============
VITAL WEEKLY
============
number 509
---------------------
week 3
---------------------
Vital Weekly, the webcast: as an experiment
for the time being, 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!
http://www.vitalweekly.net
you can subscribe to the weekly broadcast using the following
rss feed:
http://www.harmlog.nl/vitalfeed.asp
New broadcasts will be sent directly when uploaded. For more information
on
podcasts go here: http://ipodder.sourceforge.net/
* noted are in this week's podcast
THE GATES ENSEMBLE - 16 OCTOBER 03 (CD by
Spectral House)
THE SKULL DEFEKTS - OPEN THE GATES OF MIMER (CD by A Double A)
ROTHKAMM - FB01 (CD by Flux Records) *
BUILD BUILDINGS - THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH MY TAPE RECORDER (CD,
private) *
HENRI CHOPIN - LA DANSE DES TONNE AUX ROULANTS ET BRISES (CD by
Erratum) *
ERRATUM #4 (3CD by Erratum)
JOACHIM MONTESSUIS - ERRANCES 1993-2005 (CD by Galerie Lara Vincy)
*
THE PSYCHIC PARAMOUNT - LIVE 2002 THE FRANCO-ITALIAN TOUR (CD
by Public Guilt)
MAGICICADA - EVERYONE IS EVERYONE (CD by Public Guilt)
THE WALLS ARE WHSIPERING VOLUME 3 (CD compilation by EE Tapes)
LABEL SAMPLER (CD compilation by SRL)
DERAIL - ENGINE ROOM (CD by High Mayhem) *
RAY CHARLES IVES - CLANDESTINE PEDESTRIAN (CD by High Mayhem)
IDEA FIRE COMPANY - STRANDED (LP by Swill Radio)
LA BOUTIQUE AUX CHANSONS (CDR compilation by Inati) *
FCKNBSTRDS - SYLVESTER IM KNIESCHUSSCLUB (CDR by de Hondenkoekjesfabriek)
*
FESSENDEN - CAPTURE/CREATE (CDR by Entracte) *
ZANG - THE OPPOSING PLAYER'S MOVE (CDR by Zang) *
ZANG MINI FESTIVAL (CDR compilation by Zang)
8ROLEK - 9 GRATIS (MP3 by Mik Musik) *
KRABATOF PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA - INSECT'S BRAIN (MP3)
Obituary: Hiroyasu Kondo
THE GATES ENSEMBLE - 16 OCTOBER 03 (CD by
Spectral House)
Two extended pieces of group-improvisation from an ensemble from
Austin, Texas.
As the title indicates the recordings are made a few years ago,
but now they found their way to the audience through Spectral
House, an independent label based in Austin focusing on modern
experimental music. In 2002 the ensemble released their first
CD on this label in a very limited edition. The ensemble was formed
in 2001 and is specialized in electro-acoustic music.
The first piece 'Reinforce one another, conditions for contraction'
is a graphic score by Travis Weller (violin, computer). "The
six performers are given graphic instructions to create sound
events at specific times. Each sound event has a degree of 'density'
and 'consistency'. Since no instructions for pitch, timbre, and
loudness are given, the performers improvise between the boundaries
of stability and space with the goal of spontaneous musical collaboration."
Besides Weller we hear: Brent Fariss (contrabass, electronics),
Jacob Green (piano on first track, sampler), Holland Hopson (banjo!,
computer), Josh Ronsen (clarinet, piano on second track), Bill
Thompson (computer, electronics). All musicians are involved with
the Austin New Music Co-Op.
The second piece as an untitled improvisation that I liked even
more. It's a very dynamic and impressive improvisation that has
more soul then the first piece.
Both pieces were recorded live at the Ballet Austin Academy. Alas
the recording sound as if there was only one microphone on stage.
But both pieces make clear that these six improvisers are great
musicians who are able to produce some cohesive music in their
explorations of pure sound. Careful listening is demanded and
rewarded. If you want a point of reference, I would say they belong
to the tradition that started with AMM. On the other hand, with
their organized improvisations they shake hands with people like
Butch Morris or John Zorn. (DM)
Address: http://www.spectralhouse.com/
THE SKULL DEFEKTS - OPEN THE GATES OF MIMER
(CD by A Double A)
A lot of the computer microsound glitch whatever musicians have
their backgrounds in rock music and some even occasionally return
to rock music, just for the fun of it. The Skull Defekts is such
a band, consisting of Joachim Nordwall (of the Ideal label) and
Henrik Rylander (who made some fame of his own), later with Eric
Olofsson and Jean-Louis Huhta (of Oscid). On 'Open The Gates Of
Mimer', however still a duo with the help of Lasse Marhaug and
Thomas Ekelund. The Skull Defekts play a heavy, loud and slow
guitar music, in which feedback plays an important role. 'Open
The Gates Of Mimer' is a live recording and that's something of
a pity. There is definitely a plan behind this piece of music,
making it grow heavily throughout the fifty-five minutes that
this piece lasts, but it seems that the Skull Defekts sometimes
loose their grip on the piece, and the mighty break up of the
crescendo sometimes is a bit lost. But in the end they reach whatever
they want to reach, and the CD ends in complete noise mayhem (probably
thanks to good ol' Marhaug). A somewhat shorter and tighter studio
version would have been it's place, but this is certainly quite
enjoyable too, if you like to cross the boundaries of noise and
rock music. Heavy duty shit, I guess is what they say then. (FdW)
Address: http://www.a-double-a.com
ROTHKAMM - FB01 (CD by Flux Records)
The name Frank Rothkamm first popped up in Vital Weekly in 1998,
when he released a miniCD on Flux Records (which I believe is
his own label) of rather outdated ambient music, which sounded
however quite nice. On Flux Records he was also responsible for
a couple of weird and conceptual releases, such as a 12"
on piano tuning. Since then he released a couple of more things,
but nothing with great speed or urge. Rothkamm is also the designer
of the 'data processing instrument system IFORMM, deployed since
the summer of 2002 for the realization of pure electronic music'.
In the booklet of 'FB01' there is a lengthy text on electronic
and computer generated music, which is a bit beyond me, but then
again, I was never good at doing math's. The twelve pieces on
the CD however are quite nice. Very classical in approach. 'Synthesized
only through mathematical operations on sine waves' it says, and
it sounds like a pure electronic piece from the Cologne studios
in the fifties in combination with more freely sci-fi soundtracks
from the sixties, such as the one from 'Forbidden Planet'. Rothkamm
however chooses the format of a popsong, marking an important
difference with the lengthier works of years and years ago. It's
certainly great music, but at twelve tracks it is also a bit long.
The classic format of eight tracks (LP length) would have made
this into a perfect thing. Now it's certainly three tracks too
long. (FdW)
Address: http://www.fluxrecords.com
BUILD BUILDINGS - THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH
MY TAPE RECORDER (CD, private)
Although Build Buildings, aka Ben Tweel is from the USA, his third
album sounded very english. Tweel creates his music with the use
of computers, instruments, household noises and records, but gives
the material a serious twist around and comes up with a rather
english sound. English as in music released by such labels as
Highpoint Lowlife or Expanding Records. Stuttering rhythms not
unlike some of the good ol' Oval (such as in 'Notices'), but on
the top of each song, there is a strong sense of melancholic keyboards
lines or computer processed instruments. What these are is hard
to tell. Perhaps guitars. However it would be too easy to pin
Build Buildings down as a mere copy cat of his UK counterparts.
Whereas some of those are in an altogether too strict genre, Build
Buildings shows that he is capable of producing a much more varied
album. The twelve pieces here show craftmanship in creating fine
tunes that are different to the other ones on the same CD. This
makes this into a most enjoyable release, with enough variations
to keep things interesting to the end. A strong blend of IDM,
glitch and clicks and cuts. Very nice. (FdW)
Address: http://www.buildbuildings.com
HENRI CHOPIN - LA DANSE DES TONNE AUX ROULANTS
ET BRISES (CD by Erratum)
ERRATUM #4 (3CD by Erratum)
JOACHIM MONTESSUIS - ERRANCES 1993-2005 (CD by Galerie Lara Vincy)
This is probably the oldest living sound artist that made into
the pages of Vital Weekly. Chopin is now in his 80s (!) and still
going strong, recording music and I believe even sometimes performing
live. In the fifties he started recording his sound poetry, in
a highly unique manner, then had a magazine for sound poetry,
Revue OU (magazine and record) and since the mid nineties his
career had another boost, after the release of 'Les 9 Saint-Phonies'.
Since, a whole young generation became acquainted with his music/poetry,
that is so strictly his own thing. Henri Chopin belongs to no
movement, nor scene. This CD, recorded in 2003, has a short piece,
a longer one and a really long one, and if you never heard Chopin,
it's not easy to describe what it sounds like. Sometimes it sounds
like he's breathing in the microphone, sometimes a French word
is shouted. There is a clever use of stereo (the man works, still,
with reel to reel tape recorders, lovingly depicted in the booklet).
It's not language as we know it, but it's the language of Chopin
and his body, mouth, lungs, stomach. A superficial listening session
could lead to the conclusion that this is all too simple and could
easily be repeated, but I don't believe that to be true if you
listen well. There is a lot of small variation and structure to
be noted in this recording. Still, now in his 80s, Henri Chopin
is a totally unique voice and should be an example for us all.
They might certainly an example for all those people that are
packed on the triple CD compilation 'Erratum #4', which is a magazine
on CD. Subtitled 'Sound Review' and 'Art + Noise + Poetry', this
is three times seventy minutes of exactly just that: noise, art
and poetry - in no particular order. Fifty-four tracks here with
loads and loads of people I never heard of (Arno Fabre, Michel
Giroud, Doctor Courbe, EHB, David Larcher, Llorence Barber, Samon
Takahashi, Charles Pennequin), but also loads and loads of well-known
people from various directions, such as AGF, Lee Ranaldo, Francisco
Lopez, Brandon Labelle and Phill Niblock. Some of the more surprising
tracks include a Lopez take on death metal (he was there before,
but didn't continue, it seemed), a short but nice clicks and cuts
piece by Tommi Gronlund/Petteri Nisunen, Christina Kubish playing
a somewhat harsher tune than we are used to, an ode to Kurt Schwitters
by Jacques Demarq and Michel Giroud's 'Dog Song'. Signature pieces
by Pierre Andre Arcand, AGF, Julien Ottavi, Le Depeupleur and
Christophe Charles/Hennig Christiansen. Chopin's best students
are Randy Yau and Michel Giroud: they come closest to the original
music of Chopin. An overload of music here, but throughout most
enjoyable.
The Erratum label, who released these two CDs, is run by one Joachim
Montessuis, who is a musician/visual artist in his own right.
His 'Errances 1993-2005' is a collection of pieces, packed inside
a book of visuals of his concerts. If I understood the text correctly,
Montessuis' work is also based on the use of voice, but the treatments
he does with them, make them way beyond the original voice. Montessuis
uses different kinds of treatments to arrive at different kinds
of results. Sometimes he goes all the way into pure noise, such
as in 'Nierica' or '08042005', but things work better for me when
it's more calm and relaxing, such as the absolutely nicely drones
of 'Eros Is Eros Is Eros' or '29112004', which is recorded with
Tibetan monks. In the latter the voice is clearly the thing that
makes the piece (the only one on the CD), but on the first things
are layered and shifting around like a good early Steve Reich
piece. Some of the pieces are quite long, but throughout this
is quite an enjoyable CD. (FdW)
Address: http://www.erratum.org
Address: http://www.lara-vincy.com
THE PSYCHIC PARAMOUNT - LIVE 2002 THE FRANCO-ITALIAN
TOUR (CD by Public Guilt)
MAGICICADA - EVERYONE IS EVERYONE (CD by Public Guilt)
There is so much stuff out there to discover, that it's hard to
keep up but if a band are called The Psychic Paramount, I can't
resist to put a tired smile to my face, which changed half way
through the CD: this isn't some dark gothic band along the lines
of some many thing Psychic(k), but rather a free rock unit that
really rocks the house. The band was formed five days before going
on tour; the tour on which this CD was recorded. That too is something
of a surprise. The band consists of Drew St. Ivany on guitar and
Ben Armstrong on bass and for this tour Tatsuya Nakatani on drums
(now they have Jeff Conaway). They play lengthy pieces of free
rock, along the lines of the Acid Mothers Temple, with similar
furious intend. Since these are the recordings from the very very
early stages of this band, I have no idea what they sound like
these days, but the raw and untamed quality of this diamond is
very nice. Energetic noise working like an oil pump for your adrenaline.
Of a totally different nature is Magicicada, aka Christopher White
and also someone I never heard of. Apparently he is always recording
and performing on a wide array of sound devices pump organ, voice,
contact mics on faulty electric lines, melodica, toys, iron balls
rolling wooden floors etc (this being not even half the list)
and has had a couple of releases on CD and CDR. Every track on
the CD is noted with long lists of recording notes, and if you
read them, they give the impression of someone who is also frantically
moving about. Not caring about how or why, this is best described
as 'outsider' music. It moves along lines of improvised music,
eastern and western folk music, lo-fi singer songwriter stuff
and minimalist patterns on the cello, but never going to be anything
close to being accessible: there is a strong element of experimental
music to it, but at the same time things remain highly listenable.
Again, great stuff. (FdW)
Address: http://www.publicguilt.com
THE WALLS ARE WHSIPERING VOLUME 3 (CD compilation
by EE Tapes)
When the second volume of 'The Walls Are Whispering' was reviewed
(Vital Weekly 439, volume one in 423), it was said that the third
volume would be released by the end of the year 2004, but for
reasons unknown another year was added. To refresh your memory:
'The Walls Are Whispering' are three compilation CDs with dark
ambient music of whatever kind, be it drone related, be it more
rhythmical or be it more soundscape/field recording like. The
series collects some of the better known names in this area with
some new comers, such as Acid...Soma and Azymbol, here on the
third volume. The various field recorders are represented here
by MNortham, Seth Nehil and Yannick Dauby. The darker ambient
comes from Shifts, Azymbol, Acid...Soma and Contagious Orgasm
(the latter two being also the most noise related here), whereas
Oren Ambarchi and Fear Falls Burning use the guitar to drone away.
The two surprising pieces are by Eric Lanzillota (who has settled
now as a composer of music) with a nice pure electronic piece
of shifting clusters of sound and Felix Kubin who does something
likewise. They are both atmospheric in approach, but are different
than the much of the other pieces (here, as-well as on the previous
two volumes). It's another good volume and with all three one
should have a good guide to what is available in this field of
music. (FdW)
Address: http://www.eetapes.be
LABEL SAMPLER (CD compilation by SRL)
SRL, or Suburb. The Record Label is again a new label from London
and they signed a lot of artists, many of which are already signed
to other labels. All of them operate in the realms of electronic
music, but each in a specific area thereof. Ambient, techno, IDM
and even hip hop, they are all featured here. The only name I
recognized is Bovaflux, but also included are Praveen, Nameless,
Blamstrain, 11t1, Buddy Peace, Hyl and Immovable Object. They
are serve with nice pieces, but the only stand-out was 'Malt Water'
by Buddy Peace, with nicely sampled guitars and drums, making
it into a fine rock/breakbeat piece with a guitar that sounds
like George Harrison. Definitely a place to check out new names
if Highpoint Lowlife, Ai or Expanding Records attracted your attention
before. (FdW)
Address: http://www.suburbtherecordlabel.co.uk
DERAIL - ENGINE ROOM (CD by High Mayhem)
RAY CHARLES IVES - CLANDESTINE PEDESTRIAN (CD by High Mayhem)
Derail is a Santa Fe-based trio by Roland Ostheim (guitar, vocals,
rhodes), Adam Fried (bass) and Michael Smith (drums, electronics),
plus Zack Condon (trumpet on track 3), formed in 2003. In november
2003 they played at the High Mayhem Experimental Multi-Media Festival.
Recordings were made at the 2004 edition of this festival, and
found their way to their first one, 'Engine Room'. It's impressive
how quick they developed into a real band in one year, ready to
climb the stages of a festival. Listening to 'Engine Room' I guess
these musicians have a rock background. With their extensive noisy
excursions they surely create an intense atmosphere, but their
rock music is not of a very interesting kind in my view. Endlessly
they are jamming around but 'it' never happens. It did my best
to discover some original idea, but alas I couldn't find anything
of that kind.
Ray Charles Ives is a duo of Diplomat and Feathericci. The wordplay
is obvious: Ray Charles and Charles Ives seem point of reference
for this duo. Like Derail they are also from Santa Fe. With 'Clandestine
Pedestrian' they make their debut: 5 pieces on a 30 minute mini-cd.
They make use of drums, bass, fender rhodes, sampler, loops and
voice. The combination of these traditional instruments like drums,
fender rhodes and bass on the one hand, and samplers on the other
hand defines their sound. In each track they lay down an instrumental
grooving pattern, that slowly moves on. Don't expect complex of
surprising compositions, it's dance music. Typical white funky
music. No doubt this stuff works on the dance floor. Pieces are
built up as they should and have a hypnotizing effect. The beat
by the drums and the bass lines make up a good team with solid
interaction. The music is completed with a diversity of sampled
sounds plus keyboards. (DM)
Address: http://www.highmayhem.org/
IDEA FIRE COMPANY - STRANDED (LP by Swill
Radio)
It was quite a long wait, but here is at last a new LP by Idea
Fire Company, which is good news (and even better news is that
they are to do some European concerts early March 2006, some may
include a screening of Scott Foust' feature film 'Here's To Love').
On this record, as before with their last release 'Rags To Riches'
(see Vital Weekly 404), Idea Fire Company is a four piece group
of Scott Foust (radio, tapes, treatments), Karla Borecky (synth,
voice, tiny piano), Jessi Leigh Swenson (synth, voice) and Meara
O'Reilly (synth, voice) and Graham Lambin on one track (credited
with Lambkinization). Idea Fire Company goes with 'Stranded' even
further down the line with playing 'ugly' drone music. Things
are heavily minimal, with sounds being repeated, but also there
are twisted around in a very subtle manner. 'Heroes' contains
of all them chanting, against a very slow rhythm - perhaps a cover
of Bowie? 'Wünderwäffen' is carried by a very dark synthline
over which other synths are buzzing and throbbing. A powerful
piece. The two parts of the title piece contain field recordings.
This is much more free music than the Idea Fire Company work we
knew from before, liberated from rhythms and melodies, this is
by far the best thing I heard from them so far. (FdW)
Address: http://www.anti-naturals.org
LA BOUTIQUE AUX CHANSONS (CDR compilation
by Inati)
'Using the process of song writing as a metaphor for democratic
participation in culture', Kosten Koper asked anyone to write
lyrics and then he invited some musicians to set these songs to
music. This CDR contains a selection of those songs, as set to
music by Bing Selfish, Pieter Kock (of Hitmachine fame) and The
Retrosexuals (which include Neck Doppler and members of Eye And
Ear Control). This CDR is a documentation of the event, which
includes spoken word announcements (as separate tracks on the
CDR), radio announcements (en francais, since this was made in
Brussels) and the songs itself. The recording quality is not overall
great, which is a pity since it makes the overall thing quite
lo-fi. Pieter Kock plays a couple of tracks, accompanied on his
cheap casio keyboards, perhaps a bit like Felix Kubin spending
the night with Captain Beefheart. Bing Selfish (who is the editor
of the comic El Frenzy) plays guitar like a good singer songwriter,
but who is on speed. The Retrosexuals has probably made the most
effort in turning the lyrics into real songs, bursting with energetic
rhythm machines, synths and multi-vocals. As a documentation this
is more than fun, although the varying quality of songs, execution
and recording. And free, if you care to pay for the postage. (FdW)
Address: http://www.inati2004.org
FCKNBSTRDS - SYLVESTER IM KNIESCHUSSCLUB
(CDR by de Hondenkoekjesfabriek)
The whole evening of sylvester is for me never much of a celebration,
just waiting and waiting for fireworks to disturb the movie I'm
watching and an unpleasant interruption of drinking a glass of
red wine. Of course I could go out and see say the Fcknbstrds
live at Knieschussclub in Bremen, Germany. They started at 23:45
and played for forty-five minutes, into the new year. I'm sure
if I really want to do that, since the concert is now available
as a CDR and home is where the hurt is. Fcknbstrds are a bunch
of unrelentness noise makers from The Netherlands, playing a rather
lo-fi version of noise on a bunch of cheap electronics, some distortion
pedals and an endless stream of screams. Whatever the lyrics may
mean, it's of course of no real importance. Their sound is not
so much a consistent stream of noise, but more chaotic, bouncing
back and forth, humming small melodies on cheap keyboards and
feedback going berserk. The Fcknbstrds are never about doing something
different in what they do, but as always they do what they do
best: get drunk, play noise, have fun. It's a party and if you
like it, join in on whatever level. (FdW)
Address: http://www.fcknbstrds.com
FESSENDEN - CAPTURE/CREATE (CDR by Entracte)
This is my first encounter with Fessenden, a trio of Joshua Convey
on bass, Stephen Fiehn on CD players, guitar and Ipod and Steven
Hess on drums and vibraphone. They are from Chicago and the two
pieces on this release where recorded during rehearsals, direct
on minidisc. Their music has an improvised character, but also
seems to be working along 'fixed' lines. A strong love of minimal
music is present, with small sounds being repeated, and slowly
hiss fading in, but all of the sounds seem to be played with a
sense of non-importance: no sound, no instrument seems to want
to take the lead, jumps out of it, but each one seems to be equally
important. It's hard to avoid such terms as microsound or onkyo
improvisation here, but Fessenden certainly play two nice pieces
of their own version of this kind of music and do a more than
excellent job. It could have been easily released on the Object
series by Locust Music, which carried similar music. Quite nice
indeed. (FdW)
Address: http://www.entracte.co.uk
ZANG - THE OPPOSING PLAYER'S MOVE (CDR by
Zang)
ZANG MINI FESTIVAL (CDR compilation by Zang)
Zang stands for many things: a label, a music project, a firm
and a concert promoter. Zang is Helge Olav Øksendal and
Pal Asle Pettersen from Stavanger, Norway, who both turned 30
last year (this becomes important later on). As the band Zang,
they have a project called 'The Opposing Player's Move', in which
they take recordings of someone else and rework/recompose/transform
them. First they did this with the saxophone sounds of Frode Gjerstad,
and here they do the same thing with the organ improvisations
of Nils Henrik Asheim, a composer from the Stavenger. His playing
was cut together, spliced up and transformed inside the computer.
It would be altogether too easy to transform organ recordings
into a mighty powerful piece of drone music, but Zang chooses
for a more collage-like, musique concrete like manner. The pieces
are short and too the point, and the walks a fine like between
the original organ sound (including such sounds as the pump from
the organ itself) and it's transformations. Quite a strong work.
As said both labelowners turned 30 last year and they invited
their local friends from Stavanger to play short concerts. The
eleven short pieces (perhaps the entire concert of each?, we are
not sure) are mixed bunch of noise, techno, micro-glitch music
and improvised sound. The track by Nes, 'Russer.faen' is an absolutly
price winner in the category of kitsch, with it's sampled together
Russian popmusic. Included are Bjerga/Iversen, P'Diggi, Anders
Gjerde, DJ Bahn, Sten Ove Toft and more. Quite a nice bunch altogether.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.kunst.no/paal.asle/
8ROLEK - 9 GRATIS (MP3 by Mik Musik)
This is a release that was already reviewed, almost three years
ago, when we were first introduced to the music of 8Rolek. Back
then it was called 'Dziewiata Gratis' (see Vital Weekly 353),
and had eight tracks, now it has nine. But it's also remastered
and in connection with the title, it's also gratis as a free MP3
download. After this album 8Rolek started to explore further the
energies in electro-punk, but on '9 Gratis' it's still safe and
warm inside the cold clicks and cuts of so much in the Mille Plateaux
catalogue. Dry rhythms and plug ins taking the material much further
away into space, but sometimes the proceedings are a bit too easy,
too single-minded and too straightforward. Now, three years later
this may sound a bit outdated, and overtly simple, compared to
his more recent work, but from a historical point of view it's
quite ok. And with no money involved, certainly worth checking
out. (FdW)
Address: http://www.mikmusik.org/9gratis/
KRABATOF PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA - INSECT'S
BRAIN (MP3)
Now that is quite a mouth full, Krabatof Philharmonic Orchestra,
a project by one Ludovic Guerry from Geneva, Switzerland. He calls
his music 'experimental noise ambient', a 'minimal and raw project,
computer generated/modified noises, field recordings and many
weird sounds mixed together'. On his own website he has published
the album 'Insect's Brain', which is a nice collection of what
he does. Deep rumbles, harsher processings but also processed
classical music, make up this music. It's microsound, but it's
also related to a more noise related version thereof, without
the harsher overtones of say Merzbow (even when he's a bit softer,
which is not often). A bit more abrasive sounding, without loosing
a keen eye on structure. Perhaps not so innovative, but quite
alright altogether. (FdW)
Address: http://www.krabatof.org/winter.htm
Obituary: Hiroyasu Kondo
by Akos Garai
"We regret to inform that on January 8th 2006, Hiroyasu Kondo, founder of Audio Note Japan, passed away peacefully in his sleep while attending the CES audio show in Las Vegas. He is survived by his wife, Kazuko; his son, Yuji; and his daughter, Hisae.
Hiroyasu Kondo, the second son of a Buddhist priest, was a professor of electronic engineering and molecular metallurgy. He founded Audio Note in Japan in 1976, facilitating his desire to develop audio equipment capable of reproducing the essence of artistic performance captured in recorded music. He was often referred to as the "silver smith" for his revolutionary use of age annealed silver in his audio equipment. The Kondo ONGAKU amplifier will forever be a symbol of his success. He was the Picasso of contemporary audio design.
Kondo San had suffered ill health for some time. In order to ensure that the Kondo standard would flourish, he appointed his close colleague Masaki Ashizawa as President of Audio Note Japan six months ago. Ashizawa San has worked with Kondo San for the past 16 years and shared Kondo San's passion for creating "perfect sound."
On behalf of Kondo San's family, we would like to thank all those people from around the world who have sent tributes expressing their affection for Kondo San and acknowledging his place in audio history."
Ákos Garai
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), The Square Root Of Sub (MP
<sub@xs4all.nl>), Dolf Mulder (DM) <dolf.mulder@hetnet.nl>,
Meelkop Roel (MR), Gerald
Schwartz (GS), Niels Mark Pedersen (NMP), Henry Schneider (SH),
Jeff
Surak (JS), TJ Norris (TJN), Gregg Kowlaksky (GK), Craig N (CN),
Boban Ristevski (BR), Maurice Woestenburg (MW), Toni Dimitrov
(TD <info@fakezine.tk>), Chris Jeely (CJ) and others on
a less regular basis.
This is 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.
Announcements can be shortened by the editor. Please do NOT send
any
attachments/jpeg's, we will trash them without viewing.
There is no point in directing us to MP3 sites, as we will not
go there. Any MP3 release to be reviewed should be burned as an
audio CDR and send to the address above.
the complete archive of Vital Weekly (1-494) can be found at: http://staalplaat.com/vital/