Z’EV – SYMPHONY #2: ELEMENTALITIES (CD by Blossoming Noise) *
MERZBOW – F.I.D. (2CD by Fourth Dimension Records) *
GROUP (CD by Formed Records) *
DEADWOOD – 8/19 (CD by Cold Spring)
ANDREY KIRITCHENKO – STUFFED WITH/OUT (CD by Nexsound) *
JUKEBOX BUDDHA (CD by Staubgold)
WALDCHENGARTEN – DISTRACTIONS (CD by Phisteria) *
MARCUS SCHMICKLER – DEMOS (FOR CHOIR, CHAMBER QUINTET AND ELECTRONIC MUSIC ENSEMBLE) (LP by A-Musik) *
ENDE SHNEAFLIET – TWISTIN’ ON THE TOMBSTONES (2LP by Enfant Terrible) *
THE LEGENDARY PINK DOTS – THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY SINGLE: LEGACY 81/LEGACY 06 (7″ by Some Fine Legacy) *
MYSTIFIED – FRAGMENT, COMPRESS (CDR by Gruenrekorder)
CARSTEN KLOOK & TASCHE – TALK SLALOM (CDR by Gruenrekorder)
GIESELA – WEISS (CDR by Gruenrekorder) *
ARTURAS BUMSTEINAS – PLAYS WITH DIE SCOTTISCHE SYMPHONIE BY JOSEPH BEUYS (MP3 by Mixthemixthemix) *
CORROSIVE MIXTURES (CDR by Hidden) *
CHARLEMAGNE PALESTINE – THE GOLDEN MEAN (MP3 by 7Hings)
NMPERIGN – LIVE IN THE UK (MP3 by 7Hings)
ZOE IRVINE – MAGNETIC MIGRATION MUSIC (MP3 by 7Hings) *
YANNIS KYRIAKIDES & ANDY MOOR – REBETIKA (MP3 by 7Hings)
PETER DOWLING – DON’T TOUCH ME! (I HATE YOU SOMETIMES) (MP3 by 7Hings)
VINTAGE 909 – SCANNING (MP3 by 7Hings)
BOUTROS BUBBA – HEARING VOICST IN A BEER COMMERCIAL MAKES ME WANNA GET DRUNK (MP3 by Narrominded)
PFAFF – HOW EXPLAIN DE FLIPSTAND TO A FRIEND (MP3 by Narrominded)
HYDRUS – POSTCARDS (MP3 by Narrominded) *
Z’EV – SYMPHONY #2: ELEMENTALITIES (CD by Blossoming Noise)
First of all I need to apologize to z’ev for misspelling his name wrongly over the past few reviews. It’s either z’ev or Z’EV but not Z’ev. I am sure I will do wrong again in the future. It seems as though mister z’ev is quite busy these days. In the pipeline are collaborations with Nigel Ayers, Francisco Lopez, Soma, Kasper T Toeplitz and NON, as well as various solo works, of which ‘Symphony #2 : Elementalities’ is the most recent one, and according to z’ev himself the best work he ever did. It has nine movements of sound and nine poems in the booklet. The source material for this CD comes from a previous CD by z’ev, ‘Ghost Stories’ (on Soleilmoon), which was recorded in 1991 in concert, in a gallery in Amsterdam. Apparently z’ev uses the gaps between the section, where sounds from the street would come in, drunk people and tram sounds. It was a large space, so all of this sound and reflections thereof is used in this new work. The sound are smeared out over many tracks in the studio (or multitrack software), and each is a specific mix of a number of tracks, ten tracks being the smallest number and fifty two tracks the highest number. I am not entirely sure how z’ev made this, as there seems to be metal sounds also used, but the more tracks he uses, the more the sounds are layered, swirling around each other, being out of sync, and thus creating new rhythms, like dry echos and odd phasing. In the pieces that use lesser tracks, the emphasis lies more on rhythm in a more pure sense. I am not sure if I would call this z’ev’s finest hour, but it’s certainly one of his finer hours indeed. (FdW)
Address: http://www.blossomingnoise.com
MERZBOW – F.I.D. (2CD by Fourth Dimension Records)
A while ago I gave up on collecting everything by Merzbow. It was with some pain, but occasionally I like to hear things again and again, and with the sheer amount of Merzbow material (and other listening habits) it turned out to be impossible. So now I just hear whatever lands on this desk, and skip whatever is too limited. Since a couple of years, Merzbow is fighting the good cause of animal rights, so one pound of every CD goes to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (www.peta.org.uk to put in my five pence). I learned that Merzbow is using various techniques for his CDs and that each of the releases explores a specific sound concept. ‘F.I.D.’ works with ‘analogue feedback sounds’, transformed by a whole bunch of effect pedals. So it’s a bit like the early nineties releases, before Merzbow went digital and an era of Merzbow which I particularly liked (the first few laptop albums were not really well spend on me). Having not played any of that in quite a while (I believe since playing the entire Merzbox in one go) this is a good re-introduction for me. The noise spatters out of the speakers in a total furious mode. No animal sounds were used, as far as I can tell. This is a good, solid Merzbow work, which probably the fans already cherish, but newcomers should be having this too, if only for the fact that some of the older stuff is no longer available. (FdW)
Address: http://www.adverse-effect.com
GROUP (CD by Formed Records)
Group is a trio, perhaps of a more temporarily nature, of Ernest Karel (trumpet, analog electronics), Kyle Bruckmann (oboe, English horn, analog electronics) and Giuseppe Ielasi (electronics, guitar, piano). Bruckmann and Karel are perhaps also known as EGK, and as such having released various works on such labels as Locust and Sedimental. Ielasi is by now a well-known improviser, having played with a whole bunch of people, as well as some beautiful solo CDs. The material on this CD was recorded by the three of them during a tour in New England, in April 2005 and later expanded in the respective home studios (Ielasi in Milan and Karel in Berlin). Karel mixed three tracks and Ielasi two. That is the statistics of this release. It sounds great, but it sounds also like you would expect this to sound, if you know any of their previous work. The trademark sounds of both are in there. The analog synthesizer sounds, playing all sorts of blocks, saw and square sounds, the careful blowing of the trumpet and the horn, which represent the EGK part of this, and Ielasi’s love of drone music played on sustaining guitars, and sparse piano notes and field recordings on top. In the fourth (untitled) piece, mixed by Ielasi, suddenly a lonesome trumpet sound pops up, adding a whole new dimension to the music, a sense of melancholy, even the music stays very abstract. This is the kind of improvisation that works very much along the lines of new methods of playing, but which is free to enough to bend and break their own rules. Not entirely a big surprise, but it’s a very fine disc altogether. (FdW)
Address: http://www.formedrecords.com
DEADWOOD – 8/19 (CD by Cold Spring)
There is no time to prepare on this assault! Seconds after you begin the exploration into the evil territories of this impressive debut by Swedish composer Deadwood hell breaks loose. With a background as vocalist in Swedish black metal band Blodulv, Nekro ( a.k.a. Morn) has on this solo project changed the musical direction though he compositionally still operates in the spheres of extreme expression. Combined with a complete absence of melody or anything remotely resembling conventional song structures, Deadwood are stretching the notion of what constitutes music. This is true classic power electronics/death-industrial, combining heavy low-end rumblings, impenetrably dark atmospheres, moans and chants from the grave, and overwhelming feedback to create six works of abrasive brilliance. Bursts of shrill white noise and grossly distorted, malevolent sounding vocals provide a break from the monotony even though the main part of the tracks has a running time of 10+ minutes. Opening with the furious 11 minutes piece of full-throttle energy “Antabus” the poor listener are being washed over by giant waves of distorted noise explosions slowly building up until they explode in cathartic aggressions. Only sign left of the composer’s black metal background is the vocal-style sounding like the characteristic black metal-stylish voice sucked into a machinery of aural machismo making it sound even more atrocious. Where the opening track took the listener into a heavy storm of sonic aggression the storm seems more distant on the following track titled “Crushing on” metaphorically comparable to the feeling of experiencing thunders and lightning from a distant horizon. The noise drones on “Crushing on” are subtle yet still threateningly active like boiling water. On the vocal side the black metallish blowtorch-voice have been substituted by a low frequency demonic one sounding like the devil himself. Despite its boiling activity “Crushing on” almost sounds like a tranquilizing new age piece of work in comparison to the track that follows after. The title track, “8/19”, brings us back into the witches cauldron of full-throttle noise activity. And thus Deadwood changes the expressional back and forth between extremely harsh expressions and slightly more human sound levels. The amazing thing about this album is the way that Nekro manages to built a texture into the symphonies of sonic hell. The long-stretching noise loops create a discreet rhythm structure inside the drones of distorted extremity making it easier for the listener to wander unhurt through the 50+ minutes of aural madness. Listeners of extreme music will appreciate this debut from Deadwood demonstrating that Swedish Power Electronics/Death Industrial reaches far beyond Brighter Death Now and the Cold Meat Industry-territories. This is black art in its most beautiful form! (NMP)
Address: http://www.coldspring.co.uk/
ANDREY KIRITCHENKO – STUFFED WITH/OUT (CD by Nexsound)
By now the name Andrey Kiritchenko should be a household name. Playing concerts all over the world and releasing very fine discs. Here he presents another one, on his own Nexsound label, in a very nice cover. The cover credits read ‘guitar, processing and field recordings’ and moving further into the world of glitchy ambient music. However the guitar remains a clear feature. In most of the tracks the guitar is clearly recognizable as such. Whatever computer processing Kiritchenko employs it remains an ornament to his playing. It’s been pushed towards the back of the recording, while the guitar stays clearly in the front. Field recordings might be in there too, but then they too are not easy to detect. Turning his music in favor of the guitar he plays the ambient card more than the microsound one, and the music surely benefits from that. Kiritchenko comes closer to the music of the likes of Japanese musicians on labels such as Spekk and Noble, or the German Flim. The microsound aspect is reduced, but not entirely gone, and as such it means that the music made an interesting step forward, while still staying (or perhaps more than before) inside the traditional offerings of ambient music. (FdW)
Address: http://www.nexsound.org
JUKEBOX BUDDHA (CD by Staubgold)
Once one Brian Eno discovered the Buddha Machine by FM3 there was no holding back. The Buddha Machine is a small sound box, working on batteries and storing a bunch of lo-fi loops. It was commercially produced by Christiaan Virant (who lives in Beijing for more than twenty years) and Zhang Jhian, both also known as FM3. Once Eno had one, everyone needed one: Blixa Bargeld, Adrian Sherwood, Sunn O))), Sun City Girls and Gundrun Gut. You could fare less well with such a cast of remixers (sadly Eno is not at home here) plus the more usual suspects as Thomas Fehlmann, Robert Henke, Mapstation, Kammerflimmer Kollektief and Alog. In various way the loops stored on the machine are used. Some use purely the loops, while others add other music, such as Sherwood and Doug Wimbish adding rhythm and voices, and on a totally different level Gut does the same. Henke and Es stay with the loops, but adds electronics, to create a finely cluster of drones. Sunn O))) piece sounds similar but highly unlikely their recent barrage of sound. Bargeld produces a bunch of bird calls, oddly enough (and by far the shortest piece here). The other pieces make less clear of statement, but they all sound pretty nice. The limitations of the machine are well expanded by this rather unusual bunch of remixers. And my suggestion to FM3: put that ‘BuddhamachineCommercial’ by Jelinek/Pekler/Leichtmann on your website and you’ll sell a lot more. (FdW)
Address: http://www.staubgold.com
WALDCHENGARTEN – DISTRACTIONS (CD by Phisteria)
Since seven years Wäldchengarten exists as a lone but strong voice in the world of Danish experimental music. They have had a couple of releases (see for instance Vital Weekly 510, 465, 380, 338 or 265) which all can be noted for the strong love of noise and drones. Everything they do deals with electronics, from the samples they use to the sound effects and the analog electronics. Noise is never the end result: rather Waldchengarten use noise to create an effect that is trance inducing. Also Waldchengarten has no theme, it seems. No track titles, no obscured nazi images or any such things known to the world of noise, all they (the two brothers Hansen) care about is playing mind altering ambient industrial music, and they do a great job. They can easily be compared with the likes of Troum. Forcefully present, but twistin’ the senses. With ‘Distractions’ they created an even finer balance in the music, moving slowly forward with their sound. Every new release is an improvement from the previous, slightly refining the music. Waldchengarten doesn’t take big steps, nor are they in for a radical change, but with releases at this rather slow speed, it’s quite alright. So far their best release. (FdW)
Address: http://www.phisteria.com
MARCUS SCHMICKLER – DEMOS (FOR CHOIR, CHAMBER QUINTET AND ELECTRONIC MUSIC ENSEMBLE) (LP by A-Musik)
Throughout the by now extensive career of Marcus Schmickler we have learned to know (and like) his work for its immense diversity. An improviser with the likes of Mimeo, electronic music as Wabi Sabi, Pol, techno with Marc Ushmi, post rock with Pluramon and electro acoustic with Kontakta. If that isn’t enough, you should realize they all work with electricity. But Schmickler was trained as a composer and knows how to scribble notes on graph paper. On this LP only (what a pity that must seem to some), we find three pieces that deal with a choir. The opus magnum here is ‘Demos’, which means community in Greek, and the choir represents the ability to voice their desires, requests and demands and is based on texts of Nietzsche’s ‘Also Sprach Zarathustra’ (and sounds nothing like the Strauss piece of the same name). It has spoken word vocals, sung vocals, cluster. The spoken word sounds like Eva Libertine of Crass, while the sung part is mediaeval like, like a mass. The chamber quintet provide with wind instruments and the electronic music ensemble scratching and squeaking noises, which all form a dense pattern of sound. Chaotic it may seem if you try to concentrate on specific parts, but listening to the overall sound things fall right into place. A scary piece, but very beautiful.
On the first side of the LP we find ‘0’ which seems to be for choir only. Building clusters of sounds, singing as well as whispering, with some vague sounds of falling objects, this is almost like Cardew’s ‘Treatise’. If that wasn’t fine enough, ‘Rache Ist Des Willen Widerwillen’ is also on this side of the LP, which is an even better piece. The voices clearly distinct from each other, humming and singing, with a differation between the male and female voices. A great beauty this one.
Address: http://www.a-musik.com
ENDE SHNEAFLIET – TWISTIN’ ON THE TOMBSTONES (2LP by Enfant Terrible)
The main interest (but not the entire interest) of the Dutch label Enfant Terrible is to release forgotten masterworks of the age of cassettes, the department of electronic popmusic. They already released a lovely compilation of bands on Trumpett Tapes, a 10″ by The Actor (who were also on Trumpett) and now Ende Shneafliet – again a Trumpett band. THE band on the label, actually. A large line up, five people in total, playing synths, guitars and vocals in various combinations. This 2LP set documents the works released between 1981 and 1983 (although the band still exists, having released christmas 7″s in the past years), released on four cassettes including their only concert ever (which was later also released by Staalplaat on cassette, when that was their main line of business). Ende Shneafliet plays mainly down tempo, electronic popmusic with a highly romantic, film noir vision. The vocals go through vocoders and sings about rendez vous ‘Met Betsy’, ‘Midnight Train’, ‘Hangman’ or the simple things in life such as cycling in ‘The Day Detlef Macha Won’ – some of these are instrumentals, but it fits the notion of romantic. It’s perhaps an odd collision of the cold and clinical machines with the vaguely romantic notions, but it works well. At times as dated as it sounded back then, but electronic swing of ‘De Romant’ could still do well on a retro electro party. Should this 2LP stirr your interest, many of the Trumpett Tapes are available on CDR (www.trumpett.nl). This 2LP is a small monument, if only for old romantic people like me. (FdW)
Address: http://www.enfant-terrible.nl
THE LEGENDARY PINK DOTS – THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY SINGLE: LEGACY 81/LEGACY 06 (7″ by Some Fine Legacy)
The Dots celebrate their 25th anniversary this year with a 25th anniversary tour and this single, which features a 1981 recording of the song Legacy and a new version recorded this year. Despite the immense back catalogue of the Dots, the choice for Legacy is a logical one, as Some Fine Legacy (the label who released this record) was named after this song. Legacy 81 is a nice surprise as it is the original version from the Chemical Playschool Volume 1 and 2 cassette and not the one featured on the Brighter Now LP (which most of us will know). Legacy 81 is a charming song with rhythm box, keyboards and Kaspel singing bleak lyrics about the break-up of a relationship and its aftermath (“you always hurt the one you love” he laments). Legacy 06 is an altogether different beast and nothing like it’s A-side counterpart. Still, the song surprisingly opens with a fragment of Legacy (the Brighter Now version), after which it goes into an electronic flat soundscape with a spoken word story about the splitting up of goods (“not the television”). The third part of the song has a repeated chorus of “Some fine legacy you left me” that is reminiscent of the original version. The concept of the single is clear and works well; if you’re an 80’s Dots-fanatic you’ll probably hate the 06 version and if you’re a fan from say after 1990 you’ll probably think the 81 version is crap. Still, all prejudice set aside, you cannot help the feeling that the new version is a weaker brother of its original counterpart. (FK)
Address: <marc.milohnic@freenet.de>
MYSTIFIED – FRAGMENT, COMPRESS (CDR by Gruenrekorder)
CARSTEN KLOOK & TASCHE – TALK SLALOM (CDR by Gruenrekorder)
GIESELA – WEISS (CDR by Gruenrekorder)
The German Gruenrekorder label has so far released a bunch of music that is either based on improvisation or on field recordings. On these three new releases they expand their horizon towards other musical areas, but if that was such a wise idea?
On the website of Mystified (with a small m that should be), you can find some information on the releases, but no history, nothing on band members, very mystifying. Perhaps a bit like the music, which I must admit didn’t get very well. Mainly: what is it that they want with their music? The fifteen tracks show a great variety, from industrial rhythms, field recordings, ambient bits, even some kind of off-techno beat. Each of these tracks seem to be of equal importance, none of say the tracks that use field recordings are used as small ‘in between’ tracks between ‘normal’ tracks’. The music, of whatever kind, seems to be sampled together, consisting of a bunch of loops and electronics. Sometimes it works out to be just fine, but most of the time, I though it wasn’t easy to like this very much. Things seemed to be just too easy, too unfocussed and too unstructured, more like a mish mash of sounds and foremost ideas thrown together, without caring too much what the actual outcome would be. Not so my thing that is.
Things get incredible worse on the release by Carsten Klook & Tasche. It’s what they call a cross-over between post rock guitars, noise, spoken word. The texts are in German, a language which I mastered to some extent, but in the speed of these recitations it’s not easy to keep up understanding. The guitars sound horrible and outdated. Very pretentious and therefor quite funny, but I really didn’t see a point in all of this.
Luckily things fall on good ground with the last release, by Giesela, whom we met before, in Vital Weekly 523, as Giesela Rot, aka Marc Riek, the man behind the label. His release is subtitled ‘Field Recordings And Melodicas’, by which he doesn’t mean literally melodicas, but more ‘the other sounds also used and given to me by my friends’, which means sounds of a cello and children, which pop up in various tracks. Riek himself is responsible for the field recordings used here. In the six pieces these sounds are put together in a kind of microsounding way. Silent, careful, inaudible but also warm and digital. Its a release to keep your full attention with, other you’d miss out on something. Throughout the music is quite intense, even when it’s not always finding new paths to walk along. It certainly stands out from the previous two. (FdW)
Address: http://www.gruenrekorder.de
ARTURAS BUMSTEINAS – PLAYS WITH DIE SCOTTISCHE SYMPHONIE BY JOSEPH BEUYS (MP3 by Mixthemixthemix)
It’s been a while since I last heard ‘Die Scottische Symphonie’ by Joseph Beuys. Foremost Beuys is of course known as a visual artist, but he made a couple of records, with Nam June Paik and also with Hennig Christiansen. With the latter he recorded ‘Die Scottische Symphony’ in 1970, and if I recall well, it was a duet on two grand piano’s. The work is used in a performance of ‘so called filtering, translation or real-time instrumentation process’ by Arturas Bumsteinas, held in Düsseldorf earlier this year. If I understood well, Bumsteinas listened to the original on headphones and transcribed in real time. The original consisted of the two artists simply playing notes over and over again, and not caring that much about melody or structure. Bumsteinas in that sense stays close to the original (which has to be dug up again to see what that was all about). The whole recording is about sparseness, which seems to getting even more sparse towards the end. Very nice, contemplative work. (FdW)
Address: http://www.mixthemixthemix.com
CORROSIVE MIXTURES (CDR by Hidden)
Belgium’s Hidden label has brought us far twelve releases of ambient music, technoid rhythms and some more outer limits music. The thirteenth release is a compilation, perhaps a best of, who knows, of the first twelve ambient pieces. The next release will be a ‘hidden beats’ compilation. Some of these releases have been reviewed in Vital Weekly before, but it’s a quite nice selection they have put together here. Ambient in the vocabulary of Hidden doesn’t mean something that is played on a bunch of digital and analog synthesizers, going into new age land. The ambient music of the artists on Hidden are much more experimental and at times sound like they all listened carefully to Aphex Twin’s ‘Selected Ambient Works Vol. 2’ (and some even to volume 1 as well). Music is by Inklings, No, CIRClings, Kosmobot, Alkaloid Desperado, Cosmic Connection (never knew he was still active!), The Moon and Himog. Three tracks are previously unreleased. If buying a CDR by one of them is a too big of a risk for you, then this compilation might serve as a good alternative and a good introduction. (FdW)
Address: http://www.hidden.be
CHARLEMAGNE PALESTINE – THE GOLDEN MEAN (MP3 by 7Hings)
NMPERIGN – LIVE IN THE UK (MP3 by 7Hings)
ZOE IRVINE – MAGNETIC MIGRATION MUSIC (MP3 by 7Hings)
YANNIS KYRIAKIDES & ANDY MOOR – REBETIKA (MP3 by 7Hings)
PETER DOWLING – DON’T TOUCH ME! (I HATE YOU SOMETIMES) (MP3 by 7Hings)
VINTAGE 909 – SCANNING (MP3 by 7Hings)
Perhaps as a little bribe, 7Hings send a nice CD carrier bag with their first seven releases so far. All of these releases are available, to buy, as MP3s from their website and each release has a short profile/interview with the artist. We only review six of them since one was already reviewed before: Koji Asano’s ‘Live In Glasgow’ (see Vital Weekly 524). All of these releases were recorded in concert, except perhaps for the release by Vintage 909. As 7Hings are from Scotland, all of these concerts took place there. The first release is by Charlemagne Palestine, of whom we lost touch a while ago. ‘The Golden Mean’ is a piano piece played by Palestine in what hopefully I can assume in his well-known style. Palestine strums his piano rather intuitively, working his working to a major crescendo and letting the overtones speak for themselves. A trance like piece of music. This is the Palestine I prefer over his electronic keyboard style.
One of the things I things I didn’t know about Nmperign being an acronym for Ignotium Per Ignotius (unknown to the more unknown). It’s also the duo of Bhob Rainey (soprano saxophone) and Greg Kelley (trumpet). When they started out I wasn’t too impressed, but the more I hear it, the better it works for me. Bhob and Greg use extended techniques to play their instruments, which makes them sound like anything but a trumpet and a soprano saxophone. Sometimes it’s almost feedback like, sometimes it’s musique concrete like, making the object sound and sometimes it’s pure sound poetry. This particular recording is absolutely great. One of the best I heard by them so far.
Zoe Irvine is a Scottish sound artist who uses cassettes she found on the street. On stage she uses these as the source of her work, together with a companion whose name I didn’t catch, using cheap samplers and a laptop. It’s an interesting concept that she applied, and the outcome is very nice. Irvine plays a form of plunderphonics that is not unlike People Like Us: music and spoken words mixed nicely along with each other. Irvine keeps an eye open for the right spot to play and thus tells rather a story than just a bunch of sound, wether or not connected. It’s despite the fact that it is a concert recording it’s a great hörspiel.
Originally from Scotland is Andy Moor, once a member of Dog Faced Hermans and since many years guitar player in my favorite punk band The Ex. But he is also an accomplished improviser, playing with Kaffe Matthews and John Butcher among others. One of the others is of course Yannis Kyriakides, a Greek composer who also, like Andy, lives in Amsterdam. Although his main line of work is serious composing, he too, armed with his laptop, is active in the field of improvised music. Here they loosely improvise seven pieces of Rebetika, traditional music from Greece, homeland of Kyriakides. Shamefully I must admit that I don’t know much about rebetika, although I do recognize some of the music from what I heard through other sources. It seems to me they take original recordings and sample them, taking small bit and put them on loop, while Moore adds guitar sounds that aren’t too dissimilar at times, or, at other times, simply adds textures to the sound. In each of the pieces they seek a different atmosphere and as such this is more than great work, even if rebetika is not your daily digest.
I also never heard of Peter Dowling, from Glasgow, who writes pieces for orchestras and ensembles, but is also solo laptop player. Despite having won various prices and such, I must admit that I wasn’t too pleased with his release. Sampling the earth hum of a speaker or a distortion pedal and further expanding on that for some time, making things noisier is something that I heard done better before. It’s certainly not bad at all, but just not that exciting.
Dan Williams is the man behind Vintage 909. Williams is a DJ, composer and sound designer, who apparently built something to create ‘Scanning’. It was a bit unclear what that was, but in three pieces that make up scanning he displays his love for quiet music via deep drones. On top of those he smears sound, culled from the air it seems (hence the title) and layers the whole thing until thick clusters of sound occur. Sound wise a bit doomy, but also with a firm foot inside field recordings. Very nice this one. (FdW)
Address: http://www.seventhings.co.uk
BOUTROS BUBBA – HEARING VOICST IN A BEER COMMERCIAL MAKES ME WANNA GET DRUNK (MP3 by Narrominded)
PFAFF – HOW EXPLAIN DE FLIPSTAND TO A FRIEND (MP3 by Narrominded)
HYDRUS – POSTCARDS (MP3 by Narrominded)
I like the Dutch label Narrominded, because they never live up to their name – thank god. They release CDs, vinyl and also MP3s. From the latter section three new releases. Boutros Bubba are one guitarplayer and singer Spoelstra and drummer Vreselijk Ongeluk (which translates as ‘terrible accident’) and they played in Quarles van Ufford, the furious math rock band. ‘Hearing Voicst In A Beer Commercial’ is the first duo effort, four tracks of rock music, that is not far away from Quarles van Ufford, but sounds more reduced of course due to the line up. Mathematics rule again, but no for me. It’s not really my thing, I guess.
Wat de ‘flipstand’ is I don’t know, but Pfaff is a duo of Bas Jacobs and a girl singer, who also published a magazine called That Dam! and organizes musical evenings at De Nieuwe Anita, all in Amsterdam. Pfaff also plays rock music, but hardly mathematical. Lofi garage rock like, with a strong emphasis on lyrics. ‘(Just) Like Your Mother’, ‘Cunt Hunter’ or ‘No Cash For My Country’ are just a few of their titles. They have fifteen songs on offer, which deems a bit much for me. A few of them is alright, fifteen is a crowd.
On a totally different musical level are Hydrus who released before on Narrominded (see Vital Weekly 414), but here they move from vinyl to MP3. Hydrus are from Amsterdam and is a duo of Herman Wilken and Almer Lücke. They play music that can best described as the sort that is normally released by Expanding Records or Highpoint Lowlife: melodic, melancholic techno ambient (or ambient techno – whatever is important to go first). In ‘Dea’ things are all ambient but in the other four tracks beats take up quite a more important role. Perhaps not the most original voices in this kind of music, they can certainly live up to their UK counterparts. (FdW)
Address: http://www.narrominded.com
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