vinyl cracklings appear. I’ll
try that on my four track. Besides all of this, it turned out to be the
most suprising new Lopez since ‘La Selva’. (FdW)
Address: www.mego.at
MIRROR – FRONT ROW CENTRE (LP by Die Stadt)
Mirror seem to acquire a reputation through a handful of obscure releases.
This is their third LP already in less then a year, and there seems to be
some CDR which I haven’t heard (I can’t afford every limited to 146 copies
release). Mirror is the collaborational efforts between Christoph Heemann
(HNAS, Mimir and Current 93) and Andrew Chalk, who is mostly known as
Andrew Chalk. Especially the latter is known for his work with drones (his
LP on Streamline is a first class example of his work). Heemann isn’t known
as such per se, but on his many works you can detect a fine drone or two.
The information on the material used here is kinda absent, but who cares? I
think there is a track per side, and the sources could be anything: the
dishwasher or the stretched sample of an ant whose leg is pulled out. It
doesn’t really matter I think. Both pieces are very densely layered sounds
that are similar, but also in the process of multi-tracking fine, small
differences in sound colour make small things big. Things of course evolve
in a slow, majestic mood and the overall colour of this record is rather
dark. The drones captured here are not always, and not just altogether very
harmonic, but this adds to the creepy atmosphere inhabited in these spaces.
Not your average relax mood stuff, and exactely therefore my thing. (FdW)
Address: <jschwarz@diestadtmusik.de>
DARREN BROWN – DARREN BROWN (CD)
Darren Brown used to be in Boy Dirt Car and Impact Test, but since some 10
years working under his own name. The six tracks on this CD are his most
recent recordings, made in various locations around the world, then
manipulated and sampled and ‘finally edited in a car on Highway 101’ (this
I find puzzling). Dark moody atmospheric samples of rain and thunder with
an odd synth, mixed with a dark voice reciting desolation, lonelyness and
the longing for home. The sounds are stretched out and slowly evolve. The
overall setting can be described as ‘unsettling’, ‘uneasyness’. Like a pack
of wolves waiting out there. You sense their presence, yet you can’t see
them yet. Excellent music for a horror movie (which Hollywood should
finally acknowledge and give some of these people a job!). Creepy, yet
essential music. (FdW)
Address: no address given…
STEVE PETERS – IN MEMORY OF THE FOUR WINDS (CD by Pianissimo)
Steve Peters is head honcho of the Nonsequitur label (and all their
divisions, including Pianissimo), but finds time to work on his own music.
His beautiful disc Emanations was released some time ago on OO Discs and
was an installation with feedback sounds. This new CD is music for ‘Flight
Path’, a dance/theater work by Doranne Crable. Unlike Emanations, which was
mainly an electrical work, this one includes natural sounds, such birds,
insects, pine needles in combination with voice, feedback and violin. Even
when indexed as one track, this has distinct parts. There are pure nature
parts, in which the voices of the animals merge together and there are
parts that contain pure musical instruments. Plus between these parameters
everything else. The textures are minimal, slow movements but at the same
time beautiful. Hard to believe no samplers were used, but maybe some
repitition is part of nature, who knows. Wind, obviously with a title like
this, plays an important role. This CD is dedicated to composer Jerry Hunt
and filmmaker Joris Ivens who made a film about the wind (and who came from
the same city as I am, but do you care about that?). A very tranquil CD
with lots of events happening. (FdW)
Address: <nonseq@flash.net>
C. SCHULZ & HAJSCH (CD by Sonig)
The return of the lost sons of Cologne. Haven’t heard something about these
boys in ages. C. Schulz’s LP ’10. Hose Horn’ was a favourite of mine a
decade aago, or was it longer? Hajsch released a likewise LP with his group
PFN on his Quiet Artworks label. Ah, such long time, what a nostalgia. I
haven’t got the faintest idea what they have been doing the last 10 years,
at least I can’t imagine that they just worked on this disc. Now that may
sound like a negative judgement, but its not. From a bunch of friends they
received sounds, either location recordings or music recordings. Together
with the own instruments (organ, harmonium, wind instruments, more field
recordings, window shadess), they blend nine miniatures together, spanning
exactely 43 minutes. The cosy crackling of the fire, blended with concrete
sounds and drony minimalist textures as the icing of the cake. Each of the
tracks have their own specific character and the result is a very varied
CD. Not the masterwork we’ve been waiting for, but certainly a very nice
work. As far as I’ concerned they can do once a year such a work. (FdW)
Address: sonig – Kleiner Griechenmarkt 28-30 – 50676 Koln – Germany