============
VITAL WEEKLY
============
number 597
---------------------
week 42
---------------------
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.
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!
* noted are in this week's podcastX-Original-To:
vital@vitalweekly.net
ANTOINE BERTHIAUME & MARYCLARE BRZYTWA
(CD by Ambiances Magnetiques)
ARANIS - II (CD by Asmlljj)
ANDREW D'ANGELO & MARTY MCCAVITT - TORN BETWEEN 2 HORSES (CD
by Duration Records)
BIRDS IN THE MEADOW - FIRST FLASH OF THE DAY (CD by Duration Records)
AXEL DÖRNER & DIEGO CHAMY - WHAT MATTERS TO ALI (CD by
C3R Records) *
GORDON MONAHEN - SPEAKER SWINGING/PIANO MECHANICS (CD by C3R Records)
*
JON MUELLER - METALS (CD by Table Of The Elements) *
SAVVAS YSATIS & TAYLOR DEUPREE - THE SLEEPING MORNING (CDEP
by 12K) *
BRAZZAVILLE - EAST LA BREEZE (CD by Vendlus) *
KNURL - VERMIFUGE (Cd by PACrec)
PHOLDE - APERTURE OF THE INTERNAL SURFACE (Cd by Afe Records)
MAWJA - LIVE ONE (CD by Chloe) *
PLANET Y - SPACE STATION (CD by Public Guilt) *
FATAGAGA - THE BIG SLEEP (CDR by Satori Hype Records) *
ELFISH ECHO - BAUME UND STRAUCHER (CDR by Drittland Schallscheiben)
*
AUDIOTROP (CD compilation by Audiotrop)
THE HITMACHINE - IE OE AA (7" by Ole Records)
WHAT MORE DO YOU NEED THAN A RECORDER? (CDR by Ambolthue) *
PAUL HEGARTY - NOISE MUSIC: A HISTORY (book by Continuum)
ANTOINE BERTHIAUME & MARYCLARE BRZYTWA
(CD by Ambiances Magnetiques)
Another CD in the series 'the many sides of Antoine Berthiaume'.
In 2003 Berthiaume debuted with 'Soshin' a cd of duets with Fred
Frith and - just on time - with Derek Bailey. Followed by 'Leaves
and Snows', a trio with Quentin SirJacq on piano and Norman Teale
on electronics, showing again improvisation from another angle.
With Michel Donato and Pierre Tanguay, Berthiaume released a jazz
album: 'Ellen's Bar'. For his newest collaboration Bertiaume takes
again another route, combining improvisation with soundscaping.
He is joined now by MaryClare Brzytwa on flute and electronics,
making use of electronic and sampled sounds. She is a new name
for me. Brzytwa studied improvisation with Joelle Leandre, composition
with Fred Frith, etc. She is member of the all female free improvisation
outfit Slow Children. Berthiaume plays guitar and effects, in
a way that is often difficult to trace the guitar in the soundscapes
they paint. Together they produce an album of quiet electronic
based improvisations. At times even very ambient, like in the
track 'Punch'.
In a track like 'By the Name' they came close to the songformat.
In the last track 'Alltron' Berthiaume plays in Bailey-like way,
accompanied by environmental sounds coming from Brzytwa. In all
the pieces the input of both is blended carefully and successfully
into one whole of organic soundmanipulations. I would say this
is a very interesting and engaging work that should interest those
who are into crossovers between improvisation and soundmanipulation.
(DM)
Address: http://www.actuellecd.com/
ARANIS - II (CD by Asmlljj)
Belgium has a rich tradition of chamber-music like rock (and related)
ensembles: Présent, Univers Zero, Daniel Schell & Karo,
Maximalist, Julverne, Olla Vogula, Louise Avenue, Jan Kuijken,
DAAU, etc. We can add now a new and fascinating member to this
family: Aranis.
They are already around for a while, as they present their second
cd. Within this family this acoustic combo belongs to the friendly
department with Julverne a.o.
Aranis is a sextet consisting of: Linde de Groof (violin), Liesbeth
Lambrecht (violin), Marjolein Cools (accordion), Axelle Kennes
(piano), Stijn Denys (guitar), Jana Arns (flute) and Joris Vanvinckenroye
(double bass). The bassplayer is also responsible for all the
compositions and arrangements, except the piece 'Trog' that was
composed by Peter Verdonck.
All of them are excellent players who did their studies on the
conservatory of Antwerp. With verve and great enthusiasm they
play the complex compositions, that are beautifully arranged.
The playing is very together and coherent. They often play live
I guess.
The compositions are not earthshaking but put together very well.
We hear folk and jazz influences and above all the ghost of Piazzola
is everywhere, although they don't play tangos. Happily they keep
themselves in most pieces far from boring post-minimal music which
we hear often from these kind of ensembles. So it ends up as their
own melting pot of romantic chamber music. They play a music that
is melodic and harmonic, combined with the feel for rhythm and
pulse coming tango music. So, absolutely no hypermodern classical
music, but also no retro exercise. They know how to keep the balance,
only on a few moments they come a little to close to cliché
and kitsch. All in all, I must say I like this very maneuverable
music with its surprising twists. But I think the composer could
do more experimental things, and I think he should. (DM)
Address: http://www.aranis.be/
ANDREW D'ANGELO & MARTY MCCAVITT - TORN
BETWEEN 2 HORSES (CD by Duration Records)
BIRDS IN THE MEADOW - FIRST FLASH OF THE DAY (CD by Duration Records)
Two releases from the obscure Duration label. I could not trace
much information on these musicians, but it seems we are in contact
here with improvisors from Richmond.
On both CDs Marty Mccavitt plays harsh and heavy electronics.
There is no information on the equipment he uses. But from what
we hear coming from his electronics, it is evident that he likes
old-style, analogue sounding electronics. Also his improvisations
show that he has his very own esthetic if it comes how to play
electronics and built musical structures. You make like it or
not, but he has clear voice and approach. I didn't like it immediately,
I must admit.
But there is an sympathetic air of 'primitivism' in his his style.
Is it Andrew d'Angelo who plays saxes on 'Torn between 2 Horses',
on 'First Flash of the Day' it is Darius Jones who plays sax.
So we have here two cds with the same instrumentation, which makes
it interesting to compare them. The cd by Birds in the Meadow
is the most varied and interesting one, as it shows more of Mccavitts
electronic capabilities, and he is not so afraid of silence and
quiet intervals here. Of both saxplayers Darius Jones plays in
the most jazzy way, even lyrical and very human. This contrasts
with the electronic world of Mccavitt, although it must be said
that Mccavitt respects Jones in all ways. D'Angelo plays in more
abstract way, and also rough. Here sax and electronics are completing
each other in noisy improvisations. On both cds we hear unusual
improvisations, specially because of the strange electronics of
Mccavitt. And also successful improvisations as the musicians
do meet and communicate. (DM)
Address: http://www.durationrecords.com/
AXEL DÖRNER & DIEGO CHAMY - WHAT
MATTERS TO ALI (CD by C3R Records)
GORDON MONAHEN - SPEAKER SWINGING/PIANO MECHANICS (CD by C3R Records)
The C3R label more and more focusses on improvised and semi-classical
music and these two releases proof that. First of all there is
the all important improvised music innovator Axel Dörner,
whose trumpet playing occasionally has nothing to do with a trumpet.
Here he teams up with Diego Chamy, an Argentinian percussion player,
who wrote a text, which he recites. I *think* this is in the beginning
of the CD, since there is a voice there. Good to see it in print
too on the cover as it would be hard to understand. The majority
of the disc however is filled with Dörner playing his trumpet,
and this time in a somewhat more accessible and recognizable vein
than his recent work and Chamy playing with objects on his bass
drum. Soft and subtle as was to expect, but it has some great
music and unexpected sounds - sounds which are hard to trace back
to the origins of either instrument. Maybe also Dörner plays
his instrument with objects, which add a whole new layer to the
music. One piece, forty five minutes of sheer silence, sheer noise
and sheer delight.
I have good memories about 'Speaker Swinging' by Gordon Monahan.
Three swingers are swinging loudspeakers above their heads. From
these speakers emerge sine waves which are played from the mixing
board. Thus a doppler like effect is created, which increases
and decreases when the swinging goes faster or slower. I once
this in performance, and was thrilled. The flying and buzzing
sound was great to hear. When I bought the record, now released
here on CD, I thought it was good but not as great as the performance
itself. It's still a great piece, captured with microphones of
course, of moving drones and the rotating sound is in tact. It
would be great to see this as a 5.1 surround sound release. The
b-side (I always thought of that, but it's in fact first on the
CD version) is 'Piano Mechanics', which is a conceptual piece
about the piano. I read the liner notes, tried downloading the
score, but I am not sure how it works. It's a piece that works
well on CD. The hammering on the strings are largely mechanical
and work less in the area of overtones, but are largely minimal.
Especially 'Solitary Waves 2' is a powerful piece in that respect.
Minimal music without the interference of electronics, but sounding
truly powerful. Great to see on CD. (FdW)
Address: http://www.c3r.ca
JON MUELLER - METALS (CD by Table Of The
Elements)
So far we mostly came across the name Jon Mueller as part of an
improvising group, a real group, but hardly by himself. Not very
strange, since Mueller is well respected improviser on the drums.
His last solo CD, 'What's Lost Is Something Important. What's
Found Is Something Not Revealed' was reviewed in Vital Weekly
457. Yet it's far away from his new solo effort 'Metals'. The
previous sounded like an exploration into the world of electro-acoustic
objects, which happened to be anything remotely related to the
drumkit. Here on 'Metals' the drumkit is the central piece, and
not, as the title may suggest the sound of metal. The metal here
is heavy metal, the musical genre, to which this owes more than
to improvised music. The music is loud, but has lots of detail.
Sometimes it dies out in a long sustain, but then Mueller takes
control and bangs like hell. Heavy metal? Yeah sure, stripped
down to the drums that is. Minimal music it is also. The bangs
take on for some time until the overtones start ringing around
- this is after all on Table Of The Elements. It's that, rather
than improvised music. This seems to me to be more planned, composed
if you will, than improvised. A powerful statement, perhaps inspired
by a youth in heavy metal, and certainly something different.
A very fine solo release. (FdW)
Address: http://www.tableoftheelements.com
SAVVAS YSATIS & TAYLOR DEUPREE - THE
SLEEPING MORNING (CDEP by 12K)
This release entirely took me by surprise. Of course we know Taylor
Deupree as a man of careful digital delight, and with some hard
thinking we may remember Savvas Ysatis as the man behind SETI,
Futique and Arc and recording for Tresor. But you would surely
check the CD again when you start playing this. Deupree and Ysatis
hadn't been working for ten years, but recently Ysatis was back
in the USA and during a week they recorded the four tracks on
this CDEP. Delicate for sure, but the last thing I expected from
these two is folktronic, yet it's exactly that. Folktronic. Loose
drums sounds, a bass line, some rattling percussion, a harmonium
loop, a slide guitar, all embedded in a warm sound. And oh vocals!
Apart from the releases on Happy, did we ever encounter vocals
on a 12K release? Not that I can't remember. The voice of Ysatis
remember me of Peter van Vliet of Mekanik Kommando/Use Of Ashes;
held back, controlled, psychedelic. Songs! Vocals!! Folktronic!!!
on 12K? Yes, on 12K. This could have as easily be on Häpna,
if you catch my drift. What a great move and of course this comes
with an entirely new line of packaging. (FdW)
Address: http://www.12k.com
BRAZZAVILLE - EAST LA BREEZE (CD by Vendlus)
At times Vital receives albums that have little or nothing to
do with experimental or avant-garde music, but deserve a listen
nonetheless. Here we have the 5th album of Brazzaville (recorded
from 2005 to 2006), a band I never heard of before. Led by Los
Angeles (hence the album title) songwriter David Brown (perhaps
known to Vital's more pop-based audience of Vital as the saxophone
player for Beck), this album is filled with catchy, dare I say
'breezy', pop music. Brown's persuasive baritone vocals (think
David Bowie in the early 80s) suit the music well as he sings
lyrics that sound like entries in his diary from long travels.
The band's manifesto "dedicated to the naive idea that the
world is a beautiful place filled with wonder." should give
us a hint of what is to come. The instrumentation, sultry and
laid back, only sporadically uptempo, featuring violins, works
well enough when the album starts off with Peach Tree. A catchy
tune, which makes you prick up your ears. Problem is, that is
all becomes a bit calculated and even predictable "haunting/evocative/romantic/tortured
artist" after a few listens. It sounds a bit like a poor
man's Tom Waits, Tindersticks or Leonard Cohen, which is a shame
as Brown is clearly capable of writing a good tune with decent
lyrics. Perhaps I should have a listen to the previous 4 albums
by Brazzaville to be able to place this album better in the band's
history. Still, a nice late night listen. (FK)
Address: http://www.vendlus.com
KNURL - VERMIFUGE (Cd by PACrec)
PHOLDE - APERTURE OF THE INTERNAL SURFACE (Cd by Afe Records)
Most people regard noise as sound pollution and therefore haven't
dug into it as part of a musical expression. Those of us (quite
a few Vital Weekly-readers, I guess!) who has entered the world
of noise music, has realized that noise as a sound object contains
a whole universe of unexplored sound colors and therefore is an
extremely interesting territory to explore. An artist to keep
an eye if you're looking for big scientists of Noise is Canadian
artist Alan Bloor. He established his project known as Knurl back
in 1994 after some years of playing acoustic based instruments
in bands. My first visit to the sonic territories of Knurl was
in 2000 as I purchased the quite interesting compilation "Coalescence"
released by Alien8 Recordings. The track titled " Thixotropic
Zygosit" by Knurl made an impression on me: The noise-based
expression on this particular track seemed very upfront meanwhile
deeply intense. One of the secrets behind this track as well as
on everything up to this latest masterwork titled "Vermifuge"
is Mr. Bloor's approach to anti-music. Knurl creates incredibly
powerful harsh noise. He exclusively utilizes metal materials
as sound source in the creations of his sonic extremities. Recordings
of Knurl have been created without the assistance of computers,
synthesizers or samplers. Thus all sounds on the "Vermifuge"-album
have taken their starting point in a 3 ft diameter pavement saw
blade. And the result is great: The authenticity of the noises
released on the album is quite clear and in the same time ear
shattering as hell. Sounds ripple up the spine and tingle the
ears with ice-tempered chills that can make the listener shiver
with sheer delight or terror. The atmospheres are cold as metal
and the sound spheres floats in territories of cynicism reminiscent
of compatriot composer Vromb even though the conceptual approach
between these two are radically different. There is also a radical
difference between Knurl and the other project of Alan Bloor.
Where Knurl represents the harsh side of the composer, his alternative
project Pholde shows other ways of treating concrete sounds of
metal. Pholde is more subdued in expression compared to the extreme
extroversion of Knurl. The term Ambient Noise is the closest label
to put on the Pholde-project, though do not expect any sort of
tranquillity on this project neither. This latest album from Pholde
titled "Aperture of the internal surface" contains two
long pieces of work. The two pieces circulate in spheres of ambience;
spheres, that operate in everything from concrete metal sounds
to more abstract textures. The source material for these pieces
appears carefully selected and consciously restricted, the same
effects turning up again and again, but in different contexts
and with varying functionalities. Considered as a musical work,
the album is extremely fascinating with its many layers of sounds
resulting in some immense listening experiences, but the fact
that Mr. Bloor manage to extract so many atmospheres and expressions
from the concrete source makes the album even more fascinating.
Whether you like or dislike noise a musical sounds, Alan Bloor
is certainly a great scientist of concrete noises, a scientist
OR a composer if you like, that deserves your attention. (NM)
Address: http://www.iheartnoise.com
Address: http://www.aferecords.com/
MAWJA - LIVE ONE (CD by Chloe)
In the world of improvised music, the action is more important
than the product, but there are a lot of products to document
the action. In Vital Weekly Dolf Mulder already discussed the
first release by Mawja, which contained recordings from 2005 and
here is the second, also with recordings from that intense week
in 2005. Mawja is Michael Bullock (contrabass, feedback), Mazen
Kerbaj (trumpet) and Vic Rawlings (cello, surface electronics)
and started life when Kerbaj went to the USA for the first time
and played improvised music. During a week these three played
together, of which the first release was a studio representation
of their work, while this is has two live pieces from the same
week and is much along the same lines (in this world there is
actually not really a distinction between studio and live recordings,
as it's usually recorded in one go): an exploration of sound possibilities
of either instrument, in combination with objects, such as in
Kerbaj's case or electronics, in the case of his american partners.
Things buzz, beep, collide, exhale, inhale, bump and distract:
such is the world of improvised music in the twenty-first century.
The instrument as anything but the instrument it is usually used.
Played with objects, new techniques, almost electro-acoustic in
approach. Three accomplished players, who know what they do and
when they shouldn't be doing anything at all. Quite nice this
one. (FdW)
Address: http://www.chloechloe.cc
PLANET Y - SPACE STATION (CD by Public Guilt)
There will be of course always things I don't understand, like
Planet Y, a collaboration of Yanni Papadopoulos on a 'casio dg-20
guitar synthesizer' (which is basically a toy guitar) and Charles
Cohen on a 'Bucla Music Easel Synthesizer'. Their 'Space Station'
is one track of twenty seven something minutes, recorded live
last year. The start is promising with science fiction like sounds,
but as the rhythm kicks in, a stupid drum machine with too much
echo, the tension is gone. From then on the two improvise their
way around in quasi spacious music that has head nor tail. Quite
tedious and boring this electronic improvisation. (FdW)
Address: http://www.publicguilt.com
FATAGAGA - THE BIG SLEEP (CDR by Satori
Hype Records)
ELFISH ECHO - BAUME UND STRAUCHER (CDR by Drittland Schallscheiben)
AUDIOTROP (CD compilation by Audiotrop)
My German is sadly not good enough to say what the aim of Audiotrop(olis)
is, but it seems a bundle of musicians and labels. From each part
we received something. First there is Satori Hype Records, who
announce themselves as "Take-away for drones, maximal electronics
& solid crooning" and Fatagaga is one of the bands. Behind
this is one Stefan Zöllner, who has been playing music ever
since 1977 in punk bands and later on working with electronics.
His claim to fame is a CD on Amplexus under the guise of Laudanum.
That may set the tone for 'The Big Sleep'. 'Laudanum' was recorded
during sleepless nights, but either he has overcome his insomnia,
or not at all, but 'The Big Sleep' is again filled with ambient
with the big A. Deep synth washes, slow moves, drone like keyboards.
Late night music to be played in an almost dark room, taking the
listener away on the trip. The cover may suggest something harsher,
but it's an illusion. This is very nice relaxing music. No surprise,
but with great depths.
Who is behind Elfish Echo is a bit unclear, but his music moves
along similar lines as Fatagaga, but it's less focussed on the
ambient tag. It's atmospheric for sure, but his sounds are loosely
associated together, and not through a large mass of synthesizer
drones and such like. It seems to me sampled together, from various
sources which are hard to tell where the stem from. The pieces
are short, and add up to twenty-one in total. While atmospheric
in approach, it has more experimental edges to it than Fatagaga,
but it all stays on the friendly side. The best sequence at night
is to first play this and then turn off the light a bit more and
play Fatagaga.
Both bands also appear on 'Audiotrop', a compilation of all the
labels involved, and Fatagaga has a totally different piece here,
a sort of ambient rhythm minimalist piece, just like 8m2 Stereo.
The music on this compilation is not restricted to ambient music,
but also the more experimental music is not forgotten. Z'EV (a
total surprise to see him here) has a nice subdued metal piece.
More noise related outings come from CO.Caspar.OSP and Losthelm.
Also included are Shades & Shapes and Fura Bliss. Quite a
varied compilation, and perhaps a bit too much over the place,
but it's also serves as a nice introduction to new names. (FdW)
Address: http://www.audiotrop.de
THE HITMACHINE - IE OE AA (7" by Ole
Records)
If you aim for the charts, why should your 7" have a b-side?
It's not a question I raise, but in the 80s there was a dutch
guy who said his 7" didn't need a b-side, since nobody ever
plays a b-side. I am not sure if my local heroes The Hitmachine
thought along similar lines when they released 'Ie Oe Aa', but
they offer just one track here too. Probably not, since The Hitmachine,
despite their name, is hardly a machine to produce hits in the
charts. The fluctuating membership guarantees always a surprise.
They play free rock, techno, schlagers and noise, and sometimes
all of that at the same time. This side is a bit of sound poetry
like, in the best dada tradition (shouting rather than singing),
with some guitar strumming in the best solitary singer song writing
tradition: not a single note too much. Quite a surprise, and then
probably no surprise at all. Outsider music, outside any mainstream,
hype or scene. Quite a daring move to release this in this way,
but if you're an outsider: what else can you do. Strangest record
of the week by any account. (FdW)
Address: http://www.ole-records.nl/
WHAT MORE DO YOU NEED THAN A RECORDER? (CDR
by Ambolthue)
A title explaining it all: what more do you need than a recorder?
Right, to be a musician, nothing much more really than a tape
recorder. At least that's of course if you don't like a guitar
and field recordings. All of the people on this fully loaded compilation
have a recording device, some of them are mentioned on the liner
notes: minidisc, dictaphone, DAT, binaural microphones and even
a mobile phone. In all twenty tracks no additional processing
is used. What I like about this compilation is the amount of new
kids on the block like Joshua Manchester, Martin Clarke, Eldad
Tsabary, Aatmaa and Ieva and also that some of the people that
we only know through their music, such as Mystified, Swamps Up
Nostrils and Torsten Wjiik bring something that is unaltered.
It's a very nice and varied compilation. Some of the pieces could
have easily been on 'Rhythm' (see last week), but the briefness
of the tracks and the clarification in the liner notes make this
a highly interesting compilation. Also included are HarS, Lasse-Marc
Riek, Chris DeLaurenti, Bjerga/Iversen, Brekekekexkoaxkoax and
Rinus van Alebeek. And at times as noisy as the usual releases
on this label (which are in the hands of Jliat), in case you have
any doubt about that. (FdW)
Address: http://www.ambolthue.com
PAUL HEGARTY - NOISE MUSIC: A HISTORY (book
by Continuum)
Paul Hegarty is a philosophy lecturer at University College Cork,
with an interest in what he wouldn't call the genre of noise('music').
A book either giving a history of noise's development - or an
exegesis of its socio-philosophical implications would have been
interesting, unfortunately this is neither. The opening chapter
sets off at a fine intellectual gallop "for Kant ... for
Russolo. for Cage... Attali too. as .. Ardono" - this is
from a single page! (8) elsewhere Nietzsche, Heidegger, Bataille,
Hegel et al. all appear.. a little too like the first attempt
at a doctorial thesis, then in later chapters citation either
runs out completely or revolves around another of Hegarty's interests
- Adorno on Jazz - but not the Jazz here, (and why Jazz?) Bataille
on Sade. there are inclusions- too many - improv, Punk, The grateful
Dead, Prog Rock!, and self confessed notable exclusions- and others
not Reich's pendulum music Lou Reed's Metal Machine - The Gamelan
- Harry Partch The whole New Zealand phenomenon. How Hegarty gets
away with this derives from two of his arguments, first that anything
can potentially be called "noise" - as in his long example
of Yes's Tales of Topographic Oceans - well yes! - but no mention
then of Abba or Mantovarni. and secondly that the Avant Garde
in music has often been described pejoratively in its beginnings
as 'noise' - or as in the famous case of Sir Thomas Beecham -
as shit - but this is beside the point. The point being "noise"
applies to a particular phenomenon in music as an identifier and
not a critique. (Pop art is not Pop art because it is or was 'popular')
We know and Hegarty certainly does, that such games can be played
with definitions- this is Wittgenstein's famous 'game'. To conflate
the genre of noise - the 'thing' with the same word applied as
an attribute or subjective opinion of any music or sound is something
of what I would call an ontological mistake of the first order.
Or is it a strategy because it allows Hegarty to discuss any artist
he wants to. for instance the space given to Cage and his silences
- relevant by being irrelevant to the point of being a binary
opposite - he might say? When after several chapters we get to
actual Japnoise, and a further chapter on Merzbow the irrelevance
of much what went before becomes obvious. But here Hegarty fails
to deliver what the patient reader might want - might expect,
a detailed account - its all apologies, "this chapter will
not so much deal with the specificity of noise music from Japan."
he then goes on to "a consideration of McLuchan on globalization,
to raise the question what kind of world is in or behind world
music." "World music"? I'm confused? - this is
a very confused history, and one which fails to pick up on the
development of noise from Japan back to the USA and Europe, where
it has been taken up as a definite genre, having its own festivals,
labels, retail outlets both on and off-line -and even now its
own proto-industry of designed and manufactured devices marketed
by such as noisefx.com. Widespread broadcasting on US University
campus's and across Europe as radio and webcasts, of dedicated
web sites to the promotion of noise labels such as PacRec, artists
like Wiesse and The Rita. As a history the book this is chronology
flawed, as a serious study the attempt to buttress certain artists
(irrelevant to the genre in many cases) by relationships to certain
philosophers seems strained, the book lacks structure and appears
more like a set of articles, some written in an academic style
others not. A detailed chronology, discology would have been useful,
works are referred to where perhaps a copy of the score might
have been illuminating, even some pictures would help what is
aesthetically a remarkably dull book. An accompanying CD or at
least pointers to MP3s on an associated site would also have helped.
I think that there is a sufficient body of material, artists,
events, labels, online and actual retail outlets, manufacturers,
chronologies and general dissemination of what can be called noise
to warrant a study which does not piggy back on to it philosophical
critiques of Cage, Jazz, Prog Rock, Punk, and Rap amongst others-
unfortunately that's what Hegarty appears to do, maybe we can
justify such irrelevance in this communication (of a history of
noise music) as being itself yet another example of 'noise', but
the genre of noise music is nothing to do with the unwarranted
junk found in communication, or if it is, how is it, and why is
it? (jliat)