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VITAL WEEKLY
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number 578
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week 22
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Vital Weekly, the webcast: 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!
complete tracklist here: http://www.vitalweekly.net/podcast.html
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
* noted are in this week's podcast
PLEASE DON'T IGNORE READING THIS: SINCE WE ANNOUNCED WE WILL NO LONGER REVIEW MATERIAL OLDER THAN SIX MONTHS, MORE AND MORE PEOPLE SEND US OLDER MATERIAL THAN SIX MONTHS. DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY. WE WILL NOT REVIEW IT, BUT SELL THE MATERIAL TO A SECOND MAILORDER OUTLET. ALSO: DON'T SEND MORE THAN 3 (THREE) RELEASES AT ONCE. WE SIMPLY CAN'T HANDLE EVERYTHING ANYMORE. SAVE YOUR FRUSTRATION - WELL, AND OURS.
LESBIANS ON ECSTACY - WE KNOW YOU KNOW (CD
by Alien8 Recordings) *
THE FIELDS OF HAY - SONGS FOR NINE LADIES (CD by Fourth Dimension)
*
FUNCTION - THE SECRET MIRACLE FOUNTAIN (CD by Locust Music) *
ILLPHABETIK COM.PILL - (Compilation CD by Illphabetik)
DEAD LETTERS SPELL OUT DEAD WORDS - FALL, FALL, FALLING (CD by
Kalligrammofon)
PAULINE OLIVEROS - ACCORDEON AND VOICE (CD by Important Records)
PAULINE OLIVEROS - THE WANDERER (CD by Important Records) *
MOTH SPY EROS - SUENO ROJO (CD by Lunatic Works)
LISA PAPINEAU - NIGHT MOVES (CD by Lunatic Works)
SCOTT TINKLER - BACKWARDS (CD by Extreme) *
HANNES ENZLBERGER - MY DEAR FERENC! (CD by Extraplatte) *
ALEXANDRE ST-ONGE - MON ANIMAL EST POSSIBLE (CD by Alien8 Recordings)
*
ADAM FRANK & SAM SHALABI - OVERPASS! A MELODRAMA (CD by Alien8
Recordings)
AMP - ALL OF YESTERDAY TOMORROW (3CD by RROOPP) *
THE HAFLER TRIO - WHO GAVE YOU THE ABILITY TO ENVISAGE PERFECTION?
(7" by Plinkity Plonk)
ROBERT WITT - SSRI (CDR by Esc Rec) *
STEVEN VINKENOOG - STATION #1 (CDR, private) *
TORSTEIN WJIIK/CADMIUM DUNKEL - VICTIMS OF RELIGION (CDR by Ambolthue)
TORSTEIN WJIIK - WAR (CDR by Ambolthue)
BJERGA/IVERSEN/MADAME P (CDR by Ambolthue) *
VESTIGIAL - AEON (Self-produced 3"-CD-R)
VERTONEN - NOT ALL WHO WANDER ARE LOST (3" CDR by Banned
Production) *
HAL MCGEE - THE MAN WITH THE TAPE RECORDER (MP3 or CDR)
ALEXEI BORISOV - LIVE IN KALININGRAD (MP3 by AudioTong)
EMITER.ARSZYN - TRESYMESY (MP3 by AudioTong)
LESBIANS ON ECSTACY - WE KNOW YOU KNOW (CD
by Alien8 Recordings)
It only seems a short while ago that I reviewed the self-titled
debut by Lesbians On Ecstasy, which had covers of other lesbian
artists. The new album continues this line of interest, except
that their interest has now moved to women's music from the 70s,
which was released on small, independent labels, such as Olivia
Records. Just like before, Lesbians On Ecstasy don't play cover,
but they take themes and lyrics to create their own songs. Don't
except long haired, Joni Mitchell type of songs on this new release,
and here too there is a sense of continuation with the previous
release. Stomping rhythms, forceful keyboards, sharp guitar lines
and of course plenty of vocals. Their music owes more to seventies
loud rock and disco than to acoustic guitar. Highly political
with strong points about feminism and lesbian life style, but
it's hardly a problem enjoying the music for me (male, hetero)
or it's lyrical content. It's pretty strong popmusic. These women
are proud to be lesbians and they love to show it. Their band
photo on the inside of the cover is simply great (and a great
rarity in Vital Weekly). (FdW)
Address: http://www.alien8recordings.com
THE FIELDS OF HAY - SONGS FOR NINE LADIES
(CD by Fourth Dimension)
You may have never heard of The Fields Of Hay, or even of Stuart
Carter, the man behind it, but he's been part of some of the finer
bands in the UK alternative guitar rock bands such as Splintered,
Heroin and Theme, and then things might fall into place. 'Songs
For Nine Ladies' is his first solo album, although he receives
help from people like Sonic Boom, Richo (label boss) and Lukasz
Szalankiewicz (of Zenial). The first time I played this CD, I
was a bit annoyed: the five pieces, in the range of six to twelve
minutes, sounded like a freak out on guitars and synthesizers.
A bit drone like, some field recordings, some guitar doodling
and none of the tracks did seem to go anywhere. A freeform friendly
muzak. A bit ambient, a bit dramatic. Upon further hearing some
of the pieces turned out to be a bit more angular, but the overall
smoothness is a bit too slick for me. What is that Carter wants
with these songs? Set a comforting tone? Update muzak? Or is he
more genuine in his approach, and I am entirely missing a point
here? Because of his background I tend to give The Fields Of Hay
the benefit of doubt and further await his development. (FdW)
Address: http://www.adverse-effect.co.uk
FUNCTION - THE SECRET MIRACLE FOUNTAIN (CD
by Locust Music)
Everything about Function's CD is massive: it's length of seventy-seven
minutes, recorded in ten different countries over a three and
half year period and with over thirty musicians contributing.
The main man however is Matt Nicholson from Australia, who wrote
the material. Among the instruments we recognize piano, cello,
viola, slide guitar, trumpets, vocals, field recordings, flutes,
harp - well you name it. You could dismiss this album as another
post rock album, albeit with vocals, but I don't think that entirely
justifies this. The big band, orchestral approach - of course
not all thirty-some musicians play at the same time - in combination
with electronics and field recordings, works quite well. Sometimes
it tends towards post rock, sometimes seventies progressive rock
and sometimes to ambient music. It's collated together at times
with strange breaks and movements - most likely due to the use
of different studios - but quite curious it's never a problem.
An album, despite all things rock, that is made in the studio,
rather than that of a band playing a solid tune or tune. Spliced
together from all sorts of sources, with the addition of outside
ones, such as field recordings, this album is not as 'outsider'
for Vital Weekly as initially thought. Forty years of experimenting
with rock music, say starting with Phil Spector, The Beatles and
everything else after that didn't go unnoticed for Function. It's
a remarkable CD, one that is simply very good. Although nothing
is really simple on this CD. (FdW)
Address: http://www.locustmusic.com
ILLPHABETIK COM.PILL - (Compilation CD by
Illphabetik)
American music avantgardist and theorist, Henry Cowell (1897-1965),
claimed that rhythms are the noise of music. If anyone should
question this theory, take a listen to this first compilation
from Danish label Illphabetik. With only a short "Intro"
from Bulletdodgers (including the sample of an American woman
fussing about half the city listening to jungle music), there
is hardly any time to prepare for the first assault of rhythmic
mayhem from Danish artist Lisbent with the track "Gettet
durch". Established in 2003, Illphabetik is an Internet-label,
with an impressive number of mp3-releases, musically operating
in a wide variety of electronic styles including Breakcore, IDM,
Drum & Bass, Ambient, Hardcore, Electro, Glitch and Minimal.
The weight on this compilation though, is put on harsh expressions
of breakcore, hardcore gabber techno and sonic aggressions in
general, quite often sucked into club-technoid atmospheres. From
the distorted power noise track, "Subliminal bass" by
Rawclaw across the dark and threatening drone-ambience from Roger
5 to the claustrophobic mix of house techno, bigbeat and harsh
noise on Lisbent's "Spasmobotics". It soon comes clear
that these artists know what they are dealing with. Other gems
come from Meconium with his tracks "(K)illdick" and
"Damn this blockhead". The blend of fast breakbeats,
303-Acid synthlines is quite remarkable here. Also Nais' filthy
ode to Depeche Mode's track "Personal jesus", the track
titled "Personal faeces", is far beyond your average
breakbeat-track. Towards the end, comes a great ambient-oriented
IDM-track titled "Asaru 5" launched by Leigon. Closing
track is the funky track titled "The funk is much better"
from Lisbent. Combining kitschy electronic sounds first of all
reminiscent of early slot-machine Arcade games, strange samples
of voices and 60's one-hit-wonders with ultra-heavy pounding distorted
beats thrashed into the listener with maximum velocity, the track
from Lisbent serves as a very intense closer to this hyperactive
debut-CD-compilation from Illphabetik. All mp3-releases from Illphabetik
can be downloaded for free, including playlists and cover-arts.
Check out their web site. And check out this excellent debut-sampler
- it is a great introduction to the label! (NM)
Address: http://illphabetik.com/
DEAD LETTERS SPELL OUT DEAD WORDS - FALL,
FALL, FALLING (CD by Kalligrammofon)
Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words should be a familiar name to
Vital readers. Fall, Fall, Falling is Thomas Ekelund, the flesh
behind the DLSODW moniker, which also stands for concrete drone
pop. And on this his third full length CD the emphasis is on pop.
Shoegazer fans will find much here to rejoice in: hyper-saturated
drone melodies with drum thuds drowning in the morass of digitally
generated fuzz heaven bound. Dark ambient followers will find
the bleakness a source of warmth. The pop tracks are balanced
by the trademarked Dead Letters sound of inhuman scratchings of
lost love gasping for air in decaying urban landscapes. Binary
guitars sleep with micro cassette phonography and the after birth
is Fall, Fall, Falling. Already this is one of my favorite albums
of the year, a perfect mix of pop and decay.
Address: http://www.kalligrammofon.com (JS)
PAULINE OLIVEROS - ACCORDEON AND VOICE (CD
by Important Records)
PAULINE OLIVEROS - THE WANDERER (CD by Important Records)
The accordion is an instrument not often connected to modern music
and female composers in the avant-garde field are unfortunately
scarce. Luckily Pauline Oliveros combines these two oddities with
astonishing results. As one of the original members of the legendary
San Francisco Tape Music Centre, Oliveros has become the godmother,
if you like, of electronic music. Important records (if there
ever was an appropriate name for a label, then this is it) have
taken it upon them to re-release some of Oliveros' work. Accordion
And Voice is one of those titles that cover the contents completely.
The two long tracks on this album, Horse Sings
From Cloud (her most famous composition dating
back to 1975) and Rattlesnake Mountain, are reminiscent of the
mantra-like work of La Monte Young, with long sustaining tones
on the accordion supplemented by Oliveros singing. Perhaps a slightly
long listen to the casual buyers, electronic music lovers will
lap this up. The Wanderer features a second (live) version of
Horse Sings From Cloud, this time performed by an accordion quartet.
This version is more experimental than the one on Accordion And
Voice. Duo For Accordion And Bandoneon is just that, whereas the
title track was recorded with The Springfield Accordion Orchestra
(featuring no less than 22 accordions and 5 percussionist). The
more experimental and diverse nature of The Wanderer makes this
the more varied listen of the two CD's. Both recorded in 1983,
this is the first time these pieces have been made available on
the CD format. Adventurous music for an unusual instrument. Important
music indeed. (FK)
Address: http://www.importantmusic.com
MOTH SPY EROS - SUENO ROJO (CD by Lunatic
Works)
I do not know anything about this trio. As for the music on this
album however, I can say that it is a bit of a departure from
the stuff Lunatic Works usually releases, which is psychedelic,
downtempo electronic music. Sueno Rojo is an album of slow tempos,
atmosphere, whispered vocals and minimal but evident rhythms in
every song, all of which lends itself to a vague and dreamlike
quality that is not unpleasant per say, but really difficult to
find a point in any of it, which might be the point itself giving
that dreams to a great degree are vague and pointless and most
of the time quickly forgotten. (Craig N.)
Address: http://www.lunaticworks.com/
LISA PAPINEAU - NIGHT MOVES (CD by Lunatic
Works)
This album would be right at home on the play list of a college
radio station or on public radio with an adult alternative music
format. A lady named Lisa Papineau ably handles the vocals. I
do not know much about her except that she has lent her vocal
abilities to a couple of tracks by the French electronic music
duo, Air and has done other work with various musicians. Overall
this album in my opinion was under whelming (the vocals aside)
and had me wishing that Lunatic Works would just keep to their
niche market releases of psychedelic down tempo electronic music
that challenges rather than releasing this style of tame, vocal
based electronic music. (Craig N.)
Address: http://www.lunaticworks.com/
SCOTT TINKLER - BACKWARDS (CD by Extreme)
A tour-de-force by australian trumpeter Scott Tinkler. On request
by Extreme Records, Tinkler took up the challenge to record a
solo album of improvised music for trumpet.
Tinkler has a history of playing with numerous ensembles in Australia
over the last twenty years, like The Australian Art Orchestra,
The Paul Grabowsky Quintet and The Dale Barlow Quintet. More fame
he gained with his own Scott Tinkler Quartet and Trio. Since 1997
Tinkler is traveling the world and playing everywhere. Based on
his experience with performing solo, he decided that the CD for
Extreme should contain music that he could play live as well.
So you hear no overdubs, etc. on this disc. Everything was recorded
during a four hour stay at a studio. "The most important
aspect for me was to go into the studio with no preconceived notion
as to what the outcome might be, this way I could enjoy whatever
happened", explains Tinkler, who didn't record a solo-cd
before. The result is an incredible cd of a brilliant trumpet-player
with seemingly unlimited technical capabilities. Happily Tinkler
does not lose himself into meaningless acrobatics. He is also
gifted with a musical vision that makes him crossing many borders
and breaking down boundaries. With great ease and 'souplesse'
Tinkler tells his story. His extended techniques imply the use
of other musical instruments as well. These range from a piano,
a bass drum, a cymbal to a bucket of water. This way Tinkler brings
about interesting resonating effects like in the piece 'Let'.
Tinkler spreads about an incredible power through his expressive
playing. 'Backwards' truly is a very rich cd, that proves again
that free improvised music is still very much alive. Never a dull
moment! (DM)
Address: http://www.xtr.com/
HANNES ENZLBERGER - MY DEAR FERENC! (CD
by Extraplatte)
Thomas Berghammer (trumpet, flugelhorn, altohorn), Petra Ackermann
(viola), Oskar Aichinger (piano), and Hannes Enzlberger (double
bass) make up a quartet that play compositions by the bass player.
In two tracks they are helped out by Jacques Nobili on trombone
and voice. In 1993 Enzlberger was asked to join an ensemble playing
music from Franz Léhar. It took some time before Enzlberger
dared to admit that he liked this music. And now he comes with
a cd with his compositions that are inspired on Léhar,
especially 'The lustige Witwe'. As I,m not familiar with the work
of Léhar, I,m unable to trace these influences. To my ears
Enzlberger c.s. offer some unspectacular instrumental jazz compositions
- sometimes close to composed chamber music - that are very far
from opera, etc. Of the players it is above all Thomas Berghammer
that I liked, because of his incredible technique and expression.
Overall the playing is calm and intimate which fits best with
these compositions. The music moves along slow and clear lines,
and becomes never hectic or very free. More comfort than challenge
here. Ideal for a lazy sunday afternoon (DM)
Address: http://www.extraplatte.com/
ALEXANDRE ST-ONGE - MON ANIMAL EST POSSIBLE
(CD by Alien8 Recordings)
ADAM FRANK & SAM SHALABI - OVERPASS! A MELODRAMA (CD by Alien8
Recordings)
While going through old Vital Weeklies to find out what we covered
on Alexandre St-Onge, it was noticed that he did a lot of music,
but not much of it as a solo artist. The last time, if searched
right, we reviewed a solo CD from him was 'Une Machoire Et Deux
Trous' in Vital Weekly 210. Working in groups we came across such
fine names as Shalabi Effect, Et Sans, Bob and much more from
his home town Montreal. His solo work deals with voice, although
not exclusively. He adds a strange blend of concrete sounds, electronics
but also something like strings on 'La Passion De La Transparence',
which sounds like an alternative version of 'Je T'aime' by Serge
Gainsbourg. It's hard to tell wether St-Onge uses his voice to
recites some highly personal poetry or that his voice is used
to produce sounds, that are as experimental as his music. Somehow
I think it's the latter. St-Onge produces a curious mixture of
electronic music, experimental music, but also sound poetry and
post rock, the latter through the use of strumming the guitar.
The music seems to me made through rather free improvisation,
but always keeping in mind a dramatic effect and an introspective
mood. Sometimes like a film noir soundtrack, sometimes like a
movie about love. Overall a pretty good work, albeit of a strange
character.
On the same label is a work by Adam Frank and Sam Shalabi, which
is in the tradition of the late eighteenth century melodrama:
a narration which is not sung, but spoken. The story is about
a real underpass in Vancouver and it's history, through the eyes
of one Antonia, who arrives in the city for the first time and
is a bit lost. Various people guide her through the city, such
as a tour guide, an architect, the militant mothers (who fought
for the overpass to get their children safe across the road),
a child and even a composer: a Morton Feldman (I somehow don't
think his voice was recently recorded). Adam Frank wrote the text,
which we call libretto in expensive wording, and Sam Shalabi is
responsible for the music. Of course with such an emphasis on
the words, the music is a bit pushed to the background, and it's
more a supportive thing than something that stands by itself.
That is a great pity for the fans of Shalabi (me included), but
it's a necessary decision. 'Overpass!' is an interesting work,
with a multitude of voices which reminded me Gregory Whitehead
(even when with entirely different music). It's a work to keep
your full attention with, to make sure to know what it's all about
(although the entire libretto is in the booklet), but as music
to pass your time with, it's perhaps less suitable. (FdW)
Address: http://www.alien8recordings.com
AMP - ALL OF YESTERDAY TOMORROW (3CD by
RROOPP)
About a decade I was a little closer to the fire than these days:
through the local distributor of alternative rock music, I was
kind of hooked to post rock bands, who were all around. It had
a great vibe, mainly because the music was nice, but also because
it was so collectable. Small edition 7"s, 10", LPs and
CD and new independent labels doing them. It felt like punk rock
again. Especially those bands which incorporated a little bit
more experiment had my interest, and one of them was AMP. Back
then I just knew there was a guy, Richard Amp, who seemed to be
the main member (and also the main man behind the even more experimental
off shoot AMP Studio), but the booklet to this lovely three CD
set tells me that Karine Charff, the vocalist was also absolutely
a main member, but also that close to thirty people had something
to do with AMP, including Dave Pearce (of Flying Saucer Attack),
Matt Eliott (of Third Eye Foundation) and Robert Hampson (of Main
fame). I am sure, more than sure, that I never was anywhere near
complete in my AMP collection, so for me this collection is a
more than welcome addition to fill in the gaps. Included a no
less than twelve unreleased songs, alternative versions, various
pieces from vinyl only and in total thirty-eight tracks. If AMP
is something new to your ears than you should get it. Just what
is AMP then? To simply say it's a post rock group doesn't justify
them at all. They use female vocals who may sing words, but then
again, maybe not. Humming is a better word and Charff does that
in a very dreamlike manner. Sometimes it's close to dreampop,
with strong influences of ambient music, but AMP does wander off
into space, with spaced out jam-session like sounds. Fuzzy, vague
(in a positive manner), trip like and down to earth at times.
With seventy-two minutes per disc, loaded to the top, but my recommendation
is to play all these in one go, and take a deep dive into the
crazy dream world of AMP. Both a good introduction to new fans
and a more than welcome addition for the old ones. Included is
a book with details, pictures and text. What more do you want?
(FdW)
Address: http://www.rroopp.com
THE HAFLER TRIO - WHO GAVE YOU THE ABILITY
TO ENVISAGE PERFECTION? (7" by Plinkity Plonk)
Being pressed on clear vinyl and wrapped in a printed transparent
vellum cover, the Hafler Trio's latest 7" is surrounded by
a splendid aura even before you actually hear the music. The image
on the front cites Christian iconography with the motif of Judith
holding the head of Holofernes, albeit in a great 1920s photographic
soft porn version. On the back there is a text that is printed
on the inside of the sleeve and thus appears mirror-inverted on
the outside, which nicely corresponds to the hermetic nature suggested
by the text itself.
The music lends itself to (albeit rather helpless) poetic visual
metaphors: distant, yet most sensuous drones, blurred as if heard
through a fine acoustic haze, with sounds moving about like bizarre
shadows, devoid of sharp contours. One might wonder if the 7"
format is the right choice for this kind of music, and in the
case of this release the answer is a definite yes. There are some
particularly fascinating moments on these tracks, most notably
the final passage of side one and the trembling, slowly speaking
female voice on the flipside. The latter is unmistakably human
and even sounds familiar in a way, but at the time it is of an
highly unnatural, almost ghost-like character. The former is marked
by a limited frequency range and a use of distortion which hint
towards the aesthetics of gramophones or antique loudspeakers,
without actually citing it, thus evoking a sense of nostalgia
while keeping away from any obvious references. It's the sheer
fact that the 7" formats emphasizes the ephemeral nature
of these passages that makes them even more precious - indeed,
this release is a precious artifact throughout, exciting and unsettling
in its beauty as well as in its exquisitely auratic appearance.
(MSS)
Address: http://www.kormplastics.nl
ROBERT WITT - SSRI (CDR by Esc Rec)
The name Robert Witt might not ring an immediate bell, but he's
the guy who graduated from art school with sound installations
and live manipulation of sound, most notorious the live processing
of knitting, which was later remixed by a whole bunch of people
in the 'Grannittin' project (see Vital Weekly 545), in a knitted
sock on the same label that is now responsible for his solo debut
release. For his current release, with nine tracks, he samples
whatever he feels is interesting to use: "his own voice,
plastic bags, clicks and tics, things out of movies, dutch pirateradio
and contemporary music". All of these samples are then manipulated
inside the computer. Witt assembles lots of small loops and creates
densely layered patterns (to stay in the analogy of knitting)
with these. He treats similar loops slightly different with all
sorts of plug ins. His music gets something mechanical and also
some rhythmic. Not that he produces dance music, although the
opening 'Jen_kun-fu' could easily be mistaked for a Chain Reaction
outtake. This doesn't happen with the other pieces. His sources
are most of the time obscured through the deliberate clouds he
produces out of them. At times intense and loaded with anger,
such as is in 'Du345052', but he also has a great sense of humor
in some of the other pieces. It's a pretty strong debut with music
that defies categorization. It's experimental enough, but falls
outside noise or microsound, techno or other forms of rhythm based
music, but has enough power of its own. (FdW)
Address: http://www.escrec.com
STEVEN VINKENOOG - STATION #1 (CDR, private)
Over the past few years I ran into a guy called Steven Vinkenoog,
a musician from a near by city called Arnhem. Every time I saw
he produced some wonderful sound installation. One was with toy
racing cars and others with guitars and ventilators, not hitting
the strings but the waves made the strings to play. In the right
setting a beautiful mellow piece. It's great to see some of his
work on CDR, although there is no website or e-mail address. I
am sure it will be in the next week correction section. On this
piece, lasting forty-two minutes, he uses 'a guitar, an ebow and
three loop stations' - whatever those might be. Curious enough
the cover says: 'it is called Plain but it could also be called
Station #1'. It's a thoughtful ambient piece of overtone like
sounds, shifting slowly back and forth. The e-bow produces such
wonderful sounds (any self confessed drone musician should have
one), but it also needs capable hands and Vinkenoog surely has
those. Slow changes, softly humming. If you like the works of
Alvin Lucier (especially 'Music On A Long Thin Wire') or Paul
Panhuysen (his 'Magic Square Of 5'), but Vinkenoog presents it
in a more musical setting. If you like them, then should really
be your thing too. A bit of shame about the non-presentation though.
(FdW)
Address: none given
TORSTEIN WJIIK/CADMIUM DUNKEL - VICTIMS
OF RELIGION (CDR by Ambolthue)
TORSTEIN WJIIK - WAR (CDR by Ambolthue)
BJERGA/IVERSEN/MADAME P (CDR by Ambolthue)
More by Torstein Wjiik, also known to mankind as Kjetil Hanssen,
who has a split release with Cadmium Dunkel and a full length
of his own. His piece of the split last some thirty minutes and
it starts out in a rather mellow mood; mellow, for a noise maker
that is. 'Why Hate When You Can Love' is the title of the piece,
and save for some noise outburst here and there, Wjiik shows he
can make an interesting piece of noise related ambient. Including
bird twitter. Cadmium Dunkel has been around for some time (more)
and it shows in his four part 'Trenody [sic] For The Victims Of
Religion', four parts, curiously named part 1, 2, 4 and 5. Gone
are his days with drums and gothic undercurrents, all are now
replaced by a true love of deep sonic rumbling. Somewhere there
leaps a bit of percussive sounds in, but it stays through out
in deep rumbling territory. Yes, perhaps like a threnody.
On Wjiik we go from religion to war, to some perhaps a short step.
Here we find just one track, recorded in march of this year 'in
bedroom using samples of old commadore 64 cassettes played in
tape-recorder and a computer'. That does sound familiar to anybody
under twenty-five? Probably not, but in the good (?) ol' days
information for home computers was stored on cassettes, which,
if played on a sound system, gave some incredible great noise.
Here these noises are sampled and treated in the latest generation
computers - time flies in the world of information technology.
We find Wjiik in more common noise ground on this one, although
in the fifty some minutes he takes us by the hand and lead us
through various sceneries. High piercing tones, sweeping in all
directions, cut ups and lower ranged sounds. If you like noise
with a conceptual twist, then this is for you. For me, I wonder:
war? what is it good for? Absolutely nothing.
Late last year Bjerga and Iversen did a tour in the UK (marketing
tool number one if you want to be famous: play loads of concerts)
and on the road, part of the same tour they ran across Madame
P, who herself is an active force in the world CDRs, touring and
tourism. I saw her already a couple of times, but I don't think
much of her work was reviewed in our pages. She sings and feeds
it through various sound effects and electronica. Like it is common
in these areas, on evenings like this, everybody plays together
and on 'Broken English' (wasn't that a LP by Marianne Faithfull?)
there are the best fragments from four different evenings around
the UK. Over the course of some years now, Bjerga/Iversen are
a duo that can play a subtle tune or two of an entirely improvised
nature, sometimes spot on and sometimes a total miss. Madame P's
own music is more like sound poetry, but sometimes with a good
touch of popmusic. However the menage a trois here, doesn't always
work well. First of all the recording is not really great, all
done with a microphone (noisy audience, yuk!), but the sounds
do not always seem to match very well. Sometimes they are banging
on and on, such as in 'Newcastle' and sometimes they seem to be
searching too much for perhaps anything to happen. The pieces
are in chronological order here and it turns out that the final
piece, recorded in Brighton is the best one. Hunted and haunted,
this speeds on through a wall of noise of rhythm and feedback.
Not entirely convincing, this collaboration. (FdW)
Address: http://www.ambolthue.com
VESTIGIAL - AEON (Self-produced 3"-CD-R)
Vestigial is a new Italian project from the territories of dark
ambient. Containing four tracks on a 3"-CD-R wrapped in a
beautifully cardboard artwork, Vestigial introduces the listener
to the sound of the artist with approximately 24 minutes of drone-based
dark ambient. Manipulated distant voices in combinations with
industrial noises create a great atmosphere on the album. Despite
the light and jolly impression of a title like "Celebrating
the new sun" the track is a threatening beast of ritual atmospheres,
like the soundtrack for some ritual action of the dark kind. And
the same goes for the other three tracks. There is a nice balance
between cold expressions of ambient isolationism and subtle melody
in the black fog of drones. A very promising debut from Vestigial,
that makes us keep longing for more from this Italian creator
of sonic darkness. (NM)
Address: http://www.vestigialaeon.org/
VERTONEN - NOT ALL WHO WANDER ARE LOST (3"
CDR by Banned Production)
The recent Vertonen music were a real blast of noise. Fine for
the noise heads, but not really my thing that much. I'm glad to
see and hear this beauty. A nice small balsa wood box with a wrap
around is already visually good. The music is of stunning beauty
too. 'Not All Who Wander Are Lost' is an epic, eighteen minute
piece of very low humming tones. Perhaps done on analogue synth
or two? Maybe on a computer? Who knows. It is a minimally changing
piece of music in the best drone tradition and as such nothing
new under the drone sun, but it's done with absolute great care
and skill. It's along the lines of work he produced on his Crippled
Intellect, such as 'Orchid Collidor' (see Vital Weekly 482), but
with even more refinement. Still heavily in debt with Eliane Radigue
and The Hafler Trio, this is a great work. If this is a forecast
of what is to come, I'm more than delighted to hear that. The
best Vertonen yet. (FdW)
Address: http://www.bannedproduction.com
HAL MCGEE - THE MAN WITH THE TAPE RECORDER
(MP3 or CDR)
"Avoid old fashioned habits such as tonality and rhythm."
A mantra to live and create by, Hal McGee exemplifies this creed
on his latest release, The Man with the Tape Recorder. Recorded
over a span of two weeks this past May with a micro cassette recorder
and a rental car, this is lofi subversion at its best. Random
snippets of speech are interspersed with circuit bent electronics.
Pause button editing, complete with the sudden swishing sound
of the tape heads hitting the tape, propel this album ahead. McGee
pontificates his screeds of the creative process amongst random
conversations with passersby. Guerrilla phonography or Burroughs
cutups unleashed on the unsuspecting. Chaotic but with a determined
logic of its own making, this is one of McGee's strongest releases
yet in his 25 plus years of audio fluxist activity. McGee's analog
madness is refreshing in our overly digital world and never succumbs
to retro stylings or nostalgia. You can download or stream this
or even purchase a cdr from Hal himself. You'll be glad you did.
Address: http://www.halmcgee.com/ (JS)
ALEXEI BORISOV - LIVE IN KALININGRAD (MP3
by AudioTong)
EMITER.ARSZYN - TRESYMESY (MP3 by AudioTong)
Alexei Borisov has been around since the early 1980s and these
days he is not only releasing Cds on labels such as N&B Research
Digest, Electroshock or Laton, but he is also quite present in
the world of net labels. His release on AudioTong collects four
longer excerpts from a concert Borisov played in Kaliningrad on
May 15th, 2006. The laptop is his main instrument here, along
with some not further specified analogue devices, cassette player,
minidictaphone and MP3 player. The aesthetics of these tracks
are marked by sharp, if not brute, digital sounds and frequent,
sudden cuts. At times the tracks are structured by straight minimal
rhythms, but Borisov mostly builds multi-layered, labyrinthine
noise constructions. Without leaning too much towards the slightly
worn-out aesthetic of digital errors, he uses tiny irregularities,
clicks and digital distortion quite effectively and creates a
captivating atmosphere of present, however still subliminal tension
and nervousness that is matched well by various voices sampled
from shortwave radio and other, more obscure found sounds. Towards
the end things tend to get a bit lengthy, but the final minutes
again catch up with the gritty power of the other tracks.
While Emiter.Arszyn's live recording "07. 11. 2005",
released on audioTong a few months ago and reviewed in Vital Weekly
564, was a fine blend of drones, soft pulses and field recordings,
their latest release heads in a different direction. For "Tresymesy"
Marcin Dymiter and Krysztof Topolski, who are behind Emiter.Arszyn,
travelled to Zagreb, Sarajevo, Belgrade and Gdansk and asked people
there to say the words 'home', 'family' and "some words they
find important in their native language". A concept like
that of course brings up quite a lot of theoretical implications
(and complications, as well, I guess), but since I'm only marginally
familiar with the discourses on migration, hybridity, (national)
identity, neo-conservatism and the history of the Balkan, I'll
have to skip an in-depth discussion of these topics.
Some elements of the aforementioned live recording are still present
in this new release, notably a nice minimal rhythm, that appears
now and then, but they have receded in the background in favor
of a collage of largely unprocessed voices and field recordings.
The piece works almost like a radio play, displaying a panorama
of people talking in different languages, with different accents
and intonations, sounds from their respective surroundings and
some additional electronic sounds. As the liner notes suggest,
the focus of the work doesn't seem to be on a strict empirical
documentation, but rather on capturing atmospheric impressions
from various locations. Taken as such, it does include some strong
moments indeed, even if the combination of the more musical elements
with the voices often seems a bit arbitrary. However, it still
doesn't only leave me wondering, why they have chosen such heavily
charged words as a central theme, but on the whole also missing
a satisfying balance between the quasi ethnographic approach and
the aesthetic result. (MSS)
Address: http://www.audiotong.net