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VITAL WEEKLY
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number 636
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week 29
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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
ROTHKAMM - OPUS SPONGEBOBICUM (CD by Flux
Records) *
RESONANT EMBERS (CD compilation by Edition Sonoro)
XX COMMITTEE - NETWERK (CD by Impulsy Stetoskopu) *
NOISE-MAKER'S FIFES - LEGNICA (CDR by Impulsy Stetoskopu)
RAOUL SINIER - BRAIN KITCHEN (CD by Ad Noiseam)
SAMARKANDE - 3 SYNAPSES (CD by Edition Log Musik) *
LAWRENCE ENGLISH - KIRI NO OTO (CD by Touch) *
BLUE WILLOW TRIO - TREES (CD by Grapes)
PAPER WINGS - ASH FIELD (CD by Black Petal/Pseudo Arcana)
CORY ALLEN - THE FOURTH WAY (CD by Quiet Design)
MACHINEFABRIEK - DAUW (CD by Dekorder)
BLACK TO COMM - FRACTAL HAIR GEOMETRY (CD by Dekorder)
ESCAPING FROM COLOR (CD compilation by Quasipop)
EDWARD S - UNTITLED SILVER (CDR by Quasipop)
STEPHANE LEONARD - LYKKELIG DYR (CD/LP by Heilskabaal/Naiv Super)
*
TOSHIMARU NAKAMURA - DANCE MUSIC (CD by Bottrop-boy)
ILLUSION OF SAFETY - IN SESSION (CD by Waystyx) *
TRANCE - COMPILED (CD by Monochrome Vision)
THIS INFERNAL LOVE OF LIFE (CD by Monochrome Vision)
FRANCISCO LOPEZ - UNTITLED (2006-2007) (2CD by Monochrome Vision)
BARDOSENETICCUBE - NOOSPHERE (CD by Monochrome Vision) *
ROGER MILLS - ANTIPODESIA (CD by UCM)
MIRCAN WITH LIMBO - NUMINOSUM (CD by UCM)
LES COX (SPORTIFS) - NEVERHEED (CD by Stop Looking)
SEMPERVIRENS - DIRGE OF THE DYING YEAR (CD by New Age Dawn/Stellar
Auditorium) *
PROCER VENEFICUS - SALTWATER AND GLASSMOON (CD by New Age Dawn/Stellar
Auditorium)
UNDERJORDISKA/SPECTRAL LORE (splitCDR by New Age Dawn/Stellar
Auditorium)
MIRKO UHLIG - THE NIGHTMILLER (CDR by Mystery Sea) *
PROMONIUM JESTERS - PSYCHIC WARFARE (CDR by P In A Circle)
BIRGIT UHLER & HEDDY BOUBAKER - UPSIDE DOWN (CDR by Herbal/Why
Not) *
TRIO WERCHOWSKA/PONTEVIA/BOUBAKER - DECALAGE VERS LE ROUGE (CDR
by Petit Label)
PHAT - LA GRANDE PESTE (MP3 by Nc.nd)
FEDERICO BARABINO - ONGAMIRA (CDR by Black Orchid Productions)
*
DANIEL PABOEUF UNITY - DPU - (CDR, private)
ADAM JENNINGS - SOUNDS FROM SHANGHAI AND SUZHOU CHINA (CD, private)
*
THE GHOST OF 29 MEGACYCLES - NEIL DIAMOND IS NOT THE GOD OF THUNDER
AND ROCK AND ROLL (CDR, private)
THE GHOST OF 29 MEGACYCLES - 10000 Flying Girls (CDR by Frostly
You Haunt Me) *
MARK SADGROVE & TIM COSTER - UNTITLED (CDR by CLaudia)
CURRER BELLS (3"CDR by CLaudia)
WOLFSKULL - BIBI BIBI BIBI (CDR by Insult Recordings)
PET COFFINS/SLOW LISTENER (CDR by Insult Recordings)
CONES - DIE ZACKEN (3"CDR by Insult Recordings)*
DEAD WOOD - BACKLED REALITY (3"CDR by Insult Recordings)
TÔ - U.N.A. (3"CDR by Cook An Egg)
TERJE PAULSEN - SEPTOBER (CDR by Q-tone)
TERJE PAULSEN - DAGBUE (MP3 by Homophoni)
ELAPSE-0 (MP3 by Records On Ribs) *
ROTHKAMM - OPUS SPONGEBOBICUM (CD by Flux
Records)
Work by Frank Rothkamm has always a conceptual edge. In 1978,
at the age of 12, he started to compose music, on the piano. Later
on he devised his own notation for music and kept on playing the
piano until now. I might be wrong but one of the first times his
work was reviewed in Vital Weekly was his 'Tuning' 12" as
DJ Flux, which consisted of the sound of tuning a piano. Here
he offers '40 Variations on the secret formula from Spongebob
Squarepants' - which comes with lengthy liner notes on 'variations'
but how it connects to my favorite cartoon hero of the new millennium
- I am even being waked up when he's on by the other, much younger
fan when she's around. Much like I know next to nothing about
classical music, it's not easy to value this work. Forty pieces
of piano music, which go in one flow and which are certainly nice
to hear. It's not the piano playing of say Satie or Debussy -
that much I know - but more like 19th century piece of classical
music with some 'strange' elements thrown in that make this is
quite a strange piece too. Even when the overall concept left
me with questions, the work as such was nice to hear. That's about
all I can say about it. (FdW)
Address: http://www.fluxrecords.com
RESONANT EMBERS (CD compilation by Edition
Sonoro)
How much I like compilations, and certainly this one, things are
never easy to review. I can make some general remarks about who's
on it, what the underlying objective is in the music, pick a highlight,
boo at a weak track and that's it. Compilations are certainly
no easy task. On 'Resonant Embers' we have seven lengthy cuts
of drone music. Six of them are by people who regularly deliver
the sonic resonances for Vital Weekly such as Irr. App. (ext.),
Jgrzinich, Ubeboet, Colin Potter, Paul Bradley and Andrew Liles,
leaving us with the introduction of Maile Colbert with Tellemake
as the only new artist on the block. Things drone away nicely,
times seven. No weak brothers or sisters around this lot. But
also no particular standout pieces or, and that's perhaps the
weak point, nothing new under the ambient drone sun. Processed
field recordings (are those church bells, mister Potter?), computerized
software sound synthesis and otherworldly sounds from beyond imagination.
All fine, but also all text book stuff for these people. It's
not that they delivered yesterday's left-overs, au contraire I'd
say, but it's a bit too much commonplace. If that doesn't bother
you, than it's fine. It didn't bother me, since I like this kind
of music anyway, so I thought it was a most pleasant release.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.editionsonoro.com/
XX COMMITTEE - NETWERK (CD by Impulsy Stetoskopu)
NOISE-MAKER'S FIFES - LEGNICA (CDR by Impulsy Stetoskopu)
An online search for really obscure and forgotten releases would
no doubt bring you, also (!), to perhaps this release. XX Committee
is one of the first 'bands' by Scott Foust, which is him on guitar,
bass and rhythm and Chris Scarpino on synth and guitar. They recorded
in the basement of Foust' parents in the early 80s, 'letting the
rhythm go for hours', but in the end the power wasn't entirely
captured on the original vinyl, released by Thermidor in 1983.
The masters are lost, but this CD is rescued from the original
LP - oh glory to the computer for that. The ten tracks are pieces
of minimal music. XX Committee (pronounced as The Twenty Committee)
set a rhythm in motion - be in from a drum machine, or from a
synth - and let it go while they hammer out more rhythm and drone
sounds on their instruments. Like machines working in a factory.
As such I think this is easily one of the more important releases
from the early, formative years of industrial music. XX Committee
predates say Vivenza, although he had his own interesting view
on the industrial mechanisms of music, and sidesteps all the power
noise of Whitehouse and their shady friends. XX Committee blend
together the rhythm of machines with the power of drones in a
rather unique way, that was unheard at the time, and never repeated
after that - the band went away and Foust went on. Even when this
CD re-issue is limited to 250 copies, it's definitely one must
have if you want to hear a great forgotten record from the early
80s. Maybe their cassette should be issued to now.
Noise-maker's Fifes were from Belgium and are no longer around,
following the death of founder Geert Feytons in 2006. Apparently
Impulsy Stetoskopu has some old material in their vaults and 'Legnica'
is the first to see the light of day. Its a live recording from
1997 at the Ars Media Presentation in Legnica and Noise-maker's
Fifes were besides Feytons, Marc Wroblewski and Eric Faes. There
is no mentioning of instruments here, but knowing their music
to some extent, I think it's the 'usual' blend of objects (stones,
metal, wood etc) and prepared 'real' instruments. The music I
guess is a typical good gig for Noise-maker's Fifes. They work
their way through a set of improvised playing with a somewhat
fixed structure, I think. Scraping the objects, radio sounds and
towards the end resonating strings and cymbals play a bigger role.
Think AMM, think Morphogenesis if such points of reference are
needed. But there are also moments in which things don't seem
to work and the three are looking for the right sounds and seem
a bit lost in the action. I guess such things happen in the field
of improvised electro-acoustic music. 'Legnica' is not the greatest
document of what Noise-maker's Fifes could do - the visual aspect
was certainly as important - but it gives a good solid impression
anyway. (FdW)
Address: <impulsystetoskopu@yahoo.com>
RAOUL SINIER - BRAIN KITCHEN (CD by Ad Noiseam)
Raoul Sinier reaches many interesting corners in his latest effort
from his kitchen of sonic experimentation. The French artist impressed
me with his EP-appetizer "Huge Samirai Radish" to this
main course titled "Brain kitchen". If music was food,
the variation of expressions on this latest album by the artist
who also has a number of releases on the Planet MU-label, is like
a well-assorted buffet serving expressions from experimental hip
hop, across IDM, abstract techno to cool breakbeats. Remarkable
about this album is the artist's ability to control this complex
soup of electronic sounds and thus end up with this enjoyable
result. The fourteen works on the album spans from catchy pieces
sometimes reminding me of a cutting-edge version of early 808
State to hypercomplex pieces such as the amazing track titled
"The incredible spitting machine" reminiscent of Autechre
from the "Chiastic Slide"-period thanks to the alluring
combination of grandiose ambient-scapes and "spittting"
expressions of microsounds and noise-beats. The frequent occurrence
of hip hop rhythm textures creates a fine line throughout this
excellent lengthy work of Raoul Sinier. (NM)
Address: http://www.adnoiseam.net
SAMARKANDE - 3 SYNAPSES (CD by Edition Log
Musik)
We met Samarkande last year for the first time, when they did
a split CDR release with the Oblivion Ensemble (see Vital Weekly
568). Samarkande is a duo of Eric Fillion and Sylvain Lamirande,
who played with John Zorn's Cobra Game Player, whereas Fillion
is a classically trained pianist and organist. They already have
three previous releases, since they started in 1999. The cover
lists their instruments in full detail, even when it means not
much to me, Samarkande seem to be a bunch of gear collectors.
It's not easy to describe what Samarkande is doing. Partly it
dwells heavily on the use of electronics which gives this album
an ambient texture, but smaller portions are reserved for improvised
playing on say the violin or the clarinet. What I thought of their
split CDR release with the Oblivion Ensemble is also what I think
of this new one: it's quite nice, but too lengthy and sometimes
drifting too much without wanting to have any sort of structure.
It comes off like many smaller pieces being mixed together to
make one long piece, but which also makes things unfocussed. My
suggestion is to create an album with shorter tracks and explore
them within the time frame of that shorter piece. This doesn't
mean I think this is a bad album, not at all in fact. '3 Synapses'
certainly has some fine moments when explore the more moody roads
of the music, and let things develop in a natural way. Their experience
at playing their instruments helped create a musically fine album,
but one with some extra room for improvement. (FdW)
Address: http://www.samarkande.ca
LAWRENCE ENGLISH - KIRI NO OTO (CD by Touch)
Perhaps Lawrence English needs no introduction, as recently he
has presented much new work in these pages. He is from Brisbane
where he deals with field recordings, installations, improvisations
with people like David Toop, Terry Riley, DJ Olive, Tetuzi Akiyama
and many others. Also he is the man behind Australia's more interesting
labels Room40. In his own music he uses a lot of field recordings,
like his recent underwater recordings. On 'Kiri No Oto', which
translates as 'sound of fog', which is not what he uses, but the
music that sounds like fog. Although English doesn't reveal his
sound sources, just referred to as 'instruments and found sounds',
which are processed until they sound like fog. Also the processing
is just described as 'analog filtering and harmonic distortion',
but the end result works very much like fog. No matter how hard
you try to see, all you get is blurry things. And that's what
this music does too. Once you think you may recognize something
- be it a melody, an instrument or even a melodic part such as
'Allay' - it's never really clear what it is that you are listening
to. I'm not a car driver, but I can imagine this as driving a
car in fog: you notice things, and then they disappear and as
such works the music also. Each of the eight pieces work like
this, each piece of music has its own special quality, even when
there are similarities among the various pieces. Here the fog
theme works also a bigger level - by creating similar yet different
tracks, a deliberate mist is also created. Great record, if not
always surprising from the perspective of 'new' music. (FdW)
Address: http://www.touchmusic.org.uk
BLUE WILLOW TRIO - TREES (CD by Grapes)
A jazz trio made up of Takumi Seino playing acoustic and electric
guitars, with Masako Hamamura on piano and Jeremy Stratton handling
the acoustic bass. They took their name from the 'Blue Willow'
CD they recorded in 2000. So I guess this is their second release.
Before I go into it, I should say first that I,m not into this
kind of music normally. What we have here is a pure jazz trio
of very well accomplished players. Not my thing usually, but there
is a but! The name of Takumi Seino should ring a bell. Frans de
Waard and I covered earlier work of Seino in Vital Weekly. There
was for example a duo recording of Seino with his canadian colleague
Anthione Berthiaume. Jeremy Stratton is an american player who
studied with Charlie Haden and plays a lot with Lee Konitz. Masako
Hamamura comes from Kobe. At the moment she performs and teaches
at the Koyo Conservatory in Kobe. For their new recording the
trio played live two days in october 2007 in the small music cafe
Jalan-Jalan, somewhere in Japan. Of the nine pieces on this album
four were composed by Takumi Seino, two by Masako Hamamura. The
other pieces are short collective improvisations. Together they
make up a very homogenous unity in more than one respect. In all
pieces the musicians take time to develop the lines they want
to follow. The playing is controlled and functional. No meaningless
virtuosity. The result is well balanced and well tempered kind
of easy listening jazz that never becomes sugar sweet. Everything
what they are doing fits. The trio delivers a very consistent
job from beginning to end. They are equally involved and dedicated
and very focused. The themes and tunes they composed sound very
familiar and close to the laws that define the format of the jazz
trio. But on the other hand the music is absolutely not cliché.
This trio speaks with an authentic voice. During my listening
to this CD my appreciation grew and grew, and now I simply love
it. (DM)
Address: http://www.grapesmusic.com/
PAPER WINGS - ASH FIELD (CD by Black Petal/Pseudo
Arcana)
Released by Anthony Guerra's Black Petal label (I think the first
real CD on his label) and Anthony Milton's Pseudo Arcana, both
of these musicians are also responsible for the audio content
as Paper Wings. The album was already recorded in 2005 (I have
no idea why it wasn't out earlier) in 'a small room on a winters
day in Sydney'. Both play electric guitar (and both have an extensive
background in improvised music) and use lots of amplification.
This is improvised music but not the sort we review a lot these
days. Here Paper Wings lots of amplification to get a nice resonating
sound. And god knows what else they use, delay pedals, distortion
pedals, ring modulation - the sky is the limit here. Four tracks
of howling beauty. They play everything from just a few notes
to walls of feedback and noise, even when this is not the Merzbow
type of noise. They compare it to 'Earth at 16RPM' and that is
very much true - slowly strummed, resonating sounds that work
best at a massive volume. Four long improvised pieces of two electric
guitars that work on an intense minimal yet psychedelic level
and it sticks right in your brain. Absolutely great stuff and
rightly so on a real CD. (FdW)
Address: http://www.blackpetal.com http://www.pseudoarcana.com
CORY ALLEN - THE FOURTH WAY (CD by Quiet
Design)
Quiet Design releases a CD by Cory Allen who plays Fender Rhodes
and Moog Voyager, ring modulator and software and call it a 'rich
minimal ambient work [...] building on his signature style of
lush and soft linear hypnotic ambient, Allen ventures into new
territory where gripping data textures and air-tight moog tones
push and pull with streaming fountains of electronic elegance'.
For a moment I thought they packed the wrong CD but the label
says indeed 'Cory Allen'. 'The Fourth Way' is, no surprise, his
fourth album. We missed out on the previous three, so I have no
idea if they were indeed 'lush and soft', but this one is certainly
a different batch of music. Cory Allen, who is along with Josh
Russel, Rick Reed and Brent Fariss a member of Sirsit, plays heavy
drone music here. Loud, mean stuff, but not distorted or nasty
in the industrial music sense of the word. Allen plays his music
with a fine sense for details, moving away from the quiet drone
music, but doing something much more heavy. He melts together
the warmth of analogue synths with crispy software sounds and
moves away from the traditional drone music, just as Russel did
with 'Sink' (Vital Weekly 612), perhaps not surprisingly on the
same label. Not easy listening this one, but surely one that has
a lot of beauty captured inside. Cruel beauty that is, certainly
if, and I recommend this, you play this loud. (FdW)
Address: http://www.quietdesign.us
MACHINEFABRIEK - DAUW (CD by Dekorder)
BLACK TO COMM - FRACTAL HAIR GEOMETRY (CD by Dekorder)
For a week or two I believed Rutger Zuydervelt was on holiday,
since nothing new arrived here... well, since his excellent release
with Stephen Vitiello (Vital Weekly 531 - oops five weeks of silence),
but here is 'Dauw', for once (?) a CD by Machinefabriek solo and
specially composed for the occasion. Various of his previous CD
releases were compilations of his vast catalogue of 3"CDR
releases. Here he plays acoustic, electric guitar, turntable,
sampler, dictaphone, piano, tone generator and laptop. Dekorder
mentions a whole bunch comparisons, from Fennesz to Arvo Part,
Godspeed, Basinski, Philip Jeck and Mogwai which is funny, because
it seems so right, yet it never really crossed my mind to compare
him with all of these. It has the sustaining, drone like sounds
of Part, Godspeed and Mogwai, and the laptop like qualities of
Fennesz and the pace of Jeck. This new album, with its five tracks
(the fifth spanning half the album) is another fine Machinefabriek
album, in which his music crystallize further, reaching another
peak of subtle sounds. Machinefabriek has founds its form already
some time, and now finds time to explore things further and deepens
his music. 'Dauw' is a great CD and can easily meet the best in
his extended career.
Black To Comm is the solo project of Marc Richter, the label boss
of Dekorder. He calls this his 'drone' project in which he plays
casio, farfisa organ, electronics and voice and gets help from
various people playing violin, electronics, piano and trumpet.
All of his sounds are fed through analogue and digital effects
pedals and then put together on the computer, 'sometimes consisting
of more than fifty recording layers'. The first track with its
vocal like chants let me down a bit, but the rest of the album
is quite nice. Black To Comm understands drone not as 'one chord
down, delay pedal full open', but it can he nervous and hectic
sounds pieced together on the computer, with sounds and even melodies
dropping in and out of the mix. He does that in more or less in
all seven of the pieces on this album and manages to hold enough
variety in the material, yet keeping control of his working method.
This kind of drone music is something that one doesn't hear every
day and goes beyond the more traditional types of drone music.
That's something I like very much and this new CD by Black To
Comm is great. A highly refined and original work. (FdW)
Address: http://www.dekorder.com
ESCAPING FROM COLOR (CD compilation by Quasipop)
EDWARD S - UNTITLED SILVER (CDR by Quasipop)
Elsewhere there is a review of Francisco Lopez' new double CD
which rounds up tracks from 2006 and 2007 and one of that is a
rather disappointing remix of Rapoon. I thought I missed that
somewhere along the lines, but Quasipop just send me the complete
album of Rapoon 'recomposed and remixed'. As a quick reminder,
since we haven't reviewed a Rapoon CD in quite some time: Rapoon
is the music by Zoviet France founder Robin Storey who left in
the early 90s to concentrate on his own music, which had strong
rhythmical (at times ethno) components and ambient textures. Sounds
indeed like a good material to remix, but I wonder if the fifteen
artists here would bring the material really into a new place,
to win over new fans for the music of Rapoon. We are treated here
with work by TV Pow, Machinefabriek, Troum, Steve Roden, Jorge
Castro, Paulo Raposo, Aidan Baker, Anla Courtis, Gert-Jan Prins,
Heimir Bjorgulfsson, Mike Shiflet, Family Underground, Ronnie
Sundin and Cisfinitum (although his track doesn't count as a remix,
since it's a live collaboration with Rapoon from a concert in
Moscow in 2006). Lots of familiar names, from roughly say the
same scene as Rapoon himself, and some surprises - didn't know
Bjorgulfsson was still doing music, Roden as a remixer and Sundin
who has been quiet for a while. The downside is that I didn't
hear many surprising pieces of music - I did hear good versions
of Rapoon's music. Some emphasized his rhythmic side, others his
ambient side, some worked with computerized treatments there of
(Sundin, Roden, Lopez and Bjorgulfsson), and some stay pretty
close to the original, like Troum. But none took his music into
the rock arena, the dubstep floor or country-western - to mention
three unlikely places, but where there is perhaps new fans to
win over. In that sense this is 'just' a 'nice' compilation with
many nice tracks for sure, but for whom, we could wonder. No doubt
for the Rapoon fans of course and for some of the remixers (which
may overlap no doubt). A very nice compilation, but perhaps a
bit redundant also.
On the same label another CDR by Edward S, 'Untitled Silver',
in an edition of 23 copies. Twenty track in an equal amount of
minutes - there is no doubt some conspiracy, conceptually driven
aspect, which I fail to see. The short time span doesn't do the
music any justice. It's more like twenty-three attempts at writing
short pieces, but they keep sticking in half started attempts.
Rhythm, noise, collage, musique concrete, it's all there but fails
to make a good impression here. Its more difficult to create a
good, very short piece than a somewhat longer one - that is lesson
to be drawn from this one. (FdW)
Address: http://www.quasipop.org
STEPHANE LEONARD - LYKKELIG DYR (CD/LP by
Heilskabaal/Naiv Super)
Its always great to see confidence. I never heard of Stephane
Leonard, but Heilskanaal and Naivsuper are confident enough to
do a release that is both on LP and CD - the first real CD for
Naivsuper. That is surely confidence and I hope it works for them.
Leonard released two solo recordings in 2003 and 2004, then learned
how to program max/msp and then spent three years on doing field
recordings and editing this album. I must admit that I fail to
see all the confidence. Its by all means not a bad piece of work,
but it doesn't shout 'original' all over it. Ten tracks of glitchy
sounds and rhythms which sound very Fennesz like, even the 'pop'
approach is used by Leonard, doesn't make him the next promise
in microsound, click 'n cut or glitch land. Having said that,
I must say that the album isn't bad either. Leonard plays some
nice music, excellently produced, with tracks being short and
to the point. Qualities that are sometimes forgotten by others,
but which are necessary tools of the trade. If there wasn't a
Fennesz around, and if he didn't release 'Endless Summer', 'Lykkelig
Dyr' by Stephane Leonard could easily be the new king of all things
glitch and pop, now he's one of the many fine servants of the
trade. (FdW)
Address: http://www.heilskabaal.net http://www.naivsuper.de
TOSHIMARU NAKAMURA - DANCE MUSIC (CD by
Bottrop-boy)
There is no need to put on your shoes and dance along, since this
'Dance Music' is music for choreography and as such uses no beats
of course. Toshimaru Nakamura is of course the man of the no-input
mixer and one that has the standard for this instrument. It seems
that everyone, except for Marko Ciciliani whose rapid playing
is the anti-thesis of Nakamura, plays like Nakamura: long stretches
of feedback sound, with the minimalist changes. Nakamura tests
our limits on this release. Two pieces, one lasting over twenty
minutes and under fifty minutes, this will do all sorts of crazy
things with your mind. It's not music to put on and play loud,
as certified insanity is what happens next, but even at a much
lower volume this is not easy music to hear. For me this works
best at this somewhat lower volume and create a more ambient/surround
texture style of music. The first, shorter, piece is a more continuous
affair, whereas the second is more a bumpy ride, with sounds dropping
in and out. Certainly not easy music to hear and I doubt wether
I would play this very often. Sometimes music can be too demanding
and 'Dance Music' certainly falls in the category of too demanding
music. (FdW)
Address: http://www.bottrop-boy.com
ILLUSION OF SAFETY - IN SESSION (CD by Waystyx)
One of my favorite post industrial bands ever. Period. Since more
than twenty years I am a fan and every new release is awaited
with eager anticipation. This highly limited release from Russia,
in a gorgeous package, is no different. These days, since many
years actually, Illusion Of Safety is reduced one person, following
a free floating membership that included Thyme Jones and Jim O'Rourke
to mention just two, which is Dan Burke. He plays 'sound generating
devices and random objects that deliberately provoke, mesmerize
and even affront listeners'. I deliberately use the term 'post
industrial' and not say 'electro-acoustic' or 'musique concrete',
which could also easily be applied to the music of Illusion Of
Safety. When they started they were firmly rooted in the world
of industrial music, and later on elements of musique concrete
came along, but if you listen to 'In Session' the elements of
industrial music are still there. Heavy, steel walls of drone
music pierce your ears and are as easily replaced by soft drones,
crackling sounds of hand held objects and contact microphones.
I wouldn't be surprised if Burke plays all of this 'in session',
live at home so to speak. I saw him a lot of times playing concerts
which capture the equal beauty that is captured here. Ranging
from sheer noise to near silence and there is always an element
of surprise lurking around the corner. An abrupt, full stop or
start and it bring the piece in a new territory. Illusion Of Safety's
music can be compared with the likes of Roel Meelkop or Toy Bizarre,
but is less bound to rules of composition and more free and joyous
(well, that's probably not the right away) than those of the microsound/musique
concrete posse that inhabits the world of Vital Weekly so frequently.
That alone makes a great band and another great CD. Very fine
concentrated bursts of sound. (FdW)
Address: http://www.waystyx.com
TRANCE - COMPILED (CD by Monochrome Vision)
THIS INFERNAL LOVE OF LIFE (CD by Monochrome Vision)
FRANCISCO LOPEZ - UNTITLED (2006-2007) (2CD by Monochrome Vision)
BARDOSENETICCUBE - NOOSPHERE (CD by Monochrome Vision)
I don't remember when the last time was that I music from Mason
Jones' Trance project - easily more than ten years ago. Perhaps
this is the right moment to admit that I was never the biggest
fan for the Trance project and perhaps that's the reason it has
been such a long time, perhaps it had to do with shifting interests
at the time. Jones started Trance in 1987 as a solo guitar project
with a strong interest in slow and heavy, almost industrial music.
He released a couple of cassettes on his own Charnel House label,
then a few CD for the same label, as well as Staalplaat and called
it a day when Trance had a totally different meaning - 'bad electronic
music' as Jones calls this on the liner notes of a CD that compiles
various, but not all, pieces that Trance did for compilation CDs
and cassettes (oddly enough no vinyl). Even when I didn't hear
his music for such a long, I must say that I was eager to play
it, to note if my appreciation has changed over the years. Right
from the very first second I recognized this a traditional music
by Trance. Lots of hectic beats and lots of distorted guitars
that go on top of that. It's still something I find hard to relate
to, even after all these years. The music of Trance remains very
distant and doesn't grab me that much. Sometimes a guitar line
pops up which sounds nice, or when the beats are slower, but that's
it. I think I still prefer Jones' work in Subarachnoid Space much
better.
Somewhere in the vaults of music that I may call 'living' room
I have a copy of 'This Infernal Love Of Life', an album released
by Topyscan in 1989. I don't remember why I have this, wether
I wrote a review or not, or even if I ever played it. But I like
CD releases of old vinyl as they usually sound better. When I
heard this I must admit I didn't recognize the music. This CD
goes up and up. The start, a piece by Eld-Omala is not something
I like very much. 'Gothic' music to my taste. I was never a big
fan of White Stains either - too much the Swedish answer to Psychic
TV - but their 'Underworld Initiation' sounds alright. Heavy slow
drums, pounding nicely with highly atmospheric synthesizers. Pretty
dated music, but not bad at all. Phauss, the band of Hauswolff
and Phauser have a great piece of field recordings - at a time
when no one did those - mixed with sizzling electronics and Karkowski
presents an early piece I guess of similar electronics and what
seems to warped tape collages. The electronics reminded me of
insect like sounds. Quality increases on this highly varied compilation,
and sounds great. Never understood why I didn't play the album
- or remembering it.
Many of the Francisco Lopez releases have just one piece, but
of course Lopez composes also shorter pieces, usually for compilations
or commissions. Lopez compiles them by the year and here he rounds
up two years, 2006 and 2007, on a double CD. Perhaps the most
'strange' piece in this collection is 'Untitled #196', which he
was commissioned for by the MAE Ensemble from Amsterdam. This
is indeed an unlike Lopez piece for a small ensemble with some
hectic playing - in that sense also an odd piece for Lopez. The
other pieces are, as said, shorter than the usual Lopez pieces,
and there are times when it seems to me that Lopez has difficulty
handling the short time span, or perhaps it has to do with the
assignment, like a rather mediocre Rapoon remix. However those
pieces are in a minority here. When Lopez goes back into the field
to tape his sounds and to do his typical Lopez like treatments
things are great as always. Here the shorter time span works also
a bit against the pieces, or perhaps one wished they would last
a bit longer, but they are fine pieces. No doubt the die hard
collectors have all of these pieces when they were first released
on a compilation, but collected together is something I actually
prefer. A nice round-up of things from the past, preserved for
the future.
Monochrome Vision releases a lot of music from the 'old' boys
from what can be loosely called 'industrial music and beyond',
but after every three or four releases there is also space for
a Russian artist, home land of the label. The cover tell us a
story about a laptop with an unknown system error playing the
music of solar wind and a feedback circuit to add elements of
human presence. The laptop was stolen shortly after that so this
is the only account of the piece that was created. Bardoseneticcube
is the project of Igor Potsukaili. His 'Noosphere' is a lengthy
piece of music, almost sixty-eight minutes, that works more like
an ambient event than an actual piece of music. It changes throughout
its run, with sounds coming in and out of the mix, while there
are continuous events that run the entire course of the CD. Its
music that you may to play at a somewhat lower volume and preferable
in repeat play and create your own environment. Nice one indeed.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.monochromevision.ru
ROGER MILLS - ANTIPODESIA (CD by UCM)
MIRCAN WITH LIMBO - NUMINOSUM (CD by UCM)
Two CDs that both come in a very deluxe edition. The CDs come
with a thick full color booklet with photographs, etc. They did
invest quite a lot in graphics and design. Unusual if you ask
me. UCM stands for Uncatalogued Music Production. It was founded
in 2006 by Mircan Kaia coming from the Black Sea region and earthquake
engineer from profession. In 2007 two CDs were released on this
label; 'Sala' and 'Ashes' both solo-albums by Mircan. Now UCM
presents two new cds. On 'Numinosum' Mircan is assisted by Limbo
an english jazz combo with Roger Mills a.o. Mills did also the
mixing and production in his Eartrumpet Studio in Bristol. With
Limbo and three turkish musicians Mircan realized her latest musical
dreams. All lyrics and tracks are written by Mircan, but the music
came about mostly out of improvisation in the studio. The music
is far from jazzy, except in 'To take a Step without Feet'. Most
pieces are dreamy, sometimes rocky songs, with much attention
for an atmospheric sonic environment. Eastern influences you might
expect are hard to discover. Only in the playing of the accordion-player
I discovered some. Mircan sings in english with a voice that has
more potential then shown on this cd. The band gives a good performance.
All together they create a Kate Bush-related world that will function
in your dreamy hours.
Roger Mills is a composer, sound and media artist plus trumpet-player.
For more information on him go to http://www.eartrumpet.com/.
'Antipodesian' is his debut album. His music is a mix of ambient,
jazz and soundscapes. The pieces on his album emerged from improvisations
recorded during live performances between 2005 and 2007. Field
recordings he made during his travels also play an important role.
He is helped out by several musicians playing flutes, drums, percussion,
etc. But in the end the music sounds very programmed and processed.
Prominent is the muted trumpet by Mills. Jon Hassell is not very
far away. Also because most pieces breath an exotic and tribal
atmosphere. Like on the album by Mircan the music communicates
a dreamy and spacey soundworld. It is a professional mix of an
improvising trumpet imbedded in nice soundscapes that are made
up of fieldrecordings and manipulated musical recordings. Ambient
jazz evoking melancholic moods. On the other hand I found his
blend not very surprising or original. It is nice and effective
soundwork, however moving along conventional lines. (DM)
Address: http://www.ucmproduction.com
LES COX (SPORTIFS) - NEVERHEED (CD by Stop
Looking)
During the big 7 days summer festival of Nijmegen there is a place
with 'alternative' stages, so I could easily fill my gap of knowledge
with regards to all things alternative. I'm writing this somewhere
half way through the week, so perhaps the real surprises could
be coming, but I heard on the main stage a current imitation of
Section 25, a cross between Emerson Lake & Palmer and Mother's
Finest, white man reggae and third class post rock. This town
ain't big enough. I don't have a copy of the program, nor does
the hangover encourage me to search for it online, but I don't
think Les Cox (Sportifs) are playing. A power trio of guitar,
drums, vocals and bass from the UK, and are an 'unpolished, artless,
ramshackle and utterly charming insight to all that was great
with the Indie scene 20 years ago, yet with both feet stamped
firmly in the present', which means selling old as new, me thinks.
But there is no such thing as 'independent music' in the place
where the guitars, drums, vocals and bass - it's all unsigned
bands waiting for the major to drop by. That's why they have festivals
in small places to test waters. Having said all that the eight
tracks were pretty decent and picked up out of the mailbox this
tomorrow it saved me also time to think of what music I needed
to wake up to and was mildly amused by their band name. So life
isn't bad - it changes color every now and then, and stays the
same. (FdW)
Address: http://www.stop-looking.co.uk
SEMPERVIRENS - DIRGE OF THE DYING YEAR (CD
by New Age Dawn/Stellar Auditorium)
PROCER VENEFICUS - SALTWATER AND GLASSMOON (CD by New Age Dawn/Stellar
Auditorium)
UNDERJORDISKA/SPECTRAL LORE (splitCDR by New Age Dawn/Stellar
Auditorium)
Chosing a label name like New Age Dawn/Stellar Auditorium raises
an eyebrow here, but thank god no new age music around these three.
The label is from Athens, Greece and focusing on 'both rock/metal
and experimental music', but again thank god no rock/metal - and
hopefully not in the future for Vital Weekly (release it as you
like, but we can't review that - thanks). These three are on the
sublabel Steller Auditorium, and the first is by Estonian ambient
artist Margus Mets, who works as Sempervirens. He has had six
releases already and his sound sources are field recordings, electronics
but also say an acoustic guitar. The label compares this to Biosphere,
early Brian Eno and Northaunt's 'Barren Land' and even when I
don't know that one, the others sound like a good reference to
me. Dark drones, highly atmospheric, like picked up transmissions
from the sky itself. Stellar music indeed. Mets plays eight very
nice tracks indeed, excellently produced but nothing new under
the sun.
Which perhaps could also be said of Procer Veneficus, also known
as Derek Schultz. He started in 2004 and has a long catalogue
of unheard music by me, but filled, I'm told, with music from
black metal, acoustic and organic ambience. I guess 'Saltwater
And Glassmoon' is from the latter category of works as the five
lengthy pieces are very much alike what I just described as music
by Sempervirens. Deep drone music, maybe just a little bit more
monotonous, but certainly as nicely produced as the previous release,
and again, with not much new insight on the subject of dark drone
ambient music. More forest than sky music I guess, like a misty
picture of trees. Nice.
A bit more problematic for me is the release by 'two experimental
black metal one-man bands', Underjordiska and Spectral Lore. Both
play a variety of instruments, guitar mostly, drones and electronics,
but in both cases it's an uneasy marriage. It seems to me that
both want to display their ability to really play. So abstract
passages in the music, which are quite nice, can move into post
rock or guitar doodling. But it all happens inside a single track
per band, which are faded quite roughly, and one has the idea
that just various tracks are collated together. As said, the more
abstract parts of the pieces with the shimmering dark drones is
quite nice, but display of technique is not my thing. And I have
no idea where they found the black metal thing, since it has nothing
to do with metal. (FdW)
Address: http://www.newagedawn.co.uk
MIRKO UHLIG - THE NIGHTMILLER (CDR by Mystery
Sea)
So far the work of Mirko Uhlig was highly appreciated here. Not
because it's any 'new' by any sort of standard, but his wanderings
into the world of drone music can easily match those in the field
with a higher profile. The three tracks here are more pieces from
what Uhlig does best (his attempt at 'noise' seemed an one off).
Very soft in volume, this is drone music of a highly nocturnal
affair. Don't bring this into the daylight but keep it covered
for night time listening. You need to crank up the volume quite
a bit in order to hear something of the low fidelity drones, but
if you the three parts will make perfect sense. Only the title
piece seems to be a bit louder, and could be sampled from Ravel's
'Bolero' covered with a lot of hiss sounds. It's anyway hard to
tell what it is that Uhlig does here in terms of using sounds
and/or instruments. The drones are large, and could be processed
field recordings, but I think I also recognized some (sampled?)
instruments in there. As said, I think this is another fine release
from Uhlig, even when the whole ambient drone sound is a dead
end alley. (FdW)
Address: http://www.mysterysea.net
PROMONIUM JESTERS - PSYCHIC WARFARE (CDR
by P In A Circle)
Promonium Jesters is an Ontario-based project that was established
in 1994 by school mates Greg Cox and Ethan Moseley, originally
with concentration on Industrial music. With the addition of Dave
Miller and Tyler Noble, Promonium Jester has extended their sound
approach with a more wide Industrial metal-based attitude. And
the result on this Ep-release titled "Psychic warfare"
is certainly promising if you're into abrasive stuff. Opening
with a brutal piece titled "Futurekill" approaching
the noise-level of extreme grind-thrashers Exhumed thanks to the
excellent cocktail of furious black metal-like vocals and thrashing
guitar-riffs grinding on top of electronic Industrial-scapes,
the ground has been laid for some serious moshing.... Until second
track penetrates with a radical style-change towards club-oriented
industrial-techno reminding me of early Swamp Terrorists or Wumpscut.
The quartet manage to keep the listener glued to the speakers
with the excellent blend of harsh expressions of Industrial-metal
and awesome atmospheric electronic soundscapes. Especially on
third track the shift from harshness to deep atmospheres works
great as the music suddenly changes approx. halfway through seven
minutes running track. Having toured with Noise-acts such compatriot
sound terrorist Knurl and japnoise-legend Merzbow, Platinum Jesters
already has spread their name, but their successful blend of Industrial,
techno, hip hop, rock and extreme metal/electronics certainly
deserves to get wider attention. (NM)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/promonium
BIRGIT UHLER & HEDDY BOUBAKER - UPSIDE
DOWN (CDR by Herbal/Why Not)
TRIO WERCHOWSKA/PONTEVIA/BOUBAKER - DECALAGE VERS LE ROUGE (CDR
by Petit Label)
PHAT - LA GRANDE PESTE (MP3 by Nc.nd)
The common factor for these three releases is the French musician
Heddy Boubaker, who plays alto saxophone. All three releases fall
in the section of improvised music. The first release is a duo
recording with Birgit Uhler, who plays trumpet, radio and objects.
The six pieces were recorded in Hamburg in 2007. They play their
instruments like objects like so many do these days. There is
however one thing which makes them a bit different and that is
the volume they use. In this area its not uncommon to play things
at a soft level, but here the instruments are loud (well, relatively
speaking) and clear. They play some intense pieces, exploring
their instruments in unusual manner and making some intense listening.
A very fine work that has the right length of thirty-two minutes,
which requires your full concentration.
The second release is a trio, and judging by the name perhaps
a more regular outing for them. Boubaker plays here with Nush
Werchowska (piano and objects) and Mathias Pontevia (horizontal
drums). The drums and the piano tend to play at times in a more
'regular' improvised way, whereas the saxophone is most of the
times in his 'object' mood. This trio moves along the lines of
old and new improvisation, as well as a silence and loudness and
requires the equal amount of attention as the previous one - don't
play this in one go, I'd say.
With the trio Phat Boubakker goes into another territory. It has
Fabien Duscombs on drums and percussion and Marc Perrenoud on
bass and electric contrabass. Here too it's all free improvisation
of course but in a strict free jazz vein. In terms of 'music'
perhaps the most 'musical' one, less of an exploration of instruments
and more about playing many crazy notes, this is the least exciting
for me, perhaps while is so regular crazy music and not something
that could be bringing more than lots of crazy playing. Or perhaps
I don't like Free Jazz. Let's stay on the safe side and think
that. (FdW)
Address: http://www.geocities.com/whynotltd
Address: http://www.petitlabel.com
Address: http://insub.dincise.net
FEDERICO BARABINO - ONGAMIRA (CDR by Black
Orchid Productions)
We came across the music of Federico Barabino before, when he
released together with Charles Rice Goff III. Here he is solo,
playing his guitar and feeding the sounds through a bunch of delay
pedals and ring modulator. Unlike the recent CD by Ueno (see Vital
Weekly 633) in which this marriage didn't work very well, Barabino
does a better job. His playing matches his processing better -
I use the word 'processing', since I wouldn't be surprised to
learn (no information was given with this release) that Barabino
first laid down his guitar playing on the computer and then used
that create 'shadow' files with ring modulator plug ins which
he then mixes together. On one hand highly moody music, but not
in the sense of drone music, but rather plucking the strings and
adding on a sub-level some kind of ambient background, creating
sufficient tension for the material. Quite a nice mixture of improvisation
and micro sound techniques with some surprising results. (FdW)
Address: http://www.blackorchid.host.sk
DANIEL PABOEUF UNITY - DPU - (CDR, private)
The name of Daniel Pabouef brings back memories of the days of
new wave music. I know him from Marquis de Sade, Ubik and Sax
Pustuls, french groups that were on the front in the 80s. How
things went for him later I don't know. But he is back now with
a CDR by his own project with music that still is linked to the
paradigms of new wave music. Just listen to 'L'excavateur'. From
the first moments it is immediately clear that Paboeuf likes it
rough. Responsible is his power sax playing. But the drumming
by Régis Boulard, the piano and synthesizer playing by
David Euverte, and the laptop and programming plus vocals by Mistress
Bomb H also contribute to the cacophony. Together they fabricate
a pleasant wall of sound that surely is the most attractive aspect
of their music, also in a ballad-like piece 'L'étincelle'.
Without guitar and bass the quartet they create their version
of rock music. Lots of energy is generated here, and that is what
counts here. But it finds it's way through musical forms that
we know too well. So I ask myself who will be attracted by it.
But please continue DPU! (DM)
ADAM JENNINGS - SOUNDS FROM SHANGHAI AND
SUZHOU CHINA (CD, private)
Have recorder, will travel. Adam Jennings was in China very recently
when the earth quake hit the country and the preparing for the
Olympics. Inspired by the Sublime Frequencies series, he wants
to release his own series of field recordings. This album has
no less than 48 small tracks of pure field recordings, ranging
from street sounds, restaurants, TV and such like. I have not
been to China myself, but I can easily believe this what the country
sounds like. However I must admit that the brief character of
many of pieces is a bit of a let down. I rather would have heard
fewer pieces, but a bit longer. Also some of the pieces end abruptly
with a click, which could have been easily removed when it came
to transferring to a computer. Otherwise it's a pretty decent
work of field recordings of a crowded country with lots of activity.
Jennings next trip will be to Africa. (FdW)
Address: <meatalulcer@aol.com>
THE GHOST OF 29 MEGACYCLES - NEIL DIAMOND
IS NOT THE GOD OF THUNDER AND ROCK AND ROLL (CDR, private)
THE GHOST OF 29 MEGACYCLES - 10000 Flying Girls (CDR by Frostly
You Haunt Me)
We first heard of The Ghost Of 29 Megacycles in Vital Weekly 592,
when we reviewed their split release with Morning Stalker of Hello
Squarerecordings, which we believed was just the bandname of Greg
Thaw, but now it seems to be more a real band, which includes
members of Radarmaker, Jasmine Loop Control, These Shipwrecks
and additional local (Australian) musicians. If I am right, 'Neil
Diamond Is Not The God Of Thunder And Rock And Roll' (gee I assumed
he was), is from 2007 and so might fall outside of Vital Weekly's
period of releases not being older than six months, but of course
how can we ignore such a nice title? The Ghost Of 29 Megacycles
play guitar, many guitars and to that they add organ, vocals,
circuit bent toys, strings, bass, bells, percussion and drums.
But guitars, many guitars are the prime ingredient to this music.
It's all looped and sampled around and lots of small patterns
appear all the time in a highly minimal manner. A bit like Stars
Of The Lid, but less drone based and more like tinkling stringed
sounds. This is the sound that they use on both of these releases,
which I think is a bit much - or rather a bit less for the extended
output. The 2007 release last fifty minutes and '10000 Flying
Girls' lasts twenty-six minutes but there is not enough variation
is what they offer. Things stay too much on similar grounds through
out and the looped guitar, reversed loops and sampled tinkling
wears out after a while. I think, perhaps for not very clear reasons,
I liked the most recent release better. A bit more brief and certainly
the mastering by Taylor Deupree helped out to expand on the sound
territory and adds an extra grainy texture to the material. (FdW)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/theghostof29megacycles
MARK SADGROVE & TIM COSTER - UNTITLED
(CDR by CLaudia)
CURRER BELLS (3"CDR by CLaudia)
It was only two weeks ago that I reviewed an 'Untitled' disc by
Mark Sadgrove and Tim Coster and here they return with a release
for Coster's own CLaudia label. The three pieces were captured
on april 9th 2008 at the Wine Cellar in Auckland, and Mark plays
guitar and dictaphone and Tim plays oscillator, sampling keyboard,
walkman and loop pedals. Their playing is not unlike the previous
released of a fortnight ago, but its less conceptually inclined
and their playing is a bit more free here, even when a small chord
is played it gets musical. The previous was more or less an exercise
in sine wave like experiments, this is more improvisation, let's
see what happens. Not at bad at all, but not as great as the previous
release either. It's more a case of recognition - the path already
explored.
Coster is also involved in Currer Bells, a new duo he does with
Jane Austen. They have an extensive line up of instruments and
sounds to use, ranging from bass, cymbals, acoustic guitar, keyboard,
drums, glasses, shaker and glockenspiel. Three songs which all
seem to evolve around the use of loops of all of these sound producing
devices and over that they add live playing of instruments, mainly
the drum parts - or so it seems. The result is a nice combination
of improvised playing, along with a whole bunch of computerized
loops in 'Vivid Words', but on 'Two Winters' things are down and
the vocals make this is a very free singer songwriter piece. Fine
start for Currer Bells, and no doubt we'll hear more from them.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.halftheory.com/claudia
WOLFSKULL - BIBI BIBI BIBI (CDR by Insult
Recordings)
PET COFFINS/SLOW LISTENER (CDR by Insult Recordings)
CONES - DIE ZACKEN (3"CDR by Insult Recordings)
DEAD WOOD - BACKLED REALITY (3"CDR by Insult Recordings)
Four new releases on Greece's Insult Recordings. There is not
always information available. The first band is Wolfskull from
New Zealand. This is band with line up of Iso 12 on synth and
vocals, CJA on guitar and vocals, Zarakov on drums, and Mandroid
on bass and harpiscord. Although the cover doesn't tell us (anything),
this is a live recording. They improvise in a rather noise based
manner, with heavy guitars, pounding drums, heavy bass, all set
to the button 'free play', but I must say that I wasn't too pleased
by these thirty minutes. It's quite long, moves on end without
an end in sight, but didn't grab me at all. I'm sure that live
it had much more power, as a CDR it doesn't.
Also the names Pet Coffins and Slow Listener. Pet Coffins as a
band name sounds pretty noise based, but it isn't. Their 'The
Stars Are Gigantic' is a nice, heavy, psychedelic piece of swirling
electronics and heavily treated drums, which have a great trance
like to it. Very nice. Actually Slow Listener is more noise based
than Pet Coffins. They have a track of distorted lo-fi drones
that operate in a minimal, ongoing, everlasting sustain mood,
but its too thin to be truly captivating.
The two releases on a smaller size are by people we heard before.
First there is Cones, the duo of Marcel Turkowsky and Ulf Schutte,
whose 'Ice Field Elephants' was reviewed in Vital Weekly 600.
'Die Zacken' is a live performance, where Turkowsky played 'personal
memory tapes played in prepared walkmen' and Ulf Schutte has a
'pulsating feedbacksystem', feeding both sounds through a couple
of pieces of electronics, mainly delay. Their piece is a very
consistent piece of ongoing lo-fi sounds and electronics, which
work on both a noise and minimal music level. It's loaded with
sound, every hole is filled and there is always something happening,
yet maintaining to stay on similar grounds.
Dead Wood is the active force of Adam Baker, also the man behind
Dirty Demos. Back in the shack of a rural farm he recorded 'Bucked
Reality' using electric guitar, ebow, violin, sine waves. field
recordings and digital processing. In the five resulting pieces
he does a pretty nice job. Whereas his last release, reviewed
last week, suffered a bit from similarity among the pieces, he
creates here something that can easily meet say Machinefabriek.
Low humming drones, guitars played with bows and electronics picking
up and transforming the music, like being captured in a closed
but expanding system. Certainly one of the best works I heard
by Dead Wood and a sudden big leap forward. (FdW)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/insultrecordings
TÔ - U.N.A. (3"CDR by Cook An
Egg)
Thomas Tilly, also known as Tô, has had a couple of releases
before, mainly self-released CDRs and this one is on Cook An Egg
(finding label names gets more and more difficult) and contains
'sounds and found objects manipulations recorded during four night
in a beach of Re Island (France) in August 2005'. 'U.N.A.' stands
for 'Unconscious Nocturnal Activity'. Tilly does here what seems
to be his trade: processing these nocturnal activities at the
beach, the rumbling of sand, objects, the cascade of water, into
two pieces of microsound made with field recordings, with a slightly
bigger emphasis on the object part in the second piece. Very much
like French fellow country-man Toy Bizarre, Tô rumbles away
in a concentrated vein and as such has not much news on offer
but he does a pretty decent job throughout. One of those cases
were one thinks 'not great, not bad' and 'was that all?' (FdW)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/cookanegg
TERJE PAULSEN - SEPTOBER (CDR by Q-tone)
TERJE PAULSEN - DAGBUE (MP3 by Homophoni)
The name Terje Paulsen is a new one for me, and he hails from
Norway. He plays a '4string bass, 3string guitar, parts of an
accordion, bowed floor lamp and other found objects'. Somehow
I thought this was a very 'Norwegian' music, which is funny as
there are two countries where musicians have strong similarities.
That is New Zealand and Norway - and also the musicians from one
country could sound like from the other country - confusing, right?
Paulsen's music is based on improvisation and recorded with an
'in your face' attitude. Upfront and present that is, a bit lo-fi,
but not muffled or hidden away. His tracks tend to be a bit long
I think, which is indeed part of the game musicians like this
play, but it's a fact that it's a bit long. Take 'Oh No Vember'
(from 'Septober') which is a great piece when cut in half. He
can put up some great atmospheric, all acoustic drones of an intense
nature. The difference between these two releases is that 'Septober'
has various tracks, displaying the various instruments he plays
- usually one or two per track, and 'Dagbue' is a thirty-eigth
minute ambient piece of shuffling sounds in the warehouse. Here
the length works actually because it's very consistent sound piece
on an ambient level - with sounds pushed away in favor of the
overall picture of sound. Interesting material, and no doubt somebody
of whom we'll hear more in the future. (FdW)
Address: http://www.q-tone.com
Address: http://www.homophoni.com
ELAPSE-0 (MP3 by Records On Ribs)
Two of the four songs on this free MP3 will be released as a 7"
by YUL Records later this year - which sound a bit like wrong
marketing techniques. Elapse-O are a duo of David J. Roe and Toby
Nevitt, who play drum machines, guitar, bass and vocals. Four
slabs of heavy drum machines, a bit like the recent Fuck Buttons
release, totally fucked up and distorted. Hammering away with
lots of reverb (too bad), and distorted guitars and howling vocals.
Quite noisy in the modern sense of the word, which I believe is
the latest craze for some. To this old man it sounded like something
that could have been made when I was young and would have liked
it better back then. Ok, its still not bad, but I assume this
one of those bands that is better off on stage at a smokey club
(if they exist still), but not gets the same power across at home.
If only I was a DJ, I could try it on a big sound system. (FdW)
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