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VITAL WEEKLY
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number 626
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week 19
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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
before submitting material please read this
carefully: http://www.vitalweekly.net/fga.html
Submitting material means you read this and approve of this.
* noted are in this week's podcast
BRENDAN MURRAY - COMMONWEALTH (CD by 23Five)
*
PURE SOUND - ACTS OF NEW NOISE (CD by Euphonium Records) *
BJ NILSEN & STILLUPSTEYPA - PASSING OUT (CD by Helen Scarsdale
Agency) *
SAWAKO - BITTER SWEET (CD by 12K) *
TAYLOR DEUPREE - NORTHERN (CD by 12K)
RICHARD CHARTIER - FURTHER MATERIALS (CD by Line)
CATHOLIC BOYS IN HEAVY LEATHER - NOBODY URGED YOU TO GET CANONISED
(CD by Pflichtkauf)
AHNST ANDERS - DIALOG (CD by Pflichtkauf)
DAZZLING MALICIOUS - PSYCHOANALOSE (CD by Pflichtkauf)
CONFIG.SYS - BACK AND FORTH (CD by Pflichtkauf)
THE BEST OF POLISH SMOOTH JAZZ...EVER! (Compilation CD by Recycling
Records)
CARTERTUTTI - FERAL VAPOURS OF THE SILVER ETHER (CD by Divine
Frequency)
PHILIP JECK - SAND (CD by Touch)
SATANICPORNOCULTSHOP - TAKUSAN NO OHANASAN (CD by Vivo Records)
*
VAGINA DENTATA ORGAN - MUSIC FOR THE BLIND (CD by WSNS)
EMANUELE ERRANTE - HUMUS (CD by Somnia) *
RESSONUS NET VOL. 1 (CD compilation by Ressonus Records) *
TUPOLEV - MEMOTIES OF BJORN BOLSSEN (CD by Valeot Records)
SISSY SPACEK - CALIFORNIA AX (4CD by Helicopter)
SISSY SPACEK - FRENCH RECORD (CD by Dual Plover)
JOHN WIESE & C. SPENCER YEH - NEW YORK / ATLANTA (CD by Helicopter)
FLUTWACHT - SECONDFACE (CD by Tourette Tapes/Apocalyptic Radio)
*
XEDH - TRUMMER (3"CDR by Loghorn/Apocalyptic Radio)
HINSIDAN - NIGHTSHIFT (10" Ep by Phisteria)
MÖSLANG WEHOWSKY - EINSCHLAGSKRATER (7" by Meeuw Muzak)
NAHVALUR - ABOIDEAU (CDR by Mystery Sea) *
STORMHAT - GREEN MACHINE (mp3-album by Bleak)
STORMHAT - ADDICTED TO DIASTER (Advance CDR)
DON CAMPAU & FREDERICO BARABINO - GARNISH (CDR by Lonely Whistle)
*
PRELIMINARY SATURATION - STARING AT EMPTY EYES (CDR by Dirty Demos)
*
PRELIMINARY SATURATION - CIGARETTES & SANDPAPER (MP3 by Zeromoon)
THE CUTEST PUPPY IN THE WORLD - A WARM WINTER (MP3 by Zeromoon)
TZESNE - CUCHARA (MP3 by Larriskito) *
ZANSTONES - FOURTEEN (MP3 by Ruidemos) *4
JAB LEMUR - INVASION (MP3 by Ruidemos)
EN BUSCO DEL PASTO - BESTIARIO VOL. 1 (MP3 by Ruidemos)
BRENDAN MURRAY - COMMONWEALTH (CD by 23Five)
Over the years the name Brendan Murray popped up in Vital Weekly
on various occasions but despite that it's not a household name
for those who love all things drone and microsound. But slowly
he's getting to some fame, and rightly so! This new work, with
took fifteen different versions before it was completed, sees
him again working in the field of drones, but unlike many others
in this field, Murray doesn't like the 'go with the flow' approach,
but rather meticulously composes his work. Apparently he uses
a guitar, analog synthesis and digital manipulation he plays a
single, forty-nine minute piece of music. It starts out quite
forceful and stays there from the start, only to increase in intensity.
Slowly Murray builds and builds his piece, adding in a subtle
way new layers to music, all in a mighty ringing drone fashion.
Much louder and less subtle, this is loud drone music, one of
the kind that Niblock plays live. Although playing music on headphones
is not something I usually recommend, this piece sounds pretty
fine on headphones, pressing air against your ears, making a thunderous
storm, which shoots right in your brain. Towards the end the volume
drops a bit in favor of more heavy weight bass sounds, forming
the natural ending to a heavy work. Murray delivers, once again,
a mighty fine album that will be another step forward in recognizing
him as a true master of the genre. Fans of classical drone music
be aware - this is the classic of the future. (FdW)
Address: http://www.23five.org
PURE SOUND - ACTS OF NEW NOISE (CD by Euphonium
Records)
This is already the third album by Pure Sound, the band around
Vince Hunt, following 'Yukon' (Vital Weekly 552) and 'Submarine'
(Vital Weekly 575). But the story about this album starts long
ago, twenty-three years. Hunt had a band called A Witness, a sort
of new wave act, but in those days he started to have the vision
of this album. Using found sound, field recordings, tape techniques
(recorded on quarter-inch tape) such a vari-speed, reversing,
cutting and looping, and musical instruments. Less than the two
albums before, this is not the work of a band playing rock like
music incorporating loads and loads of weird sounds, here its
more a collage of found sound with some musical back up. Yet I
must say that the end result didn't work very well for me. Before
Pure Sound was more into telling a nice little story, through
music and voices, here it seems more a somewhat random approach
towards the sounds used, which is a pity, since the pieces by
themselves aren't that strong. The previous approach did the music
more justice than what it does now. Still not bad, but a bit too
haphazard. (FdW)
Address: http://www.euphoniumrecords.com
BJ NILSEN & STILLUPSTEYPA - PASSING
OUT (CD by Helen Scarsdale Agency)
It's good to see a label committed to a work, and that the trust
to explore certain roads further. 'Passing Out' is the third album
recorded by BJ Nilsen and Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson and Helgi
Thorsson, the later two also known as Stillupsteypa. 'Passing
Out' of course refers to drinking, just like the previous albums.
Not the drinking as a social habit, but fierce drinking as only
the scandinavians can do really good. Or so it seems. For a moment
I considered to buy a good bottle of this or that, and wait for
the evening, drink the bottle, with pen and paper within reach
and listen to this album. But it's monday afternoon and I know
I have to get up early tomorrow, so it'll has to do completely
sober, sunshine all round and soft spring breeze - all the wrong
conditions I guess. Perhaps this contrast of good condition (all
around) makes the album even stronger, I was thinking. The complete
and total isolation of the music, the long passages of seemingly
no action (there is just one piece, clocking it at 68 minutes),
with then a sudden break, a melody filters in, the radio starts
humming and field recordings - that backbone of so much in Vital
Weekly and certainly here - make this an album of not just pure
drones or just processed field recordings, but the strange elements
thrown in, give this album a stranger, almost alien feel to it.
If it's the equivalent of passing out is a bit hard to say: the
act of passing out on alcohol prevents you from remembering anything.
This is however their best album to date and makes a strong trilogy.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.helenscarsdale.com
SAWAKO - BITTER SWEET (CD by 12K)
TAYLOR DEUPREE - NORTHERN (CD by 12K)
RICHARD CHARTIER - FURTHER MATERIALS (CD by Line)
Of the three new releases on 12K/Line, only one is really new,
which is the second album by Sawako for 12K, following 'Hum' (Vital
Weekly 502), which we enjoyed very much back then. More than the
previous, this is an album in which she receives help from others,
such as Jacob Kirkegaard (cello), Radiosonde (guitar and tea),
Ryan Francesconi (co-mixing and guitar), Lila Sklar (violin) and
Jess Ivry (cello). Some of them play on more than one track. Sawako
plays the rest, which I think is mostly electronics and computer
processing of field recordings. This new album sees a continuation
but also further exploring of 'Hum'. Sawako still explores the
deep end of microsound and ambient glitch, but it's all a bit
more abstract than before, but all is gently humming down the
lines. The addition of real instruments add another layer to the
music and marks a fine album. Nice progress is made here.
Originally 'Northern' was released two years ago, but the 1500
copies were sold in six months, so Taylor Deupree felt it was
necessary to do a re-issue, but he calls this a 'directors cut'.
I always understood that to be a term for film makers who made
the 'real' thing that distributors or producers didn't want, so
how to translate that to a work which Deupree recorded and released
himself? I don't know, it seems odd. The work was re-done on a
new computer, new plug ins, error files and such like, so its
a bit of a different work. I wrote back then the following about
the original 'Northern' release: "From the outside it may
seem that Taylor Deupree is a busy bee, music-wise, but 'Northern'
is his first solo release in two years. Deupree is always busy
with his own 12K label (and off shoots Line and Happy), playing
live concerts and working with others, so perhaps time is a bit
sparse to do his own music. Recently Deupree moved from urban
Brooklyn to upstate New York, and the change of atmosphere is
a fact. Well, or not? Deupree's music is, at least for a longer
period of time, made of tranquil and silent elements. Textural
music, made with sounds from the environment but also electric
piano, melodica and guitar, but then highly processed. It is what
he has been doing since quite some time now, wether he was in
Brooklyn or Pound Ridge, where he is now. But it seems that he
takes even more time to tell his story. Only six tracks are present
here, mostly lasting around nine to ten minutes. Deupree wants
the listener to sit back and take it all in, but in a very slow
pace. Things develop, that's for sure, but everything seems to
be taking it's time, gradually everything becomes bigger and bigger,
with subtle sounds added, longer sustains. It's warm music that
may perhaps not fit springtime coming (the cover depicts a winter
world), but it's certainly one of the best Deupree works so far.
The calmest and most slow one." It seems to me that this
new version is still very much covered with this review, although
it also seems new elements came into place, a bit more emphasis
on rhythm. This crackle... was it there before. That sort of thing.
Deupree's music belongs to the absolute top in the field of ambient
glitch/microsound and this new version of 'Northern' is another
fine example.
The Line release of today is also music that was released before,
but scattered over a bunch of compilations. They consist of the
music of Richard Chartier and many were reviewed in Vital Weekly.
I am not sure at whom this is aimed at, as I can imagine that
the true die hard fans of Chartier have all of this already and
that those who are only mildly interested will have enough Chartier
to pleasure them. But then, who knows? Maybe this is also a perfect
introduction if the sound world of Chartier is not your daily
digest and as such this is a very fine work. We hear the super
quiet version of Chartier, the sound he is best known for. Resonating
frequencies, low bass rumble, a high peep. The clicks and cuts
with faint traces of rhythm and even a loud piece is present here
('in an attempt to drown out Akufen's set filtering from an adjoining
area'). That is perhaps a side we haven't heard that often of
Chartier, but here too it's a nice one, so perhaps the more noisy
route needs further exploring? (FdW)
Address: http://www.12k.com
CATHOLIC BOYS IN HEAVY LEATHER - NOBODY
URGED YOU TO GET CANONISED (CD by Pflichtkauf)
AHNST ANDERS - DIALOG (CD by Pflichtkauf)
DAZZLING MALICIOUS - PSYCHOANALOSE (CD by Pflichtkauf)
CONFIG.SYS - BACK AND FORTH (CD by Pflichtkauf)
Four new albums from German label Pflichtkauf, the label established
by one of the brains behind experimental electronic festival Maschinenfest.
First album comes from the project with the bizarre name CATHOLIC
BOYS IN HEAVY LEATHER. The album titled "Nobody urged you
to get canonised" opens with sexual orgasms soon fading over
to the bass-riff of Boney M's legendary hit "Daddy Cool".
The first thought crossing the mind is the fact that this must
be a kind of Kitch-Art-project, but as your thoughts drift in
these directions, the music suddenly turns into seriously harsh
territories combining blasting power noise-rhythms with crushing
harsh noise-sound textures. Catholic Boys In Heavy Leather is
the project of Joke Stryker and Roto Siffredi from Italy. Conceptually
the two guys take their aesthetic approach in fetish leather-suits,
making this album even more interesting thanks to the extremely
harsh expression. The album operate in a balance between a quite
humorous approach to electronic music with a number of samples
of voices and old classic songs and harsh expression sometimes
of pure harsh noise and other times with rhythmic interventions
in-between. Other times club-based technoid rhythms is combined
with harsh noise. A quite interesting album from Catholic Boys
In Heavy Leather, and hell, I'd be interesting watching these
two guys on live stage! The artwork on next album reviewed here
contains a cardboard photography created for every piece on the
album titled "Dialog". The man behind is called Henrik
Erichsen, operating under the artist name is "Ahnst Anders".
Present album is the debut of the German composer. The music is
quite dark and mysterious, circulating on the borderlands between
drones-based ambient and downbeat Industrial. There is a frequent
use of concrete sounds giving an organic and quite authentic atmosphere.
An interesting album that would be a perfect soundtrack for some
Arthouse horror flick! Next album comes from another German composer
operating under the name Dazzling Malicious. And once more we're
talking about explorations into sheer darkness. The album titled
"Psychoanalyse" is the follow-up album to the debut
from 2004, "Don't like". Circulating somewhere in-between
the first two reviewed albums, "Psychoanalyse" changes
between up-tempo power noise and downbeat ambient based on icy
low-frequent drones, with an overall minimalist approach to expression.
Best moment on the album comes with the second piece on the album
titled "Verschleppte psykosen", an atmospheric piece
with long stretching and dramatic drones running a couple of minutes
on its own before threatening evil noise-passages washes over,
creating an alluring contrast between beauty and ugliness spiced
with samples of crying women and shouting man. Very intense piece
and a great album. Last album reviewed here is by Config.Sys,
a project consisting of Sebastian Hüttl and Stefan Komnick.
Config.Sys take their starting point in classic harsh Industrial
with integrations of a number of different music styles from EBM
to house. And it does work well. (NM)
Address: http://www.pflichtkauf.de/
THE BEST OF POLISH SMOOTH JAZZ...EVER! (Compilation
CD by Recycling Records)
It is always exciting to explore albums that put focus on the
music scene of a certain country, especially in cases where we're
dealing with less known countries of electronic music, as is the
case with this compilation from Recycling Records concentrating
on e-music from Poland. The concept of the album is top hits of
Polish music industry being transformed into new modern and experimental
forms. The result is quite fascinating since the re-processes
are quite different to the origins. Contributions range from Harsh
Noise-related abrasive electronics to downbeat Chillout, from
Breakcore to experimental Ambient. Only sign to the fact that
the works on the album is derived from more commercially based
music is that quite a number of the tracks have acoustic elements
included. Especially guitar-based interventions occur: From psychedelic
and trippy Pink Floyd-reminiscent interpretations across atmospheric
and beautiful to harsh digital pieces. Thus the album is both
interesting in its conceptually approach but also the musical
end result is very pleasant indeed. (NM)
Address: http://www.recyclingrecords.com/
CARTERTUTTI - FERAL VAPOURS OF THE SILVER
ETHER (CD by Divine Frequency) This is a review full of confessions.
One: to be honest, I had to check the dictionary to find out what
"feral" actually means (it means "wild" in
case you're wondering too). Two: I have lost track of Chris Carter
and Cosey Fanni Tutti's output since their excellent early 80s
albums Songs Of Love And Lust and Trance. Three: to be even more
honest, I have had to listen to this disc 3-4 times before I actually
fully appreciated the music. The fourth confession is that I think
both the album's title as cover art lean a bit towards Harry Potter-imagery.
Nothing wrong with that, but it all looks a bit "ambient
soundscape". Over the years a plethora of Chris and Cosey
albums have been released and there is bound to be a plethora
of Carter Tutti (interesting how they first recorded under their
first names and now under their last names) albums to follow.
What remains the same however, is the construction of their music.
Here, as before, Carter lays down the rhythms (very subdued),
sequencers, keyboards and patterns whereas Tutti adds her breathy
(and reverbed) vocals, guitar and cornet. This combination could
well fall flat on its face, but on Feral Vapours Of The Silver
Ether this actually works. The songs are soft, almost like a vapour
(get it?) hanging in your cranium. This works wonderfully on a
reflective, dare I say ethereal level. In a sense, all tracks
merge into one long composition/work. As such I feel this album
is better reviewed as one whole, rather than divide it into various
tracks. And the final confession is that I actually love this
album. It just gets better with every play. (FK)
Address: http://www.divinefrequency.com
PHILIP JECK - SAND (CD by Touch)
The recent release of Gavin Bryars' Sinking Of The Titanic leaned
quite prominently on the vinyl manipulations of Philip Jeck. On
this new solo CD (his fourth for Touch) Jeck is on his own. Recorded
live at performances in The Netherlands and England in 2006 and
2007 Jeck edited these recordings into seven tracks. It is interesting
to note what he is able to do with equipment limited to old records,
record players, keyboards and mini-discs. Several tracks feature
a calm atmosphere with crackling and drones, with sometimes the
source material (Emerson, Lake and Palmer's "Fanfare for
the common man" is featured quite prominently, even though
I have to admit I missed that one - I'm not much of an ELP-fanatic).
On other tracks his source material evolve to a more industrial
nature. Personally I like the subdued tracks on this CD better
than the heavier material, but that may just be me. However, I
do think this would have worked better if Jeck had chosen for
either a more subdued or either a heavier approach, but then again,
as this is intended to be a reflection of his live set that would
not have been a good idea. A nice listen therefore, but not special
enough to me to keep my interest throughout the complete disc.
(FK)
Address: http://www.touchmusic.org.uk
SATANICPORNOCULTSHOP - TAKUSAN NO OHANASAN
(CD by Vivo Records)
This is the second release by Japanese Satanicpornocultshop for
Polish label Vivo Records, following the lengthy EP '.aiff Skull'
(see Vital Weekly 554). I have just finished my supper and the
last thing of day will be this CD. Not a great CD for a food coma.
That's not because this is a bad CD, not at all actually. This
is a great CD, but loaded with information. Packed to the top
with sound. Satanicpornocultshop are a Japanese group of samplemaniacs.
They take everything from the hundred years of popular music and
effectively messes things up in a totally wild mixture of sound,
rhythm and electronics. I switch it off and start hearing something
else, until the food has come down, make a new coffee and then
start, afresh again. Hip hop, easy tune, rap, break beat, everything
runs rampant in this mix. Sweet female, french vocalists, cliche
pop, cheesy easy tune, loud rhythm, deep bass, this is party music
bar none. The dancing was last night, but in the after party of
tonight Satanicpornocultshop play a bunch of great tunes, providing
a big smile on this face. I mean, 'Heineken - fuck that shit'
is shouted somewhere, and I couldn't agree any less, that beer
is piss. I must admit the tracklisting doesn't make any sense
at all. There are many names, but it says produced by Satanicpornocultshop,
so we may come to the conclusion that these are remixes? But do
we care? Hardly. A long list of tracks, twenty-six in total, with
confusing credits, but making a strong CD. That's what matters.
Satanicpornocultshop will leave you breathless with the highly
curious but gorgeous great take on popmusic. Plunderphonics gone
music - at last! (FdW)
Address: http://www.vivo.pl
VAGINA DENTATA ORGAN - MUSIC FOR THE BLIND
(CD by WSNS)
Amidst the recent controversy over the Valls-brothers' (Jordi
and Marc) censored art exhibition in Spain, Jordi Valls (better
known as VDO) releases his fourth album. With previous releases
featuring their remarkable vision on surrealism, Music For The
Blind comes as a total surprise. Gone are the sounds of the motorcycle
(which featured on Un Chien Catalan) or the tolling of bells (on
The Great Masturbator). Instead we are treated on 5 beautiful
variations of Seranata, Enrico Toselli's (1883-1926) most famous
composition. Like The Great Masturbator this new CD is a homage
to surrealist Salvador Dali, as Serenata was his favorite composition.
The variations on this album are performed by master violinist
Bernarda Jones, who recently performed with VDO at the 11th International
Experimental Music Festival in Barcelona. Planned as music "so
beautiful it makes you cry", this album fullfils this promise.
Jones' violin soars and amazes in its simple, fragile beauty.
Although short (only 15 minutes) it should be noted that music
this beautiful should not be measured in quantity but in quality.
Again VDO, in true surrealist tradition, have managed to surprise
and amaze everyone. (FK)
Address: <hashashin@hotmail.com >
EMANUELE ERRANTE - HUMUS (CD by Somnia)
Again packed in a beautiful hand-sewn package comes another album
by Emanuele Errante, of whom we reviewed 'Migrations' in Vital
Weekly 553. Still we know nothing about this man, but he continues
his path in ambient music. I'm not sure for 'Humus', wether it
was also created using guitars but it surely has lots of things
with keys to it, in real life or as a piece of software. The opening
piece 'Fecunda' is a nice, flowing piece with a slow bass sound.
It forecasts a change in the music of Errante, that of the incorporation
of rhythm. In many of the pieces to follow (there are eleven on
this disc, which seems to me a good number, and their length is
always kept within limits) there are 'faint' traces of dub like
rhythms. Going back to the Chain Reaction school, this is however
much more subdued and relaxed than the more dance floor oriented
black pieces of vinyl. If one has to compare this with something
else, than I'd say Marsen Jules' lush music comes to mind. It
has that same calm, relaxing feeling, but with steady pulses -
however slow they might be. The rhythm is merely an ornament to
the music, not the foundation. Sometimes ethnic in approach, sometimes
more owing to the dance floor, but it's never the objective for
Errante. His music is after party music, the chill out zone, or,
if you prefer weak up call music. You can still hear, perhaps
feel, the beat, but it's gone and replaced by sunlight and an
autumn breeze. Relax and flow down stream. Great stuff. (FdW)
Address: http://www.somniasound.com
RESSONUS NET VOL. 1 (CD compilation by Ressonus
Records)
Complaining about reviewing compilations doesn't help - I know.
But I like to do it. It's never an easy task. Twelve tracks on
this compilation 'Ressonus Net Vol. 1' and the only name I surely
recognize is Kora Et Le Mechanix, who are from the Czech Republic,
just like four others as well as the label. One is from The Netherlands,
Mark Tamea (UK born however), but I never heard of him. The label
sent me extensive notes on all of the artists, which is great.
I learn that Farmacia from Argentinia has a track on the recently
released 'Some Bizarre Double Album' (I liked the first one, from
when was it, 1981 or so, so must check out. Makes note). For instance.
There is lots and lots of carefully played music here. The cover
bears a sticker saying 'ambient - glitch - experimental electronic
music', which is very much true. Tamea has a great electro-acoustic,
field recording piece, which forms a contrast to the somewhat
heavy drones of Selectone, with cricket samples. Which forms a
contrast with the dark drone only from Landschaft. The music pieces
by themselves are pretty different from eachother, all however
with certain limits of course - as outlined on the sticker. This
makes this quite an enjoyable release, with however one objection
too: none of the tracks really stood out of the rest. Maybe Gurun
Gurun made the biggest impression with the sampled guitar strumming
- it's the only one of which I'd say, let's have some more. I
would want more of the rest - but wouldn't actively seek it. Also
included are: Sunao Inami, Methera, Strangelet, Alessandro Fidrin
Damiani, Emdy and Stusha. (FdW)
Address: http://www.ressonus.net
TUPOLEV - MEMOTIES OF BJORN BOLSSEN (CD
by Valeot Records)
A four piece band from Vienna, Tupolev: Peter Holy (piano), Alexandr
Vatagin (bass, cello), Lukas Scholler (electronics), and David
Schweighart (drums). They are also active in bands and projects
like Port-royal, Slon, Kes, Primordial, Undermind and Liger -
all of which I never heard of. It's a bit of weird line up, but
the combination works well. The piano sounds as a piano, and usually
takes the solo in a song. Drums and bass play the spine and electronics
have a free role play in this one. All the songs are instrumental
and they some guestplayers on pieces, providing a guitar, clarinet
or just 'ambience'. Its hard to avoid the Radian et al influence
on Tupolev, even when it has more emphasis on a 'normal' song
structure. There is great variation in the songs, uptempo, downtempo,
rock like, jazz like, introvert and extravert which makes this
quite a nice album of almost post rock, but in a wider musical
field. The only thing that a bit less is that the piano sounded
always the same, playing chords and always with the same tone
color. Otherwise this was quite enjoyable, not great and exciting,
but just nice enough. (FdW)
Address: http://www.valeot.com
ISSY SPACEK - CALIFORNIA AX (4CD by Helicopter)
SISSY SPACEK - FRENCH RECORD (CD by Dual Plover)
JOHN WIESE & C. SPENCER YEH - NEW YORK / ATLANTA (CD by Helicopter)
It might be a 4CD box, but that's just Sissy being generous, as
all four albums also have titles of their own and seem to have
no direct connection to each other, not even concerning who's
playing (the only constants being John Wiese and Corydon Ronnau).
So no idea what these albums are doing together in one plastic
box, but hey, I won't complain about Sissy overload, especially
when it's as diverse as this. Of course, 'diverse' is relative,
as all of this is clearly right at home under that misnomer called
Noise. So, a runthrough then: Album one is called "Tinsel
Dripping Ink" and collects 26 short tracks, of which a couple
are remixes by like-minded such as Gerritt, Oblivia (from Smegma)
and Tom Recchion. I actually don't think there's a better introduction
to the either the band or even the genre as this album, it sounds
like a dictionary of noise music, with elements of basically every
other experimental music style thrown in for reference. It's quite
something. Album two ("Police") has less tracks , and
they're marginally longer, and apart from that they sound more
like coming from an actual band playing. It has quite a jazzy/improvy
feeling to it, maybe like a more quiet John Olson project. It
gets more & more quiet with every track, until at the end
you think you're listening to some Japanese reductionist workout.
Album three, which goes under the mystical title "Abreq Ad
Habra" is two long pieces recorded for radio shows. All I
can say is that I worry about the people listening to these radio
stations without knowing what they got themselves into. "13-Tet
Los Angeles" finally is two live sets by a larger ensemble
and returns in sound a little to the second disc, albeit more
lively. Everything is being scratched and scraped in good improv
fashion. For a band not so known for it's diversity, this 4CD
breaks open that completely by showing only four possibilities
of what could maybe be many more transformations for this unit.
And as if that's not enough, there's also the separate album "French
Record", released around the same time. On it, they get help
from Kevin Drumm and C. Spencer Yeh as well as some others. As
an album, it might be slightly more interesting then any single
album from the box set (except for maybe the first CD), as it
jumps all over the place like a hyperactive child, but it also
has a element of humor which I can't really explain, but it gives
the whole record a sort of breeziness that is quite alluring.
It's always nice to hear a record that in every way sounds ,extreme'
but ends up being a very pleasurable and easy listen.
To top it all off, Mr Wiese has released another chapter in his
ongoing road trip diaries with C. Spencer Yeh with shows from
New York and Atlanta (after recently seeing an LP and a 7"
with performances from a UK tour) on one CD. Yeh's violin destruction
sounds as vital as ever, and the sound quality is supreme. Plus
these two really seem to have good fun together. Really great.
This might be 6 Wiese CDs in 1 week, but if they sound like this,
I can keep up this rhythm for many more weeks, if he could as
well. So, keep 'em coming. (RM)
Address: http://www.john-wiese.com
Address: http://www.dualplover.com
FLUTWACHT - SECONDFACE (CD by Tourette Tapes/Apocalyptic
Radio)
XEDH - TRUMMER (3"CDR by Loghorn/Apocalyptic Radio)
From the house of Apocalyptic Radio two new
releases. The first one is a real CD on Tourette Tapes by Flutwacht,
by now a constant factor in the catalogue of the label. If you
want to search for older reviews, try also typing 'Fluchtwacht',
as I made some errors in spelling their name right. But it's Flutwacht
and 'Second Face' is a re-issue of a CDR in an edition of 50.
I don't think I reviewed that one, misspelling or not. It's an
album of eleven tracks which were recorded in collaboration with
various people from the noise underground, such as Xedh (with
whom an ultra low volume deep bass rumble is produced), Contagious
Orgasm (a nice samplemania piece), Objekt/Uria, Vincenzo Bossi,
Antracot, TZII, Bonemachine, Synomorph, Terg and Hyeno. Some of
these names are also new to me. I think I expected something to
be more noise based than what it is, and that is so much better.
The element of noise, shock and heavy rhythm is never far away
but throughout this collection what prevails is a more dark ambient
sound - deep and dark atmospheric synthesizers, obscured samples
from machinery at work and perhaps even field recordings. The
noise pieces are placed cleverly around this disc and, as said,
don't take up too much space. A nice album, if a bit long. Some
of the pieces could have been a bit shorter for my taste, while
it would still hold the same power.
In the Loghorn series (a series of 3"CDR in plain white,
stamped envelopes) we greet Miguel A. Garcia, a.k.a. Xedh. Recently
his music moved from the loud and rhythmic to the quiet and non
rhythmic, and this new, with five shorter pieces, is no exception.
I already stated that this is the side of Xedh which I like much
better than the previous work, and in the dark, subdued clouds
of sounds that he produces here, he moves again: the dark, earthy
rumble is a new feature bringing together microsound and dark
ambient, until it reaches a more noise based climax in 'Utlope'.
Quite nice this one, offering many more road to explore. (FdW)
Address: http://www.apocalyptic-radio.de
HINSIDAN - NIGHTSHIFT (10" Ep by Phisteria)
In the fall of 2007, I had much pleasure listening to three albums
from Danish drone-project Hinsidan. It was three quite different
albums with the common denominator of laying much emphasis on
sonic drones. "Hinsidan" meaning "Beyond"
in English, is a quite suitable title to sound expressions that
are first of all introvert, with atmospheres that demand for some
deep listening without any interruptions of human activity. Now
it is time for another dose of soundscapes from this very active
project. The album titled "Nightshift" comes as a 10"
vinyl Ep divided into four cuts. Opening very slowly, the first
piece titled "The first time we met the blues" (no worries,
not any sign of Blues on this track!) builds steadily from inaudible
drones to smoothing vibrant drones building a great atmosphere
from early start, not too far away from British legends Zoviet
France. As the first piece fades out, another swarm of drones
build with the opening of following piece "Labyrinths of
obsession", this time with a more abrasive approach. Soon
after subtle acoustic drum-patterns penetrates to create a rhythm
structure in the abstract composition. Side B of the vinyl opens
with a remix of "The first time we me the blues" executed
by Ant-Zen legend L'Ombre. The result is a completely different
work based on repetitive downbeat rhythm textures assisted by
discreet ambient melody in the background. Final piece on the
album is a live recording from legendary Danish underground club
"Ungdomshuset" (R.I.P.). Despite the fact that it has
been recorded live the sound of the work is still nice and clean.
The title-track "Nightshift" consists of vibrant drones
and distant male vocals adding to the strange nocturnal atmospheres
of the track. As was the case with the earlier efforts of Hinsidan
the guitar plays an important role in the spheres of work, and
the result again is utterly beautiful. (NM)
Address: http://www.phisteria.com/
MÖSLANG WEHOWSKY - EINSCHLAGSKRATER
(7" by Meeuw Muzak)
More and more the 7"s released by Meeuw Muzak are cryptic
affairs. Partly because the label doesn't provide any information,
nor there is any relevant information on the cover. 'Möslang
Wehowsky', 'Einschlagskrater', 'MM036' is all that is said on
the, as ever cheap printed, cover. Thank god we know Norbert Möslang
and Ralf Wehowsky as crafts man of cracked everyday electronics
(which I saw before, but where?) and computer manipulation of
the deviates of cracking those electronics. Who did what, is not
said, and perhaps not relevant. One side is like a continuos piece
of falling sounds set against a dark drone like backdrop. The
other side is more a musical piece in which we may, or may not,
detect an upright bass, but that also may, or may not, have similar
sounds of things falling and lots of processed variations thereof.
Quite an 'art' record this one. Good or bad are simply irrelevant
questions. Meeuw does it again, and does it best. Leaving the
listener in full confusion and thinking 'was that all?'. I quite
enjoyed these two little, conceptual, affairs. (FdW)
Address: http://www.meeuw.net
NAHVALUR - ABOIDEAU (CDR by Mystery Sea)
Once again Mystery Sea finds somebody (actually two) of whom I
never heard. Nahvalur is made up of Alexandre Rito from France,
who records as Oh, Birds! and Xalaxsxaq (and as such will have
a release on Mystery Sea soon) and from the UK Matthew Ellis,
otherwise known as Parhelion and Openverge. I assume they exchange
files per (e-)mail. Their four tracks on 'Aboideau' are trade
mark pieces for the catalogue of Mystery Sea: the aquatic, deep
sea drone music. Taking sounds from the washing machine, a ventilator
or something like that, they transform the whole thing into music
which sounds like you having your ears under water. Sounds from
far away become mingled, semi-distorted and far away, muffled.
As such I must say nothing new under the drone sun (or should
that be: nothing new on the waterline?), but Nahvalur play quite
a decent job at their music. Nothing too spectacular, nothing
too weird either. Just a plain, solid job. (FdW)
Address: http://www.mysterysea.net
STORMHAT - GREEN MACHINE (mp3-album by Bleak)
STORMHAT - ADDICTED TO DIASTER (Advance CDR)
Creating musical pieces exclusively built on field recordings
can be quite a task: combining sonic images of the real sound
world ending as whole piece of art and more importantly: As a
musical composition. Composer and sound artist Peter Bach Nicolaisen
succeeds in his explorations into concrete sounds on his two latest
efforts as Stormhat. Stormhat is the Danish word for one of the
European continent's most poisonous plants; a few grams consumption
of the Stormhat-plant marks the end of a human life. That Peter
Bach Nicolaisen has chosen the name of a threatening and dramatic
object makes sense when listening to present releases by Stormhat
titled "The Green Machine" and "Addicted to disaster".
The atmosphere on both albums is quite dark and mysterious with
sonic expressions that float around crackling noises, high frequency
tones, industrial sounds and deep buzzing drones. Distant voices
appear once in a while inside the six intersections of "Addicted
to disaster" that otherwise floats in repetitive sound spheres
giving an excellent hypnotic effect on the entire album. Compositions
on both albums circulate in-between concrete found sounds and
processed field recordings. The "Green Machine"-album
has a more Eastern musical approach to the ritual soundspheres
reminiscent of a non-rhythmic version of early Muslimgauze. Where
pieces based on field recordings sometimes can seem quite static
the expression of Stormhat, due to the many sound layers, creates
plenty of sonic energy to keep the intensity intact throughout
both albums. With an expression stylistically finding itself in
the borderlands between drone-based ambient and subtle noise,
I advice adventurous listeners to check the excerpts of both releases,
"The Green Machine" and "Addicted to disaster",
that can be found on the web-site of Stormhat. The complete "Green
Machine"-album is available for free download on the web-site
of the Austrian netlabel Bleak meanwhile the "Addicted to
disaster"-album will be available on US-label Diophantine
Discs soon. (NM)
Address: http://www.bleak.at
Address: http://www.discs.diophantine.net
Address: http://www.stormhat.dk/
DON CAMPAU & FREDERICO BARABINO - GARNISH
(CDR by Lonely Whistle)
Frederico Barabino is a guitar player from Argentina, whose likes
to play with other people. He did so with Kenji Siratori and with
Charles Rice Goff III - two quite different musicians. Don Campau
has been playing music since the early 70s and it's a name I remember
seeing on cassette compilations in the 80s, but I honestly can't
say that I ever heard his music properly. He takes control of
the electronics on this release. I am not sure how this music
was recorded, either face to face in the studio or, and that seems
more likely, through the use of internet and 'file exchange'.
Likewise I don't know who is responsible for the mix of it, but,
and again we are making assumptions here, I think it's Campau
who added electronics to the guitar playing of Barabino. The latter
plays some free open strumming, plucks his strings and such like
and Campau certainly captures a right setting for this to flourish
in, but it's more that Campau saves the day that Barabino. It's
not the pairing of say Martin Hannett and Vini Reilly when they
recorded 'The Return Of The Durutti Column', not even in the fifth
(no track list was provided, nor a cover, nor information - which
might say much about to what extend people care about what they
create, says the cynic in me) with a jazzy drum loop pumping in
all at once., as this is much abstracter but also, and I say,
unfortunately a rather sketchy affair. Perhaps a real meeting
should be set up between the two and make something more coherent.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.doncampau.com/
PRELIMINARY SATURATION - STARING AT EMPTY
EYES (CDR by Dirty Demos)
PRELIMINARY SATURATION - CIGARETTES & SANDPAPER (MP3 by Zeromoon)
THE CUTEST PUPPY IN THE WORLD - A WARM WINTER (MP3 by Zeromoon)
Suddenly it all came together. Preliminary Saturation was hard
to avoid this week. This duo of Wouter Jaspers (sometimes known
as Franz Fjodor) and Steffan de Turck (otherwise Staplerfahrer),
both from the active forces of the Dutch city of Tilburg, were
playing at Extrapool this week, and on returning home I found
two of their releases. On stage I noticed a wide range of effect
boxes, mixing console, acoustic objects (including tin cans, jar
lid and what appeared to be sand) and mechanical devices. Their
concert started out with high pitched feedback but fared better
when they started to explore the objects with contact microphones
and treated the sounds with their sound effects. Both releases
are alike the concert, but worked out better, even when they too
seem to be live recordings. All of the pieces last around twenty
to thirty minutes. 'Staring At Empty Eyes' is slightly under thirty
minutes and is more alike the concert I heard, less a noisy beginning.
Here things are 'mildly' noisy at the beginning with rotating
sounds (mechanical objects on surfaces?) which gradually goes
down in volume but cranks up in frequency. Once arrived in the
area of a few crackles they built up their sound and end up with
much noise.
The second release is a MP3 by Zeromoon is a more subdued one.
Over the course some twenty three minutes they play around with
objects which are fed through an array of sound transformers,
of which they mainly use the echo machine, a bit of reverb. Mainly
their sound is fed through the lower lines of the sound spectrum
making this quite a dark piece of music. As said the noise element
is here absent, and there is a subtle, gentle flow to the sound.
As a composition it may not work, as an improvisation it does
however. The best out of three, this week. I wouldn't be too surprised
if Preliminary Saturation would be as active with releases as
Bjerga/Iversen, with whom they also share musical similarities.
Also a duo, also on Zeromoon and also improvising is the duo of
Bryan Rhodes and Layne Garrett, and as The Cutest Puppy In The
World, they already released two CDRs before. Together they use
"prepared/de-tuned guitar, various keyboards/synthesizers,
found objects, and voice". 'A Warm Winter' was recorded in
two 'winter' months, December and January. Two long pieces of
improvised is what these warm winter months gave us. 'December'
starts out with some heavy church organ (preset on a keyboard,
not the real thing) for quite some time, before landing in the
land of free play: plucking strings, silence, more plucking, some
piano and some sound effects. 'January' is even longer, but also
less focussed. The Cutest Puppy goes through various phases in
this piece, some of which lack coherency. It's scattered all over
the place this music, which is a pity. With some more rigorous
editing things could have been saved. 'December' is also long,
but it's ambient, flowing character saves the piece. (FdW)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/dirtydemos
Address: http://www.zeromoon.com
TZESNE - CUCHARA (MP3 by Larriskito)
From the active scene of Basque land comes the
'older' master of Tzesne, who re-releases 'Cuchara'. I have no
idea when it was released before. The recordings were however
made in a restaurant, 'La Cuchara De San Telmo', saint Telmo's
spoon that is. From his previous works we have learned to like
Tzesne for walking a fine line between noise and dark ambient,
but this work, from 2002 mind you, displays more a love of industrial
music - and I really mean 'industrial', as whatever was recorded
in the kitchen over there sounds like a factory with machinery
in full action. Mechanical sounds from washing machines, the oven
and the looped sounds of spoons and forks, make up a work that
owes everything to Russolo right to Vivenza. It doesn't like the
previous works I heard by him, and it took me some time to adopt
to it. The retro industrial sound is something that I heard well
before, but Tzesne does a nice version of it of his own. Not the
greatest, best work in the world, not even in the smaller world
of Tzesne, but surely nice enough to hear at least once. (FdW)
Address: http://www.xedh.org/larraskito
ZANSTONES - FOURTEEN (MP3 by Ruidemos)
JAB LEMUR - INVASION (MP3 by Ruidemos)
EN BUSCO DEL PASTO - BESTIARIO VOL. 1 (MP3 by Ruidemos)
The first of these three new MP3 releases on Ruidemos is a re-issue
of cassette from 1986, which still sounds, technically, great.
Zanstones is a project by the omnipresent Zan Hoffman, who has
been active in releasing tons and tons of cassettes, CDRs and
MP3 since the early eighties. Usually solo, but as Zanstones he
uses sounds which other people sent him. In 'Trouble With T. Diez!Minoy!Fd'',
these are Fenner Castner, Foundation T. Diez and Minoy. In this
piece the violin plays a role, but slowly other sounds, provided
by the others, leak in, making things a bit more noisy, but it
was not enough to hold my attention throughout. Of more interest
are the two pieces 'Violin Improv A1' and 'Violin Improv A2',
in which Hoffman layers various violin parts over eachother and
sounds like cross-over between Steve Reich's 'Violin Phase' (but
less of a phase) and Tony Conrad's 'Four Violins' but less gritty.
A simple, minimal affair, direct in your face playing of the violin,
certainly in 'A1'.
'Editado' par Jab Lemur it says on the 'Invasion' release, but
it seems hardly edited to these ears. Lemur has a sampler, I think,
one of those DJ samplers when you can sample a sound on the spot
and rework it by speeding it up and bringing the down the bitrate,
length, etc. He feeds it with all sorts of sounds, including a
version of 'Rock and Roll Music' and then starts messing them
about. In all of the ten pieces I had the idea of listening to
his raw material. The editing process hasn't started. The seventy-five
minutes presented here are the bricks for a composition, not the
actual composition. Noise based, very digital sounding, this is
a hard thing to hear. More work please, next time around.
A real group is En Busca Del Pasto and includes Jorge Ruizm Pedro
Pons, Ricardo Sanz, Pablo Delgado de Torres and Juan Morales,
who, I think, have the line up of a rock band, but they don't
sound like one at all. They improvise carefully around the theme
of silence, with sparsely constructed pieces of music. They play
loosely tunes, notes, clusters of sound, and very occasionally
(but really: very) burst out in a more noise driven mood. Quiet
music, with on the surface not much happening, but below that,
just above the threshold of hearing, there is of course lots of
delicate sounds to be discovered. Nice one, if a bit long. Here
too more editing would have been in place. (FdW)
Address: http://ruidemos.freelinuxhost.com