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VITAL WEEKLY
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number 640
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week 34
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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
THE BOATS - FAULTY TONED RADIO (CD by Flau)
*
JUXTA PHONA & OFFTHESKY - !ESCAPE KIT! (CD by Somnia) *
ZILVERHILL - +EOTVOS+ (CD by Adept Sound) *
CHRISTOPHER MCFALL - THE CITY OF ALMOST (CD by Sourdine) *
PAUL DEVENS - EXWORK (CD by Moab Records)
THE DEATH & BEAUTY FOUNDATION (CD by Somnimage) *
ROBERT HAIGH - WRITTEN ON WATER (CD by Crouton Music) *
OMIT - INTERCEPTOR (2CD by The Helen Scarsdale Agency) *
MICHEAL SANTOS - THE HAPPY ERROR (CD by Baskaru) *
RADIO ACTION III (CD by Free103point9)
GULTSKRA ARTIKLET/LANTERNS - BEREZKA/MONKEY LAMENT (LP by Other
Electricities)
AEMAE & ARASTOO - OSTRAKON (LP by Isounderscore)
FUCK DRESS - SUBRUBAN NIETZSCHE FREAK/SUNSHINE CORPORATION (7"
by Nr One Records)
BLARKE BAYER/GRIEF NO ABSOLUTION - SILHOUETTES 4 (CDR by Hellosquare
Recordings)
OGUNPRUOR (CDR, private)
XV PAROWEK - MEMORABLE BAD MOODS (CDR, private) *
MACHINEFABRIEK - VLOED (CDR by Sentient Recognition Archive)
A SHADOW - THE TWISTED LOGIC OF A SOUND MIND (CDR by Road Records)
BUDHADITYA CHATTOPADHYAY - LANDSCAPE IN METAMORPHOSES (CDR by
Gruenrekorder) *
HORACIO POLLARD - GAS GIANT (CDR by Twilight Luggage) *
KAUDERS - DE SADE MESSE (CDR by Chmafu Nocords)
LEPENIK - GRETE VOR DEM HAUS (CDR by Chmafu Nocords) *
CRYSTAL PLUMAGE - THREE MOTHERS (3"CDR by Razzle Dazzle)
MIGUEL A. GARCIA - SUBSUELOS (MP3/Flac by Transradition) *
FORMICATION - GHOSTS (OMNIA EXEUNT IN MYSTERIUM) (MP3 by Dark
Winter)
THE BOATS - FAULTY TONED RADIO (CD by Flau)
Behind The Boats are Andrew Hargreaves (also known as Beppu) and
Craig Tattersall (The Remote Viewer), who had albums on Moteer
before. I think I may have heard some Remote Viewer before, but
surely don't remember it very well, and surely, again, I don't
think I heard The Boats before properly. Somehow it sounds Japanese,
like releases on Spekk or Noble. The rhythm is ticked away pleasantly,
organ sounds are digitally processed and humming along, the bass
is present and in sync. Modern living room dance music. Small
melodies arise and go away. It sounds strangely acoustic and digital.
All is fair and pleasant, but I couldn't help noticing that the
strong similarity between the various pieces, which made the whole
CD sound a bit too similar. One keep waiting for that really odd
track which stands out, that is really different, but, spoiler
here, it doesn't happen. Then it seems that eleven tracks, which
are kind of interchangeable is a bit too much, even when this
has a modest LP length. Half of it would have made perfect sense
too. (FdW)
Address: http://www.flau.jp
JUXTA PHONA & OFFTHESKY - !ESCAPE KIT!
(CD by Somnia)
Jason Corder, the man behind Offthesky (or Off The Sky as we called),
has released various albums on 12K/term, Autoplate/Thinner, Databloem/Dataobscura,
Atmoworks and such like, but as far as I find it, I only reviewed
two of his releases on Databloem. Here he teams up with Juxta
Phona, of whom the label mentions no information and I don't think
I saw this name before. I have no idea if Juxta Phona moves Corder
around into a more rhythmic world but this is ambient with the
big a, but also with the big r of rhythm. The label makes a reference
to The Orb's 'Pomme Fritz', which is nice, since hardly anyone
liked that album because so many people thought this was too experimental.
'!Escape Kit!' has these experimental touches too, but I found
them to be lesser than on the aforementioned Orb album (which
I actually liked back then), but the elements are clearly there.
These touches, phrases if you want, are embedded in a set of laidback
dubby and jazzy rhythms, which are indeed quite 'escapist'. In
a world of war this music is indeed an escape kit, in which you
can nicely drift away. Relaxing, feet tapping music, head nod,
good wine music, rather than classics that will fill your (alternative
dance floor). There is a long tenth track, which is not mentioned
on the cover, which is nice enough, but falls a bit outside the
album. This 'secret track' thing seems a bit outdated - when it's
nice, just put it on the cover, I'd say. IDM, a bit of jazz and
lots of atmospherics. Nothing new under these suns, but its all
easy listening and that's nice as well. (FdW)
Address: http://www.somniasound.com
ZILVERHILL - +EOTVOS+ (CD by Adept Sound)
Although posting private letters that arrive along with promo
copies is not, and will not be, a habit, I found a personal note
on the press blurb for Zilverhill's '+Eotvos+': hello Frans, seems
a long time since IBF - remember them (circa 1985)'. Well, yes
and no. I do remember IBF, or Ideas Beyond Filth, but how did
they sound like? I honestly don't remember. Too much music has
passed under the bridge. More importantly, and more appropriate
perhaps, what's the relation with Zilverhill, which 'represents
a collaboration between Schuster and Present Day Buna', which
leaves me with even more questions, such as 'who are they'? There
is more to ponder about in the blurb: 'incorporating elemental
contrasting themes of inertia and movement, the shifting sound
presented here encompass a many-layered evocation of somewhere
else, a third period, the 11th hour, the day's end...'. Gettit?
Not me, but if I look on my screen the time is 23:04, the day's
end. I am not yet too tired to listen to Zilverhill and think
about the music, IBF, Zilverhill and the day's end. I honestly
don't remember what IBF sounded like - but I think I said that
already - but it might be something like Zilverhill? Their music
seems like being put into a time machine and thrown back twenty
years and listen to a crystal clear version of music that was
once released on audio cassettes. Loops of mechanical rhythm,
field recordings (although that word wasn't a common place back
then) of electronic processed water sounds, more electronics,
more sound effects. Maybe I am thinking of Contrastate's first
two albums? I am old, this music is old, the day is old. One of
the pros of getting old is that one can easily, more easily that
is, dwell in nostalgia, to be free of the pressure of being young,
new and hip and reminiscence about something old and think: well
that surely sounds like something of those days and actually it's
quite nice. '+Eotvos+' is such a work. Perhaps not something I
would play too often, since I would rather play say those two
first Contrastate LPs, simply for the fact that I 'know' these,
but due time '+Eotvos+' may be also one of them. In 2028, God
permits, I'll be getting a letter: 'remember Zilverhill?. (FdW)
Address: http://www.adeptsound.net
CHRISTOPHER MCFALL - THE CITY OF ALMOST
(CD by Sourdine)
Field recording specialist and musician Christopher Mcfall is
a fast riser in this world. And quite rightly so. The title of
his latest CD, on Asher's Sourdine label, refers to the once prosperous
area of Kansas City, where Mcfall has his studio and which is
now a lesser neighborhood. I have no idea what it looks like,
but if anything this music shows its that its an area in decay.
Mcfall uses field recordings from around the corner as it were
and covers them with more dust, peels of the skin of those recordings
and waits for them to erode some more. The plug ins used to achieve
this are extensive - although perhaps they are just lots and lots
of equalization used on the various sounds. Its hard to tell what
the origins of these sounds are: metal on metal perhaps, wood
objects, plastic found on the streets. I really couldn't say.
But as I was listening to this for another time, I thought its
also something that is hardly interesting to know. Would it make
any difference if we would know what these sound sources are.
Would we appreciate the music any more if we and thus would be
any less if we didn't know? Hardly I think. This is one of those
cases where you can sit back and simply relax, let it roll out
in front of you. Mcfall owes certainly to people like Francisco
Lopez or Roel Meelkop, but he offers different things as well.
The extensive use of plug in/EQ-ing the sound for instance, or
the occasional use of rhythm in some of these pieces and a somewhat
more free approach to his compositions. It doesn't make this something
really really new, but Mcfall proofs that he can easily meet the
best in his field, with his very own approach to the use of field
recordings. Do whatever you do best and develop from there, seems
to be his motto. Don't leap into over production is my advise,
and things will be good. (FdW)
Address: http://www.sourdine.net
PAUL DEVENS - EXWORK (CD by Moab Records)
In the lovely surroundings of the very southern part of The Netherlands
lives and works Paul Devens. By day a teacher at the art academy
and by night creating his own music and installations. I am not
sure if he would agree with me here, but I believe music is his
main interest and installations are a vehicle to play around with
sound in a different manner. Some of his previous releases dealt
with the relationship between music and his art pieces, but this
new deals with just sound. He uses a variety of sound sources:
sampled strings, plates attached to small electric motors, field
recordings, circuit bent children's toys and modular- and granular
synthesis. All of these are used to create a composition, or rather
eleven compositions and Devens looks at their qualities and what
they can do for the composition. I once saw a concert by Devens
which was quite noise based, so I expected a lot here. Luckily
- not being the big lover of noise anymore - only to a small extent
there is noise to be found on this CD. 'Rootbeer' is one such
piece, but Devens knows to play around with the noise and make
it more musical. It is followed by 'Watercycle', which is the
total opposite of 'Rootbeer', and quite low humming and what seems
to be sine wave that sound like waterdrops. None of the tracks
are really long and Devens explores per track a few sounds, works
around them to create a very interesting composition, which isn't
a long stretch, nor an endless repetition of moves but short and
to the point. A highly varied bunch of pieces that make a strong
coherent whole and includes one film - just because it needs to
be shown that Devens is a multi-media artist, but it's a nice
one indeed. (FdW)
Address: http://www.pauldevens.com
THE DEATH & BEAUTY FOUNDATION (CD by
Somnimage)
The name Val Denham is one I saw years and years ago in relation
with Throbbing Gristle and Industrial Records, but I never knew
what he did exactly. Now I know he (or rather she, as she had
a gender change operation) is a painter and also plays music.
Back in the 80s Val Denham started the Death & Beauty Foundation,
first with Micheal Wells of later Greater Than One fame and in
1982 he recorded work with Andrew Mckenzie, of Hafler Trio fame,
which now is finally released. The very opening sequence sounds
like something I heard before; perhaps it was one of the Touch
compilation cassettes from that period. This release sounds like
nothing The Hafler Trio ever did - not in the old days not in
the recent years. The only thing that may vaguely refer to the
old Hafler Trio is the fact that this is all build into one long
collage. The main instrument at work here is the voice, I assume
Denham's. He sings, speaks, hums and is best described, I guess,
as sound poetry, with a melodic touch. To this all sorts of instruments
are added, like guitars, the good old casio VL-tone 1 and several
tape editing techniques (speeding up of sound, slowing down).
The music is played rather naively and free, very much in the
spirit of the time I guess. Somewhere on Denham's website I saw
a reference to The Residents, and well, yes, that is perhaps a
nice thing to compare it with. For me it is a bit too much dealing
with voice and text and that's something I don't like necessarily
too much. Its however an interesting work, but perhaps more from
a historical perspective. One to grow on the listener. (FdW)
Address: http://www.somnimage.com/
ROBERT HAIGH - WRITTEN ON WATER (CD by Crouton
Music)
Sometimes its hard to believe that musicians can change radically.
When people 'in the know' found out that Thomas Koner was part
of Porter Ricks, they were speechless. Could that really be? Some
people wondered for years whatever happened to Robert Haigh, who
released piano based music as Sema and under his own name in the
80s, but who seemed to have disappeared in the 90s. That is unless
you knew he called himself Rob Haigh and that he was creating
drum & bass as the Omni Trio. But Robert Haigh completed the
full circle and is back at the piano - and more. The piano here
is mostly an electrical one, along with sounds from synthesizers.
Haigh plays repetitive music, along the lines of very old Steve
Reich or Harold Budd. The synthesizers used are those digital
ones - not software, but those with preset sounds, which sound,
here too, pretty cheesy. 'Choir' is what the preset is called
on the opening piece, which adds an overall texture to the music
which is almost new age like. Something similar returns in the
seventh track (I admit I have a problem reading the handwritten
track titles) and even when it all may sound minimal, those pieces
are too cheesy for me. That is a pity since the piano itself sounds
throughout sounds very nice. Take 'Orbits' (I think) and it has
a great piano sound, some strange humming but also, if only very
occasionally these digital sounds. For me it all a bit too normal,
like said before, a bit too new age related this one. Not bad,
this mood music, but too regular. (FdW)
Address: http://www.croutonmusic.com
OMIT - INTERCEPTOR (2CD by The Helen Scarsdale
Agency)
Clinton Williams is never a man of just a few words. He doesn't
release that much (anymore?) under his banner Omit, but when he
does it's usually a 3CD or a 2CD set, and 'Interceptor' is not
different. For this release Williams did something other than
his usual musical routine. Two suitcases where filled with drum
machines, effects, analog synths and a portable studio and in
stead of looking for job, which he was supposed to he create this
music. The line up of instruments may seem like something he has
used before, but in the musical world of Omit, the somewhat cruder
forms of ambient play the big role, as everything is smeared together
with sound effects and synthesizers, whereas the drum machine
may just trigger the synths. On 'Interceptor' things have changed
a bit, as Williams cuts away the avalanche of sounds that he uses
to keep things flowing and instead focusses on the rhythm, which
feeds into the synthesizer and then comes up in smaller sine wave,
saw tooth or modulation sweeps. However is my description may
lead to the idea that Omit now plays crude forms of dance music,
than you are also wrong. It's partly rhythmic, even when its still
used to trigger the synthesizers, but it stripped down, bare naked.
Helen Scarsdale herself compares it with Mika Vainio, Klaus Schulze
and Chris Carter's area with Throbbing Gristle, and I fail to
see Schulze here, but the other two make indeed perfect sense.
Bleak post industrial landscapes of machines getting rusty and
we are tapping in to hear their falling apart. On the surface
it seems that disc one is more 'ambient' and disc two has more
drum machines, but maybe things are blurry. Because if one thing
is a bit too much here, its the fact that its a double CD. For
the reviewer no easy task, but I have the impression that the
best of both worlds could have easily fitted on one CD. So it's
all fine here, except it's a heavy lunch box. (FdW)
Address: http://www.helenscarsdale.com
MICHEAL SANTOS - THE HAPPY ERROR (CD by
Baskaru)
Sometimes one doesn't understand things, not at all, really. No
matter how hard I tried liking 'The Happy Error' by Michael Santos,
I just didn't. All the cliche sounds from the world of ambient
glitch are packed neatly together, like he bought a CD 'ambient
glitch maker version 1.0' and followed a course in creating this
kind of music. No doubt all of you who tried their hands at created
music, me included, used these sounds before (the vocoder plug
in!) and played around with those, and perhaps even released some
of it, but Santos doesn't hide the very fact that he is merely
copying sounds, compositional models and structures to create
some fourth, no fifth rate version of what say Stephan Mathieu
did almost a decade ago. In itself this music is not bad at all,
and actually nicely produced, and all that, but it sounds all
so tired and worn out. Sorry, I really tried. (FdW)
Address: http://www.baskaru.com
RADIO ACTION III (CD by Free103point9)
On this compilation two parameters are set: each must last five
minutes and each piece has to deal with radio. How this works
out, is shown on these twelve pieces, which sound like a varied
bunch.
From processing radio sounds by Radio_rudio and
Ben Owen its a big leap towards the sampled rhythms of Joshua
Fried and Todd Merell. That is nice, but it also makes life pretty
difficult when it comes to reviewing this release. Its pretty
decent stuff, but none of it really stands out from the rest,
so that all the variations within five minutes and radio sounds
drop by in one form or another. Perhaps I just don't like reviewing
compilations? I think I told you so. Included are also Damian
Catera, Neuro Transmitter, Anna Friz, Scanner, The Dust Dive &
latitude/Longitude and more. (FdW)
Address: http://www.free103point9.org
GULTSKRA ARTIKLET/LANTERNS - BEREZKA/MONKEY
LAMENT (LP by Other Electricities)
Recently I bought two LPs by old Dutch acts, Störung and
Ensemble Pittoresque. Both were re-issues from records from the
80s, but oddly enough both LPs came with a CD version of the LP,
with no bonus tracks. Now I honestly can't think of a reason to
do that. But perhaps its a current trend, since the latest LP
by Gultskra Artikler and Lanters on Other Electricities, comes
with a 'free CD version of the album'. Hopefully somebody can
mail me the marketing logic in there (unless of course its easier
to send them out as promos). Alexey Devyanin is the man from Novosibirsk,
currently in Moscow, who is behind Gultskra Artikler. In an interesting
twist of sounds, he mixes traditional Siberian music (at least
that's what I assume it is) with the digital sound treatments
of the 21st century. It may sound cheesy, as in 'Figase', but
to be honest: I quite enjoyed it, but perhaps its because I sometimes
like very cheesy music.
Lanterns is now Andreas Jonsson and Luke Vollar, who divide guitars,
keyboards and 'various amplified acoustic sound sources'. Their
music is generated through hours and hours of endless jams which
are recorded with one microphone. That adds a certain lo-fi flavor
to the music which is quite nice. In 'Dir Tup' this results also
in a bit of folky working methods, meeting Vibracathedral Orchestra
and drones in 'Snake Ice'. Not bad, not great, but quite ok. (FdW)
Address: http://www.other-electricities.com
AEMAE & ARASTOO - OSTRAKON (LP by Isounderscore)
During the holiday period I went to a theme park and sat in one
of those trains and listened to the sound the carts were producing.
How strange to hear them on the piece 'Ostrakon' on the first
side of the split LP by Arastoo and Aemae. Arastoo is Arastroo
Darakhshan, who plays piano, does the mix, production and artwork
and Aemae is Brandon Nickell who is responsible for production,
mix and synthesis. The piano plays an all important role on the
title piece, and the train carts become feedback, but remain subtle
and there is a small bit of what seems to be synthesizer sound
boiling at the bottom of the sea. On the flip side we find 'Capo'.
Here the balance is more equal. The field recording sounds are
mixed with that of the piano, which comes in only half way through
the music, and its throughout a more spooky piece of music. I
might be wrong, but it seems to me that Arastoo is responsible
for the a-side with some sounds of Aemae and that the trick is
reversed on the b-side, which makes this a particular coherent
bundle of music. Limited to 320 copies, so act fast. (FdW)
Address: http://www.isounderscore.com
FUCK DRESS - SUBRUBAN NIETZSCHE FREAK/SUNSHINE
CORPORATION (7" by Nr One Records)
A very short un-Vital corner this week, just this 7" by Fuck
Dress, whose 'Suburban Nietzsche Freak' open catchy with "God
Is Dead, So I Listen to Radiohead" and that makes a pretty
catchy song and one I certainly enjoy. On the flip 'Sunshine Corporation',
with male and female vocals, and is more crisis post punk rock
and less catchy than the a-side. But as with all great pop singles,
it's always just the a-side that matters. (FdW)
Address: http://www.nrone.co.uk
BLARKE BAYER/GRIEF NO ABSOLUTION - SILHOUETTES
4 (CDR by Hellosquare Recordings)
This is, I believe the last issue of a series called 'Silhouttes',
split CDR eps (this one lasts almost thirty minutes) and here
we have two artists I never heard of. Blarke Bayer is one Benjamin
Andrews, who offers a fifteen minute slab of noise, cut in thick
slices. Digital noise, fed through a few distortion pedals. Its
not bad, but worn out a bit. I had this lunch before and served
better. Grief No Absolution has even less (?) information on the
cover and they (?) too dabble in noise, albeit of a more lo-fi
kind. Rumbling guitars, which sound like they are burning and
a bit New Zealand like, even with more spirit recorded. It's called
'Of Worn Paths', which sounds a bit like the thematic approach
to this kind of music. The weakest link in this series. (FdW)
Address: http://www.hellosquarerecordings.com
OGUNPRUOR (CDR, private)
The influences of Ogunpruor range from Merzbow to Alva Noto to
Alice Coltrane to Napalm Death and Matmos, and lots more and he
calls himself 'the most impure and wretched metal creations borne
out of a shamed existence, the most hated black dross doom artist
in America'. M.H. Baia uses 'drives, guitar, turntables, mics'
and plays four tracks of his surpressed noise. Guitars wail about,
in a bed or bath of reverb, which is a bit too much. Long form,
heavy types of drone rain fall down onto pitch black earth. Totally
and utterly drone doom here. Hardly metal I'd say, but what the
hell do I know about metal? Nothing probably. The four pieces
weren't bad at all, even varied but it sort of 'up in the air'
a bit. Why just four, twenty-five minutes when he has the potential
to do more? And why not seek a proper label, even a CDR label
would perhaps gain more interest? (FdW)
Address: <innacitymisfit@hotmail.com
XV PAROWEK - MEMORABLE BAD MOODS (CDR, private)
Bartek Kalinka is the man behind XV Parowek, from Poland and he
has been responsible for a string of CDR releases in the last
few years. Starting with a rather noise based version of musique
concrete, his work grew to be more subtle, along the lines of
early Brume. So I must admit I am a bit disappointed by 'Memorable
Bad Moods'. The fourteen pieces here are made with acoustic guitar,
casio, korg, trumpet, sampled drums and dishes, cow bell, PC speaker
and vents, birds, radio, water closet, bells, disco, percussive
objects and truck as sound sources. Rather than making intelligent
sound collages like before with all of these instruments, it seems
that he is now 'improvising' his sounds on these sources and that
he uses a few per track/song but all in a rather dull way. There
is no immediate tension, nor a feeling to relax with this, but
he simply blows his tune on a trumpet when the radio is on, and
some sampled percussion. No effort or attempt has been made to
create a real composition with the various recordings he has collected
over the years. Perhaps I'm missing a point here, but it seems
like a set back and not a new interesting course to follow. (FdW)
Address: http://www.xvp.pl
MACHINEFABRIEK - VLOED (CDR by Sentient
Recognition Archive)
Two days ago someone told me that he had almost all recordings
by Machinefabriek but he was afraid that Machinefabriek would
be overproductive and would flood the market. Today I receive
'Vloed' ('flood' in Dutch) by Machinefabriek. Coincidence at work
I guess, since the Dutch word as used by Machinefabriek stands
for the flood of water. It has three live recordings from concerts
in Amsterdam (not a city where Machinefabriek hails from actually),
from 2006, 2007 and 2008 (actually recorded July 6th!). The 2006
piece was already released as a 3"CDR, although I am not
sure which one. All three pieces show that by now typical Machinefabriek
live sound: bricks are made from a few sounds, usually guitar,
which are sampled, played back and to that more guitar sounds
are stapled, until a finely woven mass of sound arises and things
are let to an ultimate crescendo, in the 2008 version, even a
nasty piece of feedback. Trademark Machinefabriek stuff around,
with the sound that so many people seem to love. The ambient guitar
sounds, the solo Mogwai, the ambient Arvo Part of the guitar and
the Oren Ambarchi of the low lands. But I must agree with my friend
of two days ago: there is a lot of Machinefabriek out there, and
one could wonder if this particular release would add much to
what is already out there. It was nice when he was building up
his career, but at this point the release of live recordings may
no longer be necessary, unless they really add something to his
catalogue. I'm afraid that 'Vloed' doesn't do that, but it will
keep the die hard fans happy I guess in the pursuit of a weekly
dose of Machinemuziek. (FdW)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/sentientrecognitionarchive
A SHADOW - THE TWISTED LOGIC OF A SOUND
MIND (CDR by Road Records)
Hand painted CDRs. Whenever are people gonna stop doing that?
Please? I didn't get the 'hand made case' that comes with this,
but an extra CDR with texts that are also on paper along with
this and some images. A Shadow is the name chosen by Keith Murphy,
a 24-year old musician from Dublin, who uses electric guitar,
piano, glockenspiel, xylophone, vibraphone, mandolin, hulusi and
kaen - 'among other instruments', which are processed on the computer
to create music that is a cross-over between the classic ambient
sound and microsound processing, but without becoming very glitch
minded. Murphy recalls his influences with the likes of Sigur
Ros, Gas, Fennesz and Tim Hecker, all of which are indeed somewhere
to be traced in these five tracks. Melodic digital ambient, with
some guitars leaping out every now and then. Throughout these
five tracks sound pretty decent, nothing spectacular hot soaking
new under the sun, but Murphy plays it with great style and neat
production. That is fine too. (FdW)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/ashadowmusic
BUDHADITYA CHATTOPADHYAY - LANDSCAPE IN
METAMORPHOSES (CDR by Gruenrekorder)
Its never easy to judge field recordings, but things might be
more difficult if the place that is subject is unknown to the
reviewer. Such is the case with a place called Tumbai, 'a landscape
in change; from a greener pasture transforming into one of the
busiest industrial belts of Bengal-Bihar border in India', so
says Budhaditya Chattopadhyay on the cover of his piece 'Landscape
In Metamorphoses'. Had we not known this, could we have told after
hearing this? Always a though question, since simply we know now
and yes, we can tell now. It starts with what we could agrarian
surround sounds, with animal sounds, people talking but over the
course of the piece some mechanical, motor like sounds come in.
That may be the 'industrial belts' at work, but could be the engine
of a motorboat. Its never easy, is it? I must say however that
I quite enjoyed this release, simply for the story like way of
putting the piece together and the excellent quality of the recordings,
simply pass the political implications that this release also
has. Excellent stuff. (FdW)
Address: http://www.gruenrekorder.de
HORACIO POLLARD - GAS GIANT (CDR by Twilight
Luggage)
Although he now lives in London Horacio Pollard is born in Ibiza
and is a member, in London, of Cau_Cational Betreet. 'Gas Giant'
is his second release from Twilight Luggage, but nowhere it says
on the cover what Pollard actually does, sound wise. There is
no mentioning of instruments, so we must guess. At my best I can
offer the idea that Pollard uses electronics which is used to
treat either a guitar and/or some wind instrument. Perhaps it's
just not so interesting to know? The music is actually quite good.
A bit noise based, a bit lo-fi in its recording approach, but
things never go out of hand or control and even when things seem
rather improvised here, Pollard strikes me as a man who knows
what he is doing. His pieces are coherent, to the point and varied;
even when I'm clueless as to what kind of instruments he has used
for this. A nice if somewhat strange and curious release. For
those who love their noise to be improvised and those whose improvisations
should be louder. (FdW)
Address: http://www.twilightluggage.com
KAUDERS - DE SADE MESSE (CDR by Chmafu Nocords)
LEPENIK - GRETE VOR DEM HAUS (CDR by Chmafu Nocords)
The oddly named label Chmafu Nocords label didn't read the guidelines
for submitting no more than three releases, not older than six
months, so the four releases that date from 2006-2007 were returned.
This policy is to protect ourselves from being flooded with old
releases and keep at the hearth of what is now, and not what was.
The man who calls himself Kauders, is I think the man behind the
label and he was asked to create a piece 'on his relationship
with Marquis de Sade's work'. Kauders uses voices, guitars, sound
effects, some rhythm machine and creates music that is best described
as slow and improvised. Sadly the recording quality isn't the
best around, which doesn't hide the fact that the music isn't
the best either. Its hard to see the relation with De Sade, but
maybe it's somewhere in the lyrics. If only we could understand
those! Maybe the art-brut/outsider style is the intention here,
but it doesn't work very well.
To be honest I more preferred hearing Lepenik's 'Grete Vor Dem
Haus'. Robert Lepenik surprised and confused us before, with his
'Music With Words - Rhythms For Dancing' CD on Genesungswerk (see
Vital Weekly 486) and who is part from Laleloo, of whom we reviewed
'Loop Pool' in Vital Weekly 634 (and which was released by Chmafu
Nocords, so they knew Vital Weekly, I would assume). On his solo
CD he played in all sorts of styles, but on this new CDR release
he restricts himself to playing the piano as this is a single,
twenty-seven minute piece of soft and slow piano playing with
lots of space in between and it seems that the spaces between
the slow moving chords get bigger and bigger. These spaces are
not 'blank' or 'empty', but filled with a very nice, and also
very soft sine waves like sounds, which seem to gliding up and
down the scale. A very peaceful piece of music, at whatever volume.
I'd say put this up until you just about to hear the sine waves
and put this on repeat - that worked best for me, for a few hours.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.nocords.net
CRYSTAL PLUMAGE - THREE MOTHERS (3"CDR
by Razzle Dazzle)
A note with this release says 'more informations on http://www.razzle-d.com,
which in return moves you to discogs. Not much info. I think Crystal
Plumage is a band with members Sean Fergus Barrett on guitars,
objects, cassettes, Benjamin Laurent Aman on electronics, amplified
objects, percussion and analog oscillators. Their pieces was recorded
in Berlin and mixed by Micheal Northam, which perhaps seeks a
new career as producer? Don't let the fact that Northam lead you,
it has nothing to do with his own music. Crystal Plumage play
music that is best described as 'new zealandish': lo-fi drone
like, with minimalist guitars wailing about and percussive strokes
here and there and, pushed to the back, sounds of an unknown nature.
As per usual the recording quality is not top, but there is a
good spirit in this recording. While not the most original sound
in the world, the three parts that make up 'Three Mothers' is
quite a nice work. Perhaps better enjoyed when heard live, but
a fine disc anyway. (FdW)
Address: http://www.razzle-d.com
MIGUEL A. GARCIA - SUBSUELOS (MP3/Flac by
Transradition)
If I am not mistaken this is the first (perhaps one of the first)
releases by Miguel A. Garcia under his own name. A logical step
to be taken here as his music vastly progresses. His previous
work, as Xedh, started out trying out various styles, such as
noise, rhythm and Garcia learned that the thing that suited him
best was the microsound, and since moving into that his music
makes a curve going up. Much like Christopher Mcfall, reviewed
elsewhere, Garcia takes field recordings and heavily treats them
on his computer. And very much like Mcfall we hardly have a clue
what these field recordings sounded like, originally out there
in the field. According to the information it deals with sounds
recorded in a tunnel, in which electronic sounds were 'launched'.
Unlike Mcfall, Garcia plays the soft card. His music has very
occasionally loud bursts of noise, but throughout things are very
soft, which I think is a deliberate ploy on his side. One puts
the sound up, and then whenever it explodes, it explodes really
loud. Garcia uses the surprise/shock/collage treatment and creates
dark microscopic music. What Garcia does is not very new or something
like that, but in his own development, this is again stepping
forward and things get better all the time. 'Subsuelos' is his
best work to date. (FdW)
Address: http://www.bremsstrahlung-recordings.org/transradiation
FORMICATION - GHOSTS (OMNIA EXEUNT IN MYSTERIUM)
(MP3 by Dark Winter)
A bit of puzzle this release. It is available as a MP3, or perhaps
a few tracks, and there is some 'deluxe hardback book' and CD
in an edition of 9. It was released on August 7th and perhaps
I should wonder why the hell I am reviewing this? Is it still
available, guys? Perhaps a more important question would be this:
if you are releasing something in an edition of 9 copies only,
how much effort will you put into the music? Formication, a duo
of Kingsley Ravenscroft and Alec Bowman have had releases before,
which were received with mixed feelings and this new one is also
received with lukewarm response. The two use a variety of instruments
of an electronic nature and once a rhythm or sound is set in motion
the ball keeps rolling and effects are set in motion to keep this
ball rolling but I'm afraid the results are most of the times
a bit long and not always as engaging as they could have been
when the tracks would be under control and have been saved by
some form of editing. I'm afraid that now the tracks drag on on
end and that the industrialized beats and sounds are simply not
my cup of tea. (FdW)
Address: http://www.darkwinter.com