============
VITAL WEEKLY
============
number 581
---------------------
week 24
---------------------
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 READ THIS. WE WILL NOT REVIEW MATERIAL OLDER THAN SIX MONTHS, SO PLEASE DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY. NOT ONLY WILL WE NOT REVIEW IT, BUT WE WILL SELL THE MATERIAL TO A SECOND MAIL ORDER OUTLET. ALSO, DON'T SEND MORE THAN 3 (THREE) RELEASES AT ONCE. WE SIMPLY CAN'T HANDLE EVERYTHING ANYMORE. SAVE YOURSELVES THE FRUSTRATION... AND US!
MARCUS SCHMICKLER/HAYDEN CHISHOLM - AMAZING
DAZE (CD by Häpna)
HANS APPELQVIST - SIFANTIN OCH MÖRKRET (CD by Häpna)
*
MATHIAS DELPLANQUE - LE PAVILLON TEMOIN (CD by Low Impedance Recordings)
*
CLEMM - CONSIDER THE LILIES (CD by Cabin Music)
LOW IN THE SKY - WE ARE ALL COUNTING ON YOU, WILLIAM (CD by Abandon
Building) *
Z'EV - FORWAARD (CD by Korm Plastics) *
ASMUS TIETCHENS & RICHARD CHARTIER - FABRICATION (CD by Die
Stadt) *
MOHA! - NORWEGIANISM (CD by Rune Grammofon) *
DON'T GET ANNOYED, GET INSPIRED (CD compilation by Ambolthue)
ASMUS TIETCHENS - NOTTURNO (CD by Die Stadt)
SHELF LIFE - DUCTWORKS (CD by Public Eyesore)
TARTAR LAMB - 60 METONYMIES (CD by Ice Level Music/Public Eyesore)
*
NAGAOAG - YAMA LABAM A (CDR by Public Eyesore)
D+D - PROPERTIES/RIBBONS (7" by public Eyesore)
TASOS STAMOU - INFANT (CD by Editions_zero)
DEAD TRAVELLER - OUTSIDE MY WINDOW (CDR by Editions_zero)
PANAGIOTIS SPOULOS - LOOPS FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST (CDR by
Editions_zero)
STEFAN FUNK/TBC (LP by Wachsender Prozess)
SPELLEWAUERYNSHERDE, INTERPRETATIONS VARIOUS & SUNDRY (CDR
by Trans>parent Radiation)
LOGOPLASM - TESTA PIENA D'ORCHE (CDR by Afe Records)
CRIA CUERVOS - VOR FEUERSCHLÜNDEN (CD by Afe Records) *
MATHIAS GRASSOW & THOMAS WEISS - INSIGHTS (CDR by Databloem)
*
DANNY KREUTZFELDT - NUMBERGROUND (CDR by Databloem)
MANITOU - ALL POINTS NORTH (CDR by Slo.Bor Media)
MATT BORGHI - OLAGRA (CDR by Slo.Bor Media) *
FREIBAND/VARIOUS ARTISTS - FREIBAND RMX (CD-R by Sijis)
AIDAN BAKER - CONVS W/MYSELF (CDR by Evelyn Records)
PILOTRAM - LEAVE BEFORE IT BURNS (CDR by Evelyn Records)
SHIFTS - VERTONEN 14 (CDR by Evelyn Records)
PINK EYE SORE - LITTLE DRONES (CDR by Evelyn Records)
SIGNALS - SONUR (CDR by Evelyn Records) *
LA DIVISION MENTALE L'EXTASE DES FOUS [INTROSPECTION LÉTALE]
(CD by
Blood:Fire :Death)
DARSOMBRA - DELIRIMS & DEATH (3" CDr by Public Guilt)
HARM STRYKER (3" CDr by Public Guilt)
BONEMACHINE/MASKINANLEGG (3"CDR by Tosom)
KALTEEINBRUCH (3"CDR by Tosom) *
FREIBAND - SPAARZAM (3" CD-R by My Own Little Label) *
FREIBAND - ICE FIELD (3" CD-R by My Own Little Label)
FREIBAND - UNTITLED DRONE WORK (3" CD-R by My Own Little
Label)
MARCUS SCHMICKLER/HAYDEN CHISHOLM - AMAZING
DAZE (CD by Häpna)
HANS APPELQVIST - SIFANTIN OCH MÖRKRET (CD by Häpna)
By now Marcus Schmickler should be a man of high reputation -
at least in my book he is. His rock work with Pluramon, improvising
matters with Mimeo (as well as with various project with separate
members), but also composing in his own right, such as his excellent
work 'Demos' (see Vital Weekly 543) - he can do it all, with great
ease. Here he works with Hayden Chisholm, who plays saxophone
and who has worked with Rebecca Horn and with jazz and contemporary
music. On 'Amazing Daze' he plays bagpipes and sho. The title
piece is for Phil Niblock, while 'Infinity On The Shape Of A Poodle'
is for Björk Gudmundsdottir. The title piece is much a like
a Niblock piece: a wall of sound drone of sustaining sounds. But
there is a main difference: whereas Niblock cuts out the actual
breathing of the player, Schmickler leaves it in, but not every
time it is necessary to blow the bagpipes, but with regular intervals.
What Schmickler does, credited with computer and electronics,
is mainly, I guess, in the amplification of the instruments, the
recording (layering the sound sources) and mixing. 'Amazing Daze'
is powerful piece of music. 'Infinity On The Shape Of A Poodle'
is much lighter of tone, played on the higher end of the musical
scale, and probably the piece played with the sho. It sounds more
like a reflective piece of music, less like a treat like the previous
piece does, where the sounds get so much knitted together that
it could almost be like a church organ or even, as the piece progresses,
piercing feedback like sounds. It works not as well as the first
piece, but throughout this is an excellent Schmickler work.
When Hans Appelqvist released 'Naima' I was quite amazed: the
combination of sounds, field recordings, 'real' music and the
story made great sense. I must admit I was a bit disappointed
with his concert which I saw a while after that. Not only did
reproduce the CD with quite some accuracy, which for me is not
necessary if I go to a concert, but also the guitar sounded very
retro - it was at times if I was listening to Mike Oldfield, solo
again but armed with a sampler for some weird injections. This
new album (well, twelve tracks in twenty five minutes. Is that
an album or a mini album) is therefor met with some reluctancy.
Again, I like Hans' daring combination of musique concrete, mediaeval
music and radio plays, but somewhere in the back of my head, I
still see him at the concert: much pre-programmed on his computer,
sweet melodies on the guitar. Perhaps it would be better to entirely
(try to) forget that and enjoy the radio qualities of this music.
Appelqvist certainly has great style and care and plays his material
with a lot of humor. As such 'Sifantin Och Mörket' is another
fine album. (FdW)
Address: http://www.hapna.com
MATHIAS DELPLANQUE - LE PAVILLON TEMOIN
(CD by Low Impedance Recordings)
CLEMM - CONSIDER THE LILIES (CD by Cabin Music)
In a relatively short time span we get to hear more and more music
by Mathias Delplanque. His work under his own name for a sound
installation and then the dub works of Lena. Here on 'Le Pavillon
Temoin' he goes yet again in another direction. Using acoustic
instruments (guitar, piano, cello, drums, accordion, melodica
and bells) played by either himself or by one of his many friends,
are taken to the playground of the computer and taken apart. Then
in the next stage he combines the original recordings alongside
the residual forms found on the computer. This is then mixed in
the final result. As much as I like ideas like this, I somehow
am not entirely convinced by this album. It starts out quite nice,
and one can be amazed about the various processes applied or the
small melodies popping up here and there, but in the end it works
a bit against the album. There is a point easily reached in which
I thought 'well, so what's next'? Is this it? Yes it is. That's
the moment when I thought, it's o.k., but apparently there is
nothing more than this. Having said that, I don't think this is
a bad album, not at all. It's done with great care and style,
but it seems all a bit limited to my ears. The pop-like tunes,
the jazz-like rhythms, the peeps, the clicks and the cuts. It
stayed too much like an exercise to my ears, and not a warm composition.
Enjoyable in a small doses.
Along similar lines we find Clemm, yet perhaps something different.
Clemm is one dutch guy called Willem Janssen, who also worked
with one Frans van Gastel as Flugroove (see Vital Weekly 500),
but as Clemm he is solo along with guest musicians (insert a whole
bunch of names here, but I never heard of them anyway, so I can
also easily skip them). Clemm likes popmusic, that of the intimate
kind. The dramatic, introspective singer song writer material,
guitar, piano, vocals. What links him to Delplanque is his use
of weird electronic elements. According to the quotes the label
sent along from the Dutch overground press this is all of course
'unique' and 'daring', but really it's all quite mildly used background
material, that should the pop listener distract not very much.
They form a mere back drop rather than something 'weird', or even
remotely experimental. The overall tone of Clemm is romantic,
dreamy, captured in the frame of a popsong. It's ok, but, and
here is another link to the music of Delplanque, it's all a bit
long for me. After a couple of songs I get the picture and even
when I finish the entire CD to make sure I don't miss out that
really great, unforgettable popsong, I don't miss out. Certainly,
a few of those songs is really great, certainly if you make the
right combination of uptempo and downtempo ones, but overall its
too regular for Vital Weekly. (FdW)
Address: http://www.lowimpedance.net
Address: http://www.cabin-music.com
LOW IN THE SKY - WE ARE ALL COUNTING ON
YOU, WILLIAM (CD by Abandon Building)
In the world of labels like Abandon Building and Expanding Records,
there are hardly any real bands. Usually it's one guy adopting
the name of a band and playing a CD worth of material. Low In
The Sky is the exception, they are a real band, with three people
(Joe Minadeo, Pat mcNulty and Corey Farrow) who have been together
in one form or another for ten years, and who released their debut
in 2005 on Patternbased. 'We Are All Counting On You, William'
is their second album. I am not sure, judging by the material,
if they play those instruments themselves, but my best guess one
of them plays keyboards, one plays drums and one plays guitars.
Their music goes beyond any category, I must say. It's most of
the time post rock like material, but in much shorter songs, and
less complex. Their songs, thirteen in total, are much shorter,
almost pop song like formats. There are also traces of hip hop
rhythms, intelligent techno, field recordings (a brass band in
'Community Center Shuffle'), rock like songs, but this musical
diversity works absolutely to the benefit of this CD. It's sheer
variety makes this into a very nice work, highly varied, lots
of poppy melodies, intelligent moves and just a very well made
album. (FdW)
Address: http://www.abandonbuilding.com
Z'EV - FORWAARD (CD by Korm Plastics)
While Z'EV gained a lot of attention through his percussive music
in the 1980s, the focus of his interest has shifted towards the
manipulation of field recordings in recent years. 'Forwaard' is
based on recordings provided by Frans de Waard. Sounds of rain
and running water keep recurring throughout the piece, and the
static, yet internally richly structured quality of these sounds
is indeed an overall characteristic of this work. Avoiding a dramatic
build-up or noisy peaks, Z'EV weaves a dense organic composition
from obscured field recordings and meandering metallic overtones.
Everything is moving at a slow pace, but there is constant movement
and over the course of some 40 minutes a richly varied tapestry
of drones unfolds, evoking a calm late-night atmosphere, in which
objects appear only as silhouettes and gain a delicate, soothing
presence, albeit not devoid of some dark undercurrents.
Finally it should be noted that the Korm Plastics label always
pays great attention to the visual aspects of their releases (just
think of the wonderfully packed 'Brombron'-series or the recent
Hafler Trio 7") and this CD, which comes in a slightly oversized
cover, with two screenprinted photographs by Frans de Waard, continues
the label's visual policy in a tasteful manner. (MSS)
Address: http://www.kormplastics.nl
ASMUS TIETCHENS & RICHARD CHARTIER -
FABRICATION (CD by Die Stadt)
There was a time that the word 'remix' was not in vogue, but it
was called 're-working' or 'recycling'. Asmus Tietchens comes
from that time, so he would have probably referred to his remix
of Chartier for 'Re'Post'Fabricated' (see Vital Weekly 489) as
a rework. It was also the start of a further work with Richard
Chartier, which is now released as 'Fabrication'. Material was
sent back and forth until it was finished. The material Tietchens
initially sent to Chartier is also enclosed, with the first 500
copies, on a CD called 'Pre-Fabrication'. That is nice since it's
a rare occasion that we get a glimpse of the work of Tietchens
in this. The eleven pieces show a minimal pattern. Just a few
sounds are running in each piece, but with various inside the
piece throughout the time span. Clicks, rhythms, glissando, and
oscillations. The interesting thing is that the material is quite
audible, which is a great contrast with the final result of 'Fabrication'.
It's great to get a look in the kitchen of Tietchens. What happened
en route we learn on the final result of 'Fabrication', which
is just one piece that is some fifty minutes long. Here we have
to turn up the volume quite a bit, to unfold it's beauty. It's
hard to figure out what has happened with the original Tietchens
sounds, but I'm sure it's there. The material is again slow, but
also soft, and only with the volume a bit louder, things start
to work. 'Fabrication' moves through certain phases - or maybe
even tracks if you want - but not with a real beginning or ending.
Things blend into eachother and as the CD progresses it becomes
even softer. No doubt there is a lot of Chartier influences here
- the softness, the one piece approach - but the trained listener
will certainly recognize the Tietchens influence, certainly if
you keep his 'Menge' works in mind. Though the surprise of this
collaboration is that perhaps not as a big as both boys deliver
a great job as expected, and it's indeed all very much along the
lines of microsound, this is a fine work. (FdW)
Address: http://www.diestadtmusik.de
MOHA! - NORWEGIANISM (CD by Rune Grammofon)
Following their 'Raus Aus Stavanger' (see Vital Weekly 514) MoHa!,
short for Anders Hana on guitar, casio and drum machine and Morton
Olson on drums and super collider 3, there is now the same full
blown 'Norwegianism'. They are still young of age, 24 and 25 and
have an experience of ten years behind their names already. Unlike
the previous release, this one is recorded in a studio and later
on mixed. It doesn't however change their sound dramatically.
The bang like before, even there are moments of silence, but they
work in pretty much the same way as the noise. They play their
instruments with a furious force, but they remain 100% in control
of what they do. To make noise is easy, to make noise and still
know what you do, is difficult. MoHa! plays noise and improvise
on their instruments, but in their briefness - both in length
of their tracks and the total length of the CD - they show a rarely
seen quality. MoHa! combines the best of many worlds - improvisation,
noise, computer music. Listen and learn, I'd say. These boys will
be big one day. (FdW)
Address: http://www.runegrammofon.com
DON'T GET ANNOYED, GET INSPIRED (CD compilation
by Ambolthue)
In the 80s when you a bit of cash and wanted to release something
the first release was usually a compilation (in the 90s it would
be a Merzbow CD), and Ambolthue, even they have released a bit
on CDR, their first real CD follows this tradition. But unlike
the 80s, when you would invite a real star to be on it (Whitehouse,
Nurse With Wound, The Haters or Esplendor Geometrico) this compilation
has no real stars, except maybe Lasse Marhaug. Music wise this
seventeen track compilation collects people from the lively CDR
scene from various musical ends. Noise is an important feature,
be it of course from Mister Marhaug, but also Sun State, Maskinanlegg
(who do a much better piece here than on the 3" CDR reviewed
elsewhere), Andreas Meland, ENT, Torstein Wjiik, Sindre Bjerga,
Ryfylke and Broetthaest/Paany. All of them play the noise card,
but with various degrees of intensity and/or insanity. However
there is also drone music through an excellent piece by Origami
Galaktika and one by Kobi, glitch by Iversen and an interesting
slab of musique concrete by Staplerfahrer. Improvisation arrives
from Origami Tacet and Andre Borgen. For me the pieces that were
less noise based where the more interesting ones. The best and
most curious piece however was the last one, by one Isak Anderssen,
with an obscure collage piece. And so this compilation serves
another important goal too: it lets the listener reacquaint with
people they already know, but also offers the pleasure getting
new musicians a bigger platform. This one has a bit too much noise
for me, but perhaps it inspired me to more myself, well, or not
of course. (FdW)
Address: http://www.ambolthue.com
ASMUS TIETCHENS - NOTTURNO (CD by Die Stadt)
Back in the day Asmus Tietchens once declared that none of his
LPs were to be released on CDs and that he made two exceptions,
'Zwinburgen des Hedonismus/Marches Funebres' and 'Notturno'. In
the first edition of his "Monographie' we read (page 126)
that he 'owed him something' - the him being the person that ran
Barooni, the label who made the CD version of 'Notturno' in 1992.
Whatever that something was, I forgot to ask back when Mister
Barooni and I met up frequently during office hours and these
days I rarely bump into Mister Barooni (he moves in different
circles I guess). Following 'Formen Letzter Hausmusik' and 'Hydrophonie',
'Notturno' was the third 'serious' attempt in composing more serious
electro-acoustic music, and Tietchens limits himself to using
the (grand) piano. In a good tradition, say starting with Cage's
prepared piano, Tietchens treats the inside and outside of the
piano with objects, like an electric gastr beater, wire brush,
coins and others, but unlike Cage it's for Tietchens only a starting
point. The recordings are processed in the studio, in no doubt
true Tietchens style. Looping the sounds around, filtering through
sound effects and synthesizers, after which they finally find
their form in neatly constructed pieces of music. To use loops
as to the extent that Tietchens does is something that sets him
aside from the regular musique concrete composers. At the time
for many, yours truly included, this was the first introduction
to the more academic music, while now, we hear a record that is
certainly a great one but perhaps not so academic as we thought
back then. 'Notturno' is one the best Tietchens works that one
can encounter and the mastering is much improved over the first
edition on CD. While many seem to think that Tietchens music is
quite distant and cold, 'Notturno' combines playful melodies and
sturdy processing of the material. Certainly one to get if you
are only remotely interested in his work. (FdW)
Address: http://www.diestadtmusik.de
SHELF LIFE - DUCTWORKS (CD by Public Eyesore)
TARTAR LAMB - 60 METONYMIES (CD by Ice Level Music/Public Eyesore)
NAGAOAG - YAMA LABAM A (CDR by Public Eyesore)
D+D - PROPERTIES/RIBBONS (7" by public Eyesore)
Shelf Life is Brian Day's most important musical venture today,
besides of course running Public Eyesore. Shelf Life is a quartet
of musicians, besides Day, there is also A. Boardman, J. Jaros
and J. Schleidt. The cover doesn't list any instruments, but I
believe to hear a saxophone, one or more guitars, a short wave
and some sort of percussion. They are played in a true improvised
manner: hit it and see what comes out. They pluck, hit, strumm
their instruments in what turns out to be an endless stream of
sounds. Thirteen pieces in total, although it's hard to say when
a piece ends and when a new one begins. This is my main objection
against this release: the dynamic level is not very high, so everything
happens on more or less the same level, which is a pity, since
it makes it a bit too much in a free form mass of sound. Some
more mixing could have helped. Unless of course the idea was to
have a total democratic sound, and not have one to play the leading
part. If that was their goal, they succeeded in that very well.
Of a totally different kind is Tartar Lamb, a duo of one Toby
Driver and Mia Matsumiya. They only get together as such to perform
this work, '60 Metonymies' for violin and guitar, which was written
by Toby driver, although they might come together in the future
to record other pieces. Although '60 Metonymies' is primarily
a a duet for violin and guitar, Tim Barnes (trumpet) and Andrew
Greenwald (drums) are also brought in on some pieces to add some
extra sound. Also studio treatment plays an important role on
this CD. It's not always a pure, clean recording of two instruments,
but sound effects play some role. It works best as an extended
group then, so with the trumpet on drums, like on the ninth track
(no track listing come with my copy, but looking at the xeroxed
photos of the cover, it no doubt looks like a great cover). Intimate,
atmospheric pieces of music, that holds somewhere in between improvisation
and composition. Here instruments call for a lead in the play,
and makes hitherto more intense music. Quite nice.
Staying in the world of total improvisation we find Nagaog, with
their release 'Yama Labam A', which are also the only two words
on the cover. So it might not be a Public Eyesore release? Drums,
synths, guitar and voice, in a total improvising, free mode of
expression. Nervous, hectic, no strings attached to eachother,
it seems like the musicians of Nagaog play for each individual
player, then for the greater good. But if I'm honest, I must say
that this music has something nice to it. It's intense and raw,
yet at the same time, it's also quite personal. Especially the
Jaap Blonk like vocalizations work quite well. Somewhere half
way between free jazz and free punk. Although I must say, a bit
more information would have been most welcome.
The D+D is one Dereck Higgins and Dino Felipe. They play together,
but each side has the other one credited as main player. Both
sides last no more than two and half minute each and it's hard
to figure out what these boy play. Guitar for sure, but perhaps
also some electronics? 'Properties' is a soft piece, or rather
one with lots of silence and an occasional 'outburst', although
it never reaches the height of noise, it stands out a bit from
the vague crackling. 'Ribbons' on the flip consists more of sustaining
sounds but here too things don't extent very much. Again, all
in a sort of free improvisation play, but it has a mysterious
character, of held back tension that makes this into a nice one.
Eloine, Bryan Day's solo project, sent me also an older release,
which falls out of the six minute period, but 'Green Stump' is
worth mentioning in spirit of the Shelf Life release. Here the
band is reduced to one person, who plays his solo music spread
out over a four track machine and mix the whole in a similar way
as he does later on with Shelf Life. Day plays rhythm, flutes
and guitar, with no particular emphasis on one of them. As such
this is an interesting forecast in the future sound of the band.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.publiceyesore.com
TASOS STAMOU - INFANT (CD by Editions_zero)
DEAD TRAVELLER - OUTSIDE MY WINDOW (CDR by Editions_zero)
PANAGIOTIS SPOULOS - LOOPS FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST (CDR by
Editions_zero)
All of these three new releases on Editions_zero, the name currently
used by Absurd are from people from Greece. It's my first encounter
with somebody named Tasos Stamou, who delivers eight pieces on
his CD (as Absurd still puts these out too). Packed in a piece
of hard cloth, this is a strange release. Five tracks appear to
be recorded live and three are studio pieces. Stamou plays a variety
of instruments, guitars, melodica and electronics and perhaps
some toy instruments - titles as 'Toys Coming', 'Toy-waltz' and
'Toy-rock' certainly hint in that direction. The music can best
be compared with that of Klimperei, even when Stamou plays it
all a bit more dark and edgier. It's all quite sparse material,
and it's all highly obscure. What he does and why he does things
this way. The material is played in a playful, almost childlike
manner, hence, perhaps the title. Certainly the strangest release
of this week, and easily an outsider of any kind.
Whoever the Dead Traveller is, I also don't know, but a traveller
travels, so much is clear. The four pieces on his CDR are field
recordings - unprocessed. The title tells us no tale: outside
my window I hear this sound. Which can be machine like drones
in 'The Drone', the town square in 'The March' and children and
birds in the park in 'The park'. Nice as straight forward recordings
but it could have used some editing. 'Under The Bridge', the fourth
track of this lot incorporates the far away playing of PS Stamps
Back, which add an interesting musical texture to the recording
and shows something of interest can be done using field recordings
in a strange way.
Panagiotis Spoulos is best known for his own releases on his own
Phaseweb label, here however guesting on Editons_zero. Spoulos
is a man who likes a bit of noise, playing his guitar and feeding
the sounds through his bunch of feedbacks, waiting for feedback
to occur. The loops mentioned in the title are not really a present
feature on this release. The noise element here is however kept
to a minimum. It's there, one feels it lurking around the corner,
this is all a bit held back and more creepy noise release, save
for the last two pieces which are more noisy and break with the
previous six pieces. But throughout I thought this was a most
enjoyable release, perhaps even the best I heard from this guy
so far. (FdW)
Address: http://www.void.gr/absurd
STEFAN FUNK/TBC (LP by Wachsender Prozess)
For many years now Wachsender Prozess is one of the more eccentric
labels from Germany. Handmade covers, various types of releases,
including LPs, CDRs but also cassettes and a total 'no planned
strategy' behind it. One always has to wait and see. TBC is a
name that returns a lot and that's hardly a surprise, it's the
man that is behind the label. Many of the LPs take the form of
a split LP, with TBC on one side, and somebody else on the other
side. Here it's Stefan Funk, one of the Tietchens followers from
Hamburg (recently present on 'Heizung Raum 318' - see Vital Weekly
579) and one half of Für Diesen Abend, who had some releases
on 1000 Füssler. His side here is filled with just one long
piece of deep end bass drones and apparently field recordings
of a railroad - or perhaps he depicts one. Every now and then
a high pitched sound comes in, like the cracking of a contact
microphone under the iron wheels of a train. For whatever reason
I was reminded of Jonathan Coleclough's 'Windlass' (which should
be re-issued me thinks!): a similar dark cloud that covered the
whole pieces with some unnerving and unsettling interruptions.
TBC is a man who loves the low end quality of sound. I don't think
(I am not entirely sure here), that TBC has updated his technical
things in more than fifteen years. Some low end sampler, sound
effects and a mixing board - to that extent he goes. For the pieces
on his side he uses the sound of stones, sampled and treated.
Relatively short pieces of high minimal density going on here.
They are sampled in the casio SK 1 sampler and feed through a
bunch of delay pedals. Things bump and collide in a pretty neat
fashion. TBC is an outsider in the insider field to me. A strange
monomaniac maniac, doing whatever suits him best, and not caring
about the past, the present, the future or others.
At the same there is also a new issue of Odradek, a fanzine compiled
by TBC and he's probably the only one who writes for it (sounded
familiar). If you are man enough to read German, then it's worthwhile
to pick up a copy. Half the magazine is filled with reviews, covering
similar water as Vital Weekly, and the other half has small print
lengthy pieces on Wäldchengarten, Flying Luttenbachers, Brume,
Jerome Noetinger, Etat Brut and a piece on noise and, in a good
punk fashion, a scene report from Ecuador. This is the moment
when I'm happy that I was such a good boy in school and learned
by German Grammer. Like said, everything from the house of TBC
is totally unplanned, unhip and never fashionable. Perhaps the
only good to reason to invest this. (FdW)
Address: http://www.hoerbar-ev.de/?Mitglieder:tbc
SPELLEWAUERYNSHERDE, INTERPRETATIONS VARIOUS
& SUNDRY (CDR by Trans>parent Radiation)
Bresmsstrahlung is a small label which have brought us some nice
releases in the past - a small but good catalogue. They also have
a sub division called Trans>parent Radiation which consists
of MP3s. After a while they are removed from the website and then
the material is released as a CDR. The first one is a compilation
of re-composed source material taken from found reel to reel recordings
of Icelandic a cappella lament songs made in the late 1960s or
early 1970's. Ten composers using this material and they all seem
to be from the field of microsound, but they are by no means the
least in the field. Fennesz, Roden, Kit Clayton, Taylor Deupree,
Takemura, Alejandra & Aeron and Stephan Mathieu - one could
wonder why not release this as a real CD. The lament song part
is pushed to the back in the most part. The emphasis lies more
on the ancient tape hiss and crackle, although some use the faint
traces of voices. Most of the time it turns out to be shimmering,
humming, crackling and hissing pieces of music. The noise collage
played by Nobekazu Takemura is a bit out of place here, or it's
certainly a break with the rest. Some people add their own instruments
such as guitars (Fennesz and Josh Russell) but they keep in spirit
with the overall sombre and melancholic tone of this release.
The Takemura piece is the longest and perhaps also the one that
is a bit out of place here. It perhaps breaks the mood but in
this case it's not so great. Otherwise this is a more than excellent
compilation with all equally great sorrowful pieces of music,
which could have as easily been on a real CD. (FdW)
Address: http://www.bresmsstrahlung-recordings.org
LOGOPLASM - TESTA PIENA D'ORCHE (CDR by
Afe Records)
The name Logoplasm still runs in the world of Italy's underground
music as one of the forgotten mysterious names, mainly because
of the ill-fated S'Agita Recordings, which had a bunch of great
releases and suddenly disappeared for reasons no longer clear.
Logoplasm, a duo of Paolo and Laura, every once in a while dig
their vaults and pick out a work and make a small edition for
friends. One of these releases. 'Testa Piena D'Orche' (meaning
'Head Full Of Killer Whales') ended up in the hands of Andrea
Marutti, who made 'another friendly edition' (which is what Afe
Records stands for). Logoplasm works with field recordings and
electronics and make highly personal music. The shimmering of
voices, the careful drone on an organ or the simple plucking of
a stringed instrument: this is a great mixture of instruments
and field recordings. There are links to the music of Ora and
Mirror, certainly towards the end when big time drones and rain
covered field recordings emerge, but especially in the first half
Logoplasm show a much more personal approach. Their vaults should
be opened more! (FdW)
Address: http://www.aferecords.com
CRIA CUERVOS - VOR FEUERSCHLÜNDEN (CD
by Afe Records)
Eugenio Maggi, also known as Cria Cuervos, may not be the best
known drone meister/field recorder, but his work can easily match
the better known ones. He has had a couple of releases already
over the past few years on labels such as Mystery Sea, Taalem
and Thisco as well as a collaborative works with Paul Bradley,
Maurizio Bianchi and Sparkle In Grey, here he has a new solo work.
The title apparently means something like 'before throats of fire'
in German, which I didn't know, and it has two long pieces. It
seems to me that field recordings play an all important part,
but they are not easy to detect, except perhaps for the frog choir
in the opening minutes of 'Blutgebell'. Apparently there is also
somewhere the sound of cicadas, gas, frogs and water, but with
Maggi everything is thrown in the mighty blender called the computer.
In 'Blutgebell' the frogs leap over into slow cascading wave like
sounds - perhaps the processed sound of water - and could easily
pass for a somewhat simplified version of The Hafler Trio, mixing
their previous interest in surround sound and the recent drone
material. When the drones fade out slowly, and water runs in,
it's almost like a cover of 'Brain Song'. The title piece, which
opens the CD, is a similar piece, even when field recordings are
harder to recognize. It might statically charged electricity or
escaping gas, which at first moves on the higher end of the sound
spectrum, but later on it arrives on various other levels, and
things grow towards eachother. From that point onwards things
grow like a howling beast until it reaches it peak and in a rather
quick fashion it vanishes as mysterious as it appears. Two great
tracks of drone music meeting field recordings and microsound,
when not innovative, it makes surely a great listening. (FdW)
Address: http://www.aferecords.com
MATHIAS GRASSOW & THOMAS WEISS - INSIGHTS
(CDR by Databloem)
DANNY KREUTZFELDT - NUMBERGROUND (CDR by Databloem)
Work by Mathias Grassow is around plenty, yet it doesn't always
reach the pages. Perhaps this is due to the fact that it's released
on more ambient labels that don't reach out for Vital Weekly.
Interesting enough from the little that is reviewed of his work,
this is the second release he did with one Thomas Weiss, following
the somewhat religious inspired 'Conscience' on Nextera (see Vital
Weekly 553). Wether this new release is also inspired by God,
I don't know, but somehow I think it is. Right from the opening
track 'In', with it's choir like chanting, it's in a heavenly
mode. From then on it's in full spirit (excuse le mot): tracks
run into eachother and a more rhythmically then on 'Consience'.
Long sustaining sounds played on synthesizers, backed with a driving
rhythm in 'Circles', following by the deep end drones of 'Whole
Pulse' (without a pulse really) and going through phases of slow
chimes in 'Language Of Silence' to end with chirping insect like
sounds of 'Sights', although they are probably more electronically
induced than true field recordings. This is another big A ambient
album that is even better than 'Conscience' partly because the
five pieces nicely flow into eachother, yet each with a different
character. More like a seventies conceptual album, but even when
the concept may not directly appeal to me, it's still makes great
late night atmospheric music.
Like Grassow, Danny Kreutzfeldt is a busy man. Here too, I believe
I review not all of his work, but most likely more than of Grassow.
On 'Numberground' he has six tracks, of which four are quite long
and two are short. Also unlike Grassow, Kreutzfeldt moves in various
musical areas. He has given us noise, ambient and even techno
like music, but here he returns to the noisy variations of ambient
music. Unfortunately he does that through the extensive use of
reverb, which is something I am not particular fond of. It's a
big of a cheap drug to create 'atmosphere' just by putting the
reverb to 20 miliseconds - everything will sound great as such.
Adding some delay effects, and the whole thing is smeared together
in this cloud of sound. Rhythmic particles fly about in this big
'hall'. The tracks are too long to hold the interest, and there
is simply not enough interesting developments happening. Backed
with some of the pieces being mixed in a rather noise/overdrive
mode, doesn't make me very satisfied about this release. I heard
him do better before. (FdW)
Address: http://www.databloem.com
MANITOU - ALL POINTS NORTH (CDR by Slo.Bor
Media)
MATT BORGHI - OLAGRA (CDR by Slo.Bor Media)
On the for me unknown label Slo.Bor Media we come across a new
name and an old one, with a big surprise. The label is run by
Matt Borghi and Jason Sloan since 2002 and focuses on various
types of media, design and conceptual art. The new name here is
Manitou who is from Detroit. There is not much information on
him, either in the press release or on the cover, except that
the label lumps him in with Windy & Carl, Tomorrowland and
Stars Of The Lid, which is all a connection that I can dig. Manitou
plays spacious music, perhaps on a guitar and a long line of sound
effects, or perhaps on a bunch of ancient synthesizers. The first
time I played this, I divided into a book and let the music do
it's ambient work: fill my environment with sound that is not
provoking, but create a textured feeling, the aural wallpaper
(I am sure I quoting Eno entirely wrong here). It worked well,
as well beyond the time span I looked up and noticed the music
was over. However when I sat down to listen more carefully to
this release, I noticed that it had no less than nineteen tracks,
which is a bit much. Not because of this vast amount of tracks
or the length of the release, but with this kind of music some
time is needed to explore it's specific character. Now some of
the pieces are too short and don't go beyond the sketch like setting,
which is a pity. One senses that more could be done with some
of the pieces, but it doesn't happen. Other tracks are quite nice,
and more worked out and it would have been a good idea to drop
the more sketch like pieces and work out some of those into lengthier
pieces and make an even stronger album. Still it's pretty decent
ambient music.
Also ambient was/is the music by Matt Borghi, at least in the
past. His 'Images' (see Vital Weekly 471) springs to mind, but
also his collaboration with Aidan Baker (see Vital Weekly 481),
but here he leaps over to something different. 'Olagra' (named
after a nineteenth century reproduction process called oleography)
began life in October 2003 when Borghi started to write and sign
traditional songs. Together with Bryan Kay on drums and Phil Smith
on bass, there was even a sort of band in 2004, which lived for
about a year. The thirteen tracks on 'Olagra' is the culmination
of Borghi solo and with the band, although there two (long) tracks
of the band as such - the rest is solo. Space is again the place
for Borghi, but moving away entirely from the synthesizer, rhythm
and sample ambience and into the world of space rock. Meandering
guitar lines, space free (free space?) drums, a bass that is the
glue and occasional vocals. It's not easy to get to this music,
as it seems far away from the 'original' (if such a thing ever
did exist, based on a handful of releases) sound of Borghi. Some
of the pieces are too long in their spacious and psychedelic wandering,
such as 'Sincerely, April', but in his solo pieces, the desolate
voice and acoustic guitar work quite well. Unlike Manitou, things
work best here when kept to a concise point. This is where this
release gets it's real power from. An outsider from the point
of Vital Weekly, and most certainly someone who marks a difference
in all his work. (FdW)
Address: http://www.slobormedia.com
FREIBAND/VARIOUS ARTISTS - FREIBAND RMX
(CD-R by Sijis)
Freiband is of course one of Frans de Waard's several aliases.
In 2004 Sijis released Freiband's re-interpretation of the label's
back catalogue under the title 'sijis_rmx' which is re-released
in an extended version now, not only including two versions of
Frans de Waard's 'original' (whatever that means in this context),
but also re-interpretations of his piece by artists from Sijis'
program, namely Sluggo, Scott Taylor, J Torrance, Srmeixner (formerly
from Contrastate) and Mutton Deluxe. Freiband's 15-minute track
opens the disc and presents the original material in a state that
is probably best described as gaseous - a shimmering, soft cloud
of sounds. Starting out in a light mood, the minimal textures
only stirred by almost imperceptible undulations, the piece gradually
turns darker and culminates in a restrained, yet surprisingly
powerful crescendo. With its exploration of stasis, repetition
and changing moods this is a particularly strong Freiband work.
The alternative mix, which closes the release doesn't differ too
much from the original mix, so the other artist's contributions
are of more interest here. They stay within the aesthetic parameters
set out by Freiband, but extensively tweak and twist the values
to add their own flavor. While, for example, J Torrance accentuates
the shimmering atmospheric warmth of the first part of Freiband's
track, Srmeixner incorporates some sampled acoustic instruments.
Each of the contributions succeeds in giving its own statement
on the 'original' and in total they all form an aesthetic unity.
Thus, thinking about what might be criteria for a good compilation,
this collection of tracks might indeed yield one possible answer.
(MSS)
Address: http://www.sijis.com
AIDAN BAKER - CONVS W/MYSELF (CDR by Evelyn
Records)
PILOTRAM - LEAVE BEFORE IT BURNS (CDR by Evelyn Records)
SHIFTS - VERTONEN 14 (CDR by Evelyn Records)
PINK EYE SORE - LITTLE DRONES (CDR by Evelyn Records)
SIGNALS - SONUR (CDR by Evelyn Records)
Things have been quiet for Evelyn Records, mainly due to website
problems. But here they release their seventh series of five CDRs,
some of them which were recorded a while ago, like Aidan Baker's
'Convs w/ Myself'. Recently Baker worked our musical senses with
his Nadja duo and collaboration, but here it's presented in a
way that I enjoy much better. Baker on the electric guitar in
'Convs w/o Myself' and an acoustic one in 'Convs w/i Myself'.
Baker's procedure is relatively easy: take a four track recording
device and fill each of the four tracks with a bunch of improvised
sounds, either strumming, with an e-bow, plucking or scraping.
Later he sees how to mix these four tracks into a whole, unified
piece of music, which especially in the first piece works really
well. A calm tone is pushed forward, ambient in approach, with
sounds popping in and out of the mix. In the acoustic piece things
are a little bit more hectic, with a wider variety of sounds and
methods to play the guitar, but with making a somewhat less coherent
piece of music. But both pieces have an overall calm and relaxing
sound.
Pilotram is a new name for me and it's one Duane Pitre. He has
two pieces, the short 'Le Lune De Divergence' and the longer 'Collapsed
Architecture'. The first is a soft, not too outspoken of gliding
guitar with e-bow tones, while the second piece evolves around
long washes of synthesizer sounds that depict long waves washing
ashore, rather than anything collapsing or architecture. It makes
two beautiful pieces of ambient music, which aren't new by any
standard, but it's played with great care and skill. Especially
the first piece is quite nice.
Frans de Waard's Shifts project has been going on for about twelve
years now, and in the past few years he's been reworking his own
material, in a series of compositions called 'Vertonen'. One piece
of about twenty-six minutes of heavily processed guitar music,
all arriving from the digital domain. Also in the field of drone
music, but perhaps a bit more from an isolationist angle, this
is a dark and closed piece of music. Slightly similar to church
organs or a mass of hum, this fits well alongside his other pieces
from the same series and as such may not be a real surprise. Also
not one of the most innovative drone pieces per se. But if you
love the genre, you may dig this.
Pink Eye Sore is another new name for me. It's a duo of Nick Davidson
(of Pink Eye/Dead Eye) and Ian Masters (from Pale Saints and I'm
Sore). They deliver the shortest of these five releases, but with
the most songs, five in total, 'Drone One', 'Drone Two' and such
like. Yet the music is not entirely drone based. They are minimalist
pieces for sure, but also seem to evolve around small rhythm particles,
which may or may not come from the infamous casio SK 1. They feed
through a couple of sound effects and that's it. But they do a
nice job at these little drones. Each of the five pieces is indeed
a small drone, but more sketch like thing: a few strokes with
a pencil, then a worked out Mark Rothko if you get my drift. Charmingely
lo-fi drone music which increases in tension throughout these
five pieces.
Signals is a collaboration between Phil Julian of Cheapmachines
and Chris Gowers of Karina ESP and the owner of Evelyn Records.
They already had a release on Julian's Authorized Version label,
see Vital Weekly 513, and here they return with another twenty
minute plus a bit piece that sees them further exploring bowed
guitar, remote control, tone generator, oscillators and tape.
I'm not sure if they still want you to play it on headphones,
but the deep end bass rumble causes a lot of pressure to the ears.
One piece of drone music that is as effective as can be. Slowly
evolving tones, field recordings leak through (even when not mentioned
on the cover), this is sturdy piece of minimal drone music, that
holds no real surprises, but it's a nice tour into a land well
explored already. (FdW)
Address: http://www.evelynrecords.connectfree.co.uk
LA DIVISION MENTALE L'EXTASE DES FOUS [INTROSPECTION
LÉTALE] (CD by
Blood:Fire :Death)
They are it seems a French industrial black metal band? Consisting
of Cypher (electronics? And guitar?) and Mriik (harsh vocals)
& Guests Mg,Yd,Bk - the album appears to be an attempt at
a crossover between 'Extreme Metal' and 'Indus' sounds? - oh -
industrial! It's a very tuneful rhythmic CD, it starts fairly
atmospheric, though I'm not that familiar with black metal, but
it was certainly in the vein of Black Sabbath - yes that long
ago, power chords and guitar riffs against heavy rapid drumming,
quite nice really, pity my old leather pants no longer fit. The
well produced sound textures slide in and out of the heavy metal
sections which at times begins to should prog-rock, - oh dear!
- my one niggle was the harsh vocal, bit like an orc from The
Lord of the Rings, didn't quite match the musicality of the guitar
and drums, but I suspect such course screaming is de rigour on
black or is it extreme metal. I didn't find it extreme - more
pleasant listening, which might be taken as a criticism, there
are moments when you expect to hear the sound of the large stadium
audience, but I guess it's a studio album, but I couldn't help
thinking you could mix one in - tongue in cheek. A bit too Smashey
& Nicey perhaps - I should find it amusing? Maybe. (jliat)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/ladivisionmentale
DARSOMBRA - DELIRIMS & DEATH (3"
CDr by Public Guilt)
HARM STRYKER (3" CDr by Public Guilt)
Darsombra is Brian Daniloski guitar player, who I think is probably
using an ebow, an echoplex and various frippertronics, it starts
out droney and is soon sounding like the intro to Black Hawk Down
without the Arab chanting. Failing that it could be from Peter
Gabriel's Passion CD, I'm trying to be positive but I really cant
stand this kind of thing these days, tunes, echoy drones, beats
and rhythms - I preferred Gabriel's Sources. Brian's now talking
over a dervish loop - looping voices also. There is also a problem
with loops that once you know the rhythm its like a nightmare.
Why do I find this kind of thing so bad is that its like avant
garde music lite, you can imagine men in carpet slippers quite
- and I mean quite liking it. And there is yet 10 more minutes?
Now I'd like to kill the guy who invented the tape loop. But then
it ends .. It appears there were two tracks, periphery and eyes
in eyes - which ends with a woman screaming becky! Becky!, maybe
becky bought Brian his echoplex?
On to Harm Stryker ("is Kelly Norse and Kenneth Yates from
Richmond Virginia") More deep drone, sub bass stuff to worry
your woofers, this isn't looking good Houston. No. they seem to
be improvising with electronics, glitches, fizzies and static.
quite nice, interesting stuff, sort of like pulling the sound
out of the electronics without recourse to prettying it up. They
manage to layer up the sounds in a very interesting way, contrasting
high pitched whistles and dull hums and throbs, with clicks contrasting
to the hums and little oscillator noises and sweeps - it sounds
like its improvised live which if it is- is certainly commendable.
I'd call this good because its interesting, its not harsh noise,
rather like electronic / noise - chamber music, quite beautifully
crafted IMO... and then cheeky pair let it run on in silence a
few minutes after a sudden ending - and then play a short burst
of an oscillator- the little tinkers. (jliat)
Address: http://www.publicguilt.com
BONEMACHINE/MASKINANLEGG (3"CDR by
Tosom)
KALTEEINBRUCH (3"CDR by Tosom)
Germany's Tosom label have invested in design and their releases
have now covers printed in full color on photo-paper, which look
great. Low level design is out, as it's easy to create something
that looks good with relatively cheap and easy means. Tosom's
music moves from noise to ambient, and with these two 3"
CDR releases, they stage on the noise side. Bonemachine is from
Austria and he calls his music 'militairy industrial', what's
in a name, I'd say. But on his myspace site he claims there is
no room for fascists or racists, so the fanatics in that area
should fuck off. Good. His piece here shows a clear interest in
marching rhythms. It starts slow, like a conveyer belt which just
started and then pumps up in full gear and the marching rhythm
becomes a little too fast for the average G.I. - however the song
lacks a bit of real tension, a menacing threat. Maskinanlegg hail
from Norway and have been reviewed before. Here they (he) returns
with a rather simple onslaught of a rhythm stuck in digital delay
pedal, a distortion pedal and a grunting voice. He can do much
better, I know.
Kalteeinbruch is a new project from Germany and their 3"
CDR with the same title is the debut release. I am informed that
their sound reaches from "harsh noise to glitch and cut up
style". I must admit that I think whatever Kalteeinbruch
is in debt to noise than to anything else. The glitch elements
that one could detect in here is merely the plug in overload signal.
The music itself it relatively unfocussed and shows signs of a
too early release. Effects are used but in naive manner, like
an echo test record. It has potential, this music, but it's a
longer road than expected I guess. What do they want? Why? How
to acheive it? What makes a noise good, or what makes good noise?
These are all questions Kalteeinbruch should consider before going
further, but if looked from an embryonic start... it's a start.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.tosom.de
FREIBAND - SPAARZAM (3" CD-R by My
Own Little Label)
FREIBAND - ICE FIELD (3" CD-R by My Own Little Label)
FREIBAND - UNTITLED DRONE WORK (3" CD-R by My Own Little
Label)
The ever-active Frans de Waard has started a new label, which
goes by the name of 'Moll'. 'Moll' not only means 'minor key'
in Dutch, but, standing for 'My Own Little Label', it is also
a highly sympathetic tongue-in-cheek commentary on DIY-creativity.
'Moll' is releasing CD-Rs, featuring music by Frans de Waard's
diverse projects and cover artwork by Rutger Zuydervelt (Machinefabriek).
The first entry in the catalogue came as a surprise to me, as
it finds Freiband taking a direction which I had not encountered
before in his work. As it can be learned from the label's website,
this recently recorded 17-minute piece is a remix of "Dagpauwoog,
the local sad song trio which stopped their activities."
Incorporating sparse, looped vocals, a simple melody on the guitar
and a basic drum pattern into his signature drone style, Freiband
adds an unexpected, pop-fueled emotional character to his music.
One might justly object that the melancholic potential of digital
drone music has been explored extensively in recent years. But
after all the music on 'Spaarzam' is sweet and moody, especially
the second part, which embeds the original instrumentation in
restrained drones.
The music on 'Ice Field' is not exactly what you would expect
from Freiband either, but contrary to 'Spaarzam' it's the grittiness
that comes as a surprise here. Partly recorded in 2005 for a planned
release on Ideal, which never materialized, and partly recorded
in May 2007, the rather short tracks span the whole range of digital
austerity, from insistent pulses to exercises in crackle and hiss.
They are of a sketch-like character, each one exploring a small
set of sounds and variations. Not everything works equally well,
but there is enough tension throughout and the first and the last
track stand out in particular as strikingly focused and intense.
'Untitled Drone piece' is the only re-release in this series of
Freiband CD-Rs (originally issued on 'Twenty Hertz' in 2005).
The atmosphere is equally austere as that on 'Ice Field', but
instead of the sketch-like approach Freiband presents one 20-minute
track again, a format that seems most appropriate to his drone
aesthetic. He works with flickering, high-pitched sounds here,
which are accompanied by a dark drone underneath. The compositional
structure might seem to be devoid of any internal development,
but concentrated listening reveals rich microstructural variations,
as the various layers move out of sync and new sounds subtly surface
in the mix. It's nice that this material is available again now,
and the lovely cover photography should of course get an extra
cheer. (MSS)
Address: http://www.kormplastics.nl/moll.html
Correction: Sewer Goddess (see last week) is a female... The three reviews from Beta-lactam Ring Records were written by Freek Kinkelaar and not Frans de Waard