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VITAL WEEKLY
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number 644
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week 38
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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 LAW-RAH] COLLECTIVE - INSPIRATION (CD by Ant-Zen)
100BLUMEN - FLORAL ANNIHILATION (CD by Ant-Zen)
VON MAGNET - NI PREDATEUR NI PROIE (CD by Ant-Zen)
PANGAEA NOISE (Compilation CD by Syrphe)
TUJIKO NORIKO & LAWRENCE ENGLISH & JOHN CHANTLER - U (CD
by Room40) *
KEIJO - NEVERENDING BLUES (CD by Ikuisuus) *
DERIVES (CD compilation by Univers International)
GENERAL FUZZ - SOULFULL FILLING (CD, private) *
CONCRETE COOKIE & THE MAGGOT FARMER - MONDEGREEN (CD by Force
Of Nature Records) *
D_RRADIO - D_RRADIO REMIXED (CD by Distraction Records)
C-DRIK / ALUVIANA - MOJE CELO (CD by Syrphe)
THE KLANK OF CRNO MIGS - DISTURBING PERCEPTIONS (CD by Syrphe)
CONTAGIOUS ORGASM & C-DRIK - JOURNEYS INTO SPACE AND TIME
(CD by Syrphe)
U.S.O. PROJECT - INHARMONICITY (CD by Synesthesia Recordings)
*
DISKONO 017 (LP by Diskono)
SKOGEN - SKOGEN (CDR by Bombax Bombax)
UNFORGETTABLE H20 - FLATEFJALL (CDR by Bombax Bombax)
ANDERS DAHL - DOORBELL (CDR by Bombax Bombax) *
MATTIN & JUNKO & MICHEL HENRITZI - JE T'AIME (CDR by Absurd)
CYNAS - CASSET-O-RAMA (CDR by Absurd) *
ELECTRONIC MESSAGES (CDR by Brown Coffee Recordings)
C. HILTON - THE SMOKING MIRROR (CDR by Young Girls Records) *
MAURIZIO BIANCHI & C. HILTON - PU 94 (CDR by Simple Logic
Records)
MIKA MARTINI & OSCAR CHAVES - REVOLVER CENIZAS (MP3 by Ruidemos)
*
TZESNE & BAZTERRAK - REKALDE (MP3 by Ruidemos)
CNEO CORNELIO - ARBOL (MP3 by Ruidemos)
YUAF - VILLA OCKENBURG (MP3 by Larraskito)
MANUEL GIAO - GRANDONDA (MP3 by Larraskito)
MUBLES (CDR by Le Brutal Records) *
[THE LAW-RAH] COLLECTIVE - INSPIRATION (CD
by Ant-Zen)
100BLUMEN - FLORAL ANNIHILATION (CD by Ant-Zen)
VON MAGNET - NI PREDATEUR NI PROIE (CD by Ant-Zen)
Legendary German label Ant-Zen Recordings is ready with three
new explorations into experimental sounds. First of all known
for being pioneer label for the power noise-style, two of the
present efforts demonstrates the label's orientation into other
stylish expressions. First album comes from the Dutch project
[Law-Rah] Collective run by the two sound artists Bauke van der
Wal and Matijn Pieck. [Law-Rah] Collective was founded by Bauke
van der Wal back in 2000 and since then the project has launched
more than ten releases with focus on drone-based ambient. Having
never listened to the earlier releases I was quite stunned with
this latest album titled "Inspiration". First of all
drifting in beat-less atmospheres the music is based on deep drones
that swirl into vital darkness. The project's minimalist approach
to ambient drones creates an awesome experience of trance-induction
and sheer beauty. As the album approaches the end, the first signs
of rhythm textures appears with the piece called "A12",
where the drones of blackness are accompanied by rhythms that
slowly builds until the grand final: The lengthy track "T
luie end", a beautiful piece based on piano. Next album comes
from German project called 100Blumen headed by sound artist M.
Nickels. Present album titled "Floral annihilation"
is the follow-up to the debut-length also released on Ant-Zen.
As was the case with the debut "In floriculture there is
no law", "Floral annihilation" circulates in-between
harsh noise/power electronics and industrial in the style often
termed rhythmic noise or power noise. The debut was a brutal beast
with heavy weight on the crushing noise expressions. "Floral
annihilation" continues in the vein but the expression is
slightly less brutal and noisy in expression with a sound reminiscent
of fellow compatriots in Morgenstern and Asche. Still 100Blumen
has its own approach to the genre and thus this follow-up is a
warm welcome for anyone interested in the extreme territories
of Power Noise. Last album comes from the strange project Von
Magnet titled "Nie predateur ni proie". Von Magnet has
been active since the mid-eighties resulting in as large catalogue
of albums. That the group is more than a musical is easily heard
on the unusual style of the album, with expressions that contains
a theatrical kind of atmosphere. It is not easy pigeonholing the
style, since there is quite some stylish variation throughout
the album, ranging from ethno electronica across industrial ambient
to touches of world music, thanks to the use different acoustic
instruments counting sitars, violins etc. If you thought that
Ant-Zen was only a matter of industrial-based music, present albums
demonstrate that this is far from the truth. (NM)
Address: http://www.ant-zen.com/
PANGAEA NOISE (Compilation CD by Syrphe)
As a follow-up to last years excellent compilation "Beyond
ignorance and borders: An African middle eastern Asian noise and
electronic compilation", Belgium label Syrphe once more takes
the listener on a trip to the lesser known territories of extreme
electronic music. Where the first compilation had a stylish wider
approach to experimental electronic music, the tracks on this
one almost exclusively remains in the loud vein of expressive
noise. Still the approach to the harsh sounds is nicely varied
and adventurous here. Best moments on the album is the drone-based
ambient-noise from Slovenian Aluviana and the Latvian artist Error
with his buzzing, beautiful noise track sounding like a symphony
of bee swarms. Also the South Korean artist 10 impresses a lot
with his weird and very loud track built on noise patterns circulating
back and forth between the speakers with a quite hypnotic result
and the Iranian artist Nyctalllz that with his work based on subtle
noise, manages to create a musical piece of sheer terror and creepy
atmospheres. "Pangeae Noise" is another great international
compilation from Syrphe, demonstrating that the Noise scene of
today still flourishes into new and interesting forms. (NM)
Address: http://www.syrphe.com/
TUJIKO NORIKO & LAWRENCE ENGLISH &
JOHN CHANTLER - U (CD by Room40)
Its been a while since I last heard from Tujiko Noriko, in fact
I can't really remember, or easily find old reviews. Somehow I
think I missed out on 'Blurred In My Mirror', but 'U' is quite
a surprise. No longer Noriko is by herself, playing some keyboards
and singing, and ending her songs in long instrumentals. Here
she gets help, from label boss Lawrence English on drums, bass,
synths, keyboards and electronics and John Chantler on guitars,
bass, drums, accordion, synths and violin. In that sense this
not 'Noriko plus' but a full scale, equal trio. The songs have
grown too. No longer they last six minutes, of which half are
sung and then moving into a long instrumental outro, but the songs
are to the point dream pop like songs. The boys strum their instruments,
and Noriko's vocals are child like, sweet, complaining, angry
or whatever the lyrics (mostly in Japanese) require. The production
is great, imaginative, evocative and to the point. Not a single
instrument seems out of place in this wonderful nice combination
of pop, folk and electronics. Its hard to believe that this is
the result of playing and collaborating through (e-)mail, as the
coherency between the pieces, instruments and vocals, is great.
Excellent work, the best I ever heard from this lady and these
boys. (FdW)
Address: http://www.room40.org
KEIJO - NEVERENDING BLUES (CD by Ikuisuus)
As far I know Keijo is from Japan, but his myspace is 'private'.
And I refuse to announce myself a friend in order to retrieve
some information. His album 'Neverending Blues' was recorded in
Finland, where he played a bunch of pieces by McGhee, Guthrie
and Wilkins as well as some compositions of his own. 'Hey, finally
some nice music', says my neighbor. I tell him about a Japanese
blues guitarist playing some traditional blues tunes in Finland,
and his face is about disbelief. He listens some more, checks
some facts (yes, Japanese. yes, Finland) and concludes 'nice music
anyway'. I agree. Its nice music, but I tell him: 'its not the
sort of music I normally review, this is all a bit far fetched
from my daily digest for Vital Weekly'. He says he knew already,
but do you? (FdW)
Address: http://www.ikuisuus.net
DERIVES (CD compilation by Univers International)
If I am not mistaken, 'Derives' is the first real CD released
by Univers International and they wanted it to be something special.
I must admit I neither see nor hear that 'something special'.
Seven tracks of field recordings, of 'active listening of their
own environment' by some reknown artists, such as Francisco Lopez,
Tô, Jgrzinich & Murmer, Helena Gough and perhaps a bit
lesser known, Rui Costa, Pali Meursault and Maksimns Shentelevs.
The label before has released a small bunch of 3"CDR releases,
and this new work is the perfect introduction to those. The seven
pieces aren't just pure field recordings, but also interferences
in the field themselves. However I don't think there that many
external sound processing elements in this record. As such things
sound still pure and acoustic. Its a nice collection of tracks,
although I must admit nothing special. Good, sturdy pieces that
evoke pictures in the mind. Lopez in the jungle, Costa around
a village with farm land and sometimes things are simply too abstract
to make a clear view of what we hear. A varied record of all fine
tracks. Nothing more but certainly nothing less than that. (FdW)
Address: http://ui.universinternational.org/
GENERAL FUZZ - SOULFULL FILLING (CD, private)
No information on paper came with this CD, but I checked the website,
and found it loaded with information. What I thought was odd is
that it mentions one James Kirsch as the man behind the music,
which I didn't find on the cover. There were a whole bunch of
other names, but I believe they are guest musicians. On the over-informative
side of things we learn about software, and how these songs were
constructed. It was so much that I didn't read it all, but decided
to play the CD, listen carefully and make up my mind. Let's see.
Its all very melodic, very smooth, electro-jazz like, lots of
piano. Highly skilled musicians I think. But its all a bit too
slick for my taste. All the atmospheric smoothness just failed
to grab me and do something with me. Like a big candy, which tastes
alright at the beginning but in the end is like too much sugar
anyway. (FdW)
Address: http://generalfuzz.net
CONCRETE COOKIE & THE MAGGOT FARMER
- MONDEGREEN (CD by Force Of Nature Records)
The line 'new names arrive every week' I may have used before,
but I never heard of Concrete Cookie and The Maggot Farmer, even
when they have been around for some time. The Maggot Farmer is
sometimes also called Jism, The Dog, and has been a member of
Alien Race and Electronic Bubble Frog. Concrete Cookie is a classically
trained pianist who abandoned playing to pursue architecture).
Sometimes they operate as Mash Up, but here under their current
pseudonyms and perhaps with a different kind of music. What they
present here is best described as hermetically closed ambient
industrial music. Highly processed kling-klang of sonic debris
which was first burned, the ashes buried and then exhumed and
glued back together. Field recordings you say? Perhaps. Metallic
rumble? Sure, why not. Electronic processing? No doubt. Rather
than playing the right composition, they prefer to play the right
mood. If tracks are long and somewhat out of control, its alright.
If it fits the mood, then its good. Textured music at its very
best. Nothing new under this dark cloud, but surely that too was
never intention of this duo, I'm sure. They are alone on the planet
yet share the bleak vision with the rest. (FdW)
Address: http://www.forceofnature.net
D_RRADIO - D_RRADIO REMIXED (CD by Distraction
Records)
Following their three excellent 7"s on Distraction Records,
their album kinda was a disappointment - too much of the same
I thought (see Vital Weekly 612). Looking at the various press
comments that come on the blurb with the remix record, I am sure
I am the only one. It makes me wonder what I should think of a
remix album then? Were the songs 'bad' enough that needed a remix
treatment? Perhaps not. This is the world of boys in bedrooms
with computers using all sorts of software to re-create, re-mix,
alter and re-shape the originals, which they thought were good
anyway, but why not spice them up some more. And rightly so. It
perhaps may attract some new friends to the album they all remix
now. I recognize and name-check a few, like Manual, Piano Magic
and Cathode, and see, again (!) many new names, like Populous,
Depth Affect, The Matinee Orchestra, Ylid, Juxta Phona, Matthew
Rozeik and Port Royal doing whatever they probably do best. Home
grown dance music that most likely never makes it to a real dance
floor, but that will make your feet tap along. Head nod armchair
techno. Many seem to be using guitars (a six string plug in it
seems) to spice up the original, and throughout I thought this
was quite a fine journey. I should dig out the previous D_Rradio
album and see what I think of it now, I am inclined to think.
This surely is a most pleasant album, with all the minor differences
carved out in the world of techno. Sometimes naive child like,
minimalist, dubby, and joyous. Each dance musician in his own
corner, making small ripples in the pond. (FdW)
Address: http://www.distractionrecords.com
C-DRIK / ALUVIANA - MOJE CELO (CD by Syrphe)
THE KLANK OF CRNO MIGS - DISTURBING PERCEPTIONS (CD by Syrphe)
CONTAGIOUS ORGASM & C-DRIK - JOURNEYS INTO SPACE AND TIME
(CD by Syrphe)
That Belgium-based composer C-Drik Fermont is an extremely active
sound artist can easily by exemplified by the massive number of
aliases throughout the years. Since his beginning back in 1989,
the Zaire born artist has released a large number of albums under
projects such as Axiome, Ammo, Dead Hollywood Stars and Crno Klank
just to mention a few of his aliases. That he is also an active
collaborator comes clear with the release of the three present
albums, all released via Cdrik Fermont's own label Syrphe. First
album titled "Moje cello" is the collaboration with
Slovanian artist Aluviana, known for his mixture of ambient and
noise-related music. The album is a nocturnal beast that takes
its starting point in dark ambient. Divided into eight sections
the expression during the 60 minutes runtime nicely combines electroacoustic
sounds, noisy elements and dronescapes. There is a great atmosphere
throughout the album with the casual assistance of distant voices
and concrete singing on a few tracks. The title track has a nice
creepy feel with some old-school type of electronic patterns reminding
me of Orville Stoeber's scary soundtrack to the horror film "Let's
scare Jessica to death" (1971). Next album has been developed
in collaboration with the interesting Israel composer Seventeen
Migs Of Spring under the project name "The Klank Of Crno
Migs". Compared to the aforementioned album present album
titled "Disturbing perceptions" is a more subtle and
introvert album that concentrates on ambient of an even darker
kind. This joint venture also put much weight on drone-based expressions
and again the result is an album crying for some deep listening.
Last album is a joint venture between C-Drik and Japanese Noise-legend
Contagious Orgasm. Compared to the first two releases reviewed
here, this album titled "Journeys into space and time"
contains some more extrovert energy with rhythmic interventions
throughout the playtime. Elements such as samples of classical
acoustic instruments appear hand in hand with pure elements of
harsh noise as on the ending track titled "Disconnected":
A quite scary work of expressive noise and creepy ambient drones
with an Industrial edge reminiscent of early Godflesh. In the
middle section of the album, there is a technoid track titled
"A darkness digivice" that includes up-tempo rhythm-textures
and plenty of noisy background to give associations back to the
early krautrock days of Can. Three quite different journeys into
the spheres of ambient each adding a pleasant angle to the genre.
(NM)
Address: http://www.syrphe.com/
U.S.O. PROJECT - INHARMONICITY (CD by Synesthesia
Recordings).
The Italian label Synesthesia Recordings is 'to be intended as
a repository of live improvised electroacoustic works. The main
goal is to retrieve the late Renaissance praxis of 'Ricercare'
intended as exploration of a technical device playing it, subverting
it in different ways'. Translated to the world of audio, this
is done by the U.S.O Project, a duo of Matteo Milani (from Milan
actually) and Frederico Placidi, both of whom I never heard. Both
have a background with digital sound synthesis and acoustic sound
treatments. U.S.O. stands for Unidentified Sound Object and very
much like flying objects, their music moves about, seemingly off
course. Whatever they do, it mainly sounds electronically. There
is hardly an acoustic device in sight with these boys, or perhaps
there were, but then there are well hidden in the electronic mass
of sound that is cooked up here. In 'Invisible Worlds' the radio
waves make up the sound sources. The long '...
From The Past... Out of The Future...' is forty
minutes long and the most 'silent' piece here. I think this piece
sums up what this project stands for: long meandering sounds,
which come from nowhere and which don't seem to go anywhere. Just
a stream of silent sounds. Like with Concrete Cookie & The
Maggot Farmer release reviewed elsewhere, this is not about carefully
composing music, but playing moods and textures, albeit of a somewhat
lighter side of the moon. A refined late night listening session.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.synesthesiarecordings.com
DISKONO 017 (LP by Diskono)
Things have been quiet on the release front of Diskono, but here
they are back and headache it is, again. Not the music, but the
concept. I'll try. On side A there is Scott Haggart's original
1:17 second composition - well, or so it seems. Maybe they are
lock grooves? Maybe there is something wrong with my turntable?
Apparently 'years to make', this one. On the b-side a bunch of
artists use this piece to expand on it further. If I am right,
probably not, then the original is a bunch of downsampled sounds,
into a monotone block of sound, erm, composition perhaps. Its
used and expanded by Lary Seven, Evol, Felix Kubin, White Daughter,
Charlie McAlister and Jan van den Dobbelsteen - and yes, that
is mystery times confusion = more mystery. Their remixes make
things more heavy. As I was trying to listen to this, someone
outside is using some machinery to clean his house, and those
sounds mingled nicely with the tonal blocks and sustained machine
rhythms that are part of this record. Each of the remixers seems
to share Haggart's interest in deep resonating sounds from below
surface, and together they form a monolithic drone piece that
makes a unified impression on the listener. If only I could solve
this puzzle and find out about those 1.17 seconds. (FdW)
Address: http://diskono.net
SKOGEN - SKOGEN (CDR by Bombax Bombax)
UNFORGETTABLE H20 - FLATEFJALL (CDR by Bombax Bombax)
ANDERS DAHL - DOORBELL (CDR by Bombax Bombax)
This new label from Sweden looks a bit like the smaller brother
of Häpna (of whom we haven't heard in some time): the same
plastic bags, nicely printed cover, although in a more conceptual
approach. Musicwise they are not too dissimilar either. Skogen
is a five piece band, of Erick Carlsson (drums, selected percussion),
Magnus Granberg (piano), Henrik Olsson (bowls, cymbals, electronics),
Leo Svensson (cello) and Petter Wästberg (objects, electronics).
They also play in bands such as Gul3, The Tiny and Sheriff and
occasionally with other improvisers from around the globe. Here
they play an almost forty minute piece of music, that despite
the way it sounds is not improvised but composed, by Granberg.
The work develops slowly around loosely played sounds on the instruments,
but somewhere (where?) things have arrived at a point where there
are high pitched feedback tones. When they came in, I no longer
recall. Actually I thought it was sound from outside at first
until it turned out to be part of the music. A bit plinky-plink
modern classical music I must admit, but the odd use of electronics
in the second half prevented this work from leaping into boredom.
Quite nice in the end.
Several of these members of Skogen are also part of Unforgettable
H2O: Carlsson, Olsson and Wästberg, with the addition of
Anders Dahl (electronics) and Matilda Nordenström (radio).
This here is true improvised music. The press text talks about
'a cheerful time of cooking, eating and making noise' - maybe
Flatefjäll is a dish of some kind? Here too the plink-plink
approach sets the tone, but the more extensive use of electronics
along with the more improvised elements on real instruments. Think
AMM or Morphogenesis, but with perhaps a bit more action going
on at times. Here the players are not purveyors of silence and
wanting to let sounds die out, but there is always something going
on. Great stuff.
Music by Anders Dahl was released before by Kning Disk, Häpna
(see Vital Weekly 528) and Con-V (Vital Weekly 443, a collaboration
with Henrik Olsson). He has three long pieces here, each made
with a doorbell, plus whatever extra, which is all mentioned in
the title: feedback, tapes, electronics (#1), tuning fork, crotale,
clarinet, recorder, pitch pipe, bouzouki, guitar, electronics
(#2), electronics, toy piano, sitar and tapes (#3). No mention
of a computer, but no doubt that plays an important role in his
music. The doorbell is something that is hard to recognize in
these pieces. But I believe that is hardly important. Its perhaps
more like a conceptual pun. In each of three pieces, Dahl uses
a different approach to the same subject. He wants to play music
that is highly atmospheric with slow developments, but because
of the different instruments used per track, the ideas are sketched
out differently. Computer processing seems to be playing a big
role, it seems, but it doesn't always 'hide' the sound of the
real instruments. The processing sets the background. Despite
that Dahl also maintains a certain lo-fi quality in the music,
a sort of New Zealand attitude. This release is the only that
is 'composed' in a more traditional Vital Weekly sense and was
graded 'best out of three' here. (FdW)
Address: http://www.bombaxbombax.com
MATTIN & JUNKO & MICHEL HENRITZI
- JE T'AIME (CDR by Absurd)
CYNAS - CASSET-O-RAMA (CDR by Absurd)
Anyone who ever visits a concert and gets the thing later on CD
(or any other media) knows its not the same experience. Away from
the concert space, in the open space of ones own environment,
things may be a bit different. No doubt it was a delight to watch
Mattin on guitar, Michel Henritzi on lapsteel and harmonica and
Junko's voice at the Densites festival in 2007. I didn't see it,
but I can very well imagine how it was. The sheer silence of six
minutes at the beginning and then slowly building into loud noise
blasts with Junko screaming her lungs out. No doubt it was a great
concert. But does it make a great release? I must say I am not
entirely convinced. Its surely a noisy beast that will no doubt
appeal to true noise heads, but the recording sounds a bit naff.
It surely has potential to a really good piece of noise, but the
somewhat suppressed sound prevents this to be. Not bad either,
but not what could be gotten out of it.
The information on Cynas' 'Casset-o-rama' is a bit sketchy. It
was sent out of the blue to Absurd by a Russian guy who recorded
on his mobile studio while traveling through Greece. Somewhere
he heard about Absurd/Editions_Zero, and mailed them the results.
That's about the extent of the information here. The result are
six pieces of lo-fi ambient music. Created with low resolution
samples, which are layered together, going a bit out of sync with
eachother to create that nice dense pattern. Maybe some of the
pieces may sound a bit too similar, but perhaps that's just part
of the esthetic that comes with this. It reminded me very much
of the mid 80s tapes with similar low resolution ambient industrial
music. That's always nice for an old man like me. (FdW)
Address: http://www.void.gr/absurd
ELECTRONIC MESSAGES (CDR by Brown Coffee
Recordings)
While this release has nothing to do with punk, I was thinking
about the good ol' Do It Yourself attitude of punk rock. The somewhat
cheap, xerox packaging helps of course, but also the music by
fifteen electronic artists works that way. Here's a chord, here's
another, now start a band. Here's a computer, here's a plug-in,
now create some dance music. The artists where found on discussion
groups 'where most of the artists use VST plugins applications
& sound samples to create their music' it says in the blurb.
An area where people usually have to time enough to chat about
the latest software, where as they could spend more time on their
music. Not that I didn't like this compilation, contrary, I had
a great time playing it. I was doing some e-mail, read the newspaper,
occasionally thought 'what a great ambient' piece (Victor Eijkhout)
and pondered that I still don't like drum & bass, thought
I should do some vacuum cleaning which in the end I didn't do,
since I hadn't finished the paper and I was listening to this
compilation. None of the names mean much to me (Runagate, John
Havelock-Moore, Ian Sdhz, 3am, Very Angry Mobster, Carlos Natale,
Gary Flanagan, Beatslaughter, Mauseoleum, Bogh, Necrosensual,
Polyslax and Minimal Funk) leaving only initiatior SampleScience,
being somewhere vaguely familiar. I didn't hear much 'new music'
in the avant-garde sense of the word, but it was altogether an
entertaining trip. (FdW)
Address: http://www.geocities.com/browncoffeerec/
C. HILTON - THE SMOKING MIRROR (CDR by Young
Girls Records)
MAURIZIO BIANCHI & C. HILTON - PU 94 (CDR by Simple Logic
Records)
Its been more than a year since we reviewed Craig Hilton's work
with Yannick Franck (see Vital Weekly 574), but here he returns
with two releases, one solo and one in collaboration with music
legend Maurizio Bianchi. Both releases indicate 2007 as the year
of release, but both are in fact just released - why no error
correction? From the ancient Aztec mythology comes the title:
"Smoking Mirror" linked Tezcatlipoca to obsidian, a
black, volcanic stone whose shiny surface could be used as a mirror."
That is somehow reflected (pun intended) in the music, which is
quite a dark mass of sound too. Hilton uses 'everything' he says
here 'Electronic sound sources, microtonal acoustic instruments,
treated acoustics, found sounds', and moulds it together into
three pieces of highly dense music. Everything is layered and
stacked together, whereas the original sounds blurr and obscure,
but in make a beautiful dark ambient symphonia. Much like his
previous release with Franck, Hilton (of whom I never heard any
solo work), this is an orchestral piece of music. Strings sound
out loud, rain drops become waterfalls, and electronics tie everything
together. Silence is absent in the music of Hilton - there should
always be something heard. This work I thought was better than
the one with Franck, since Hilton uses a variety of sound sources
and techniques to keep things interesting. Nicely controlled dark
atmospheres.
Which perhaps can also be said of the work conducted by Hilton
and Bianchi. The process was like this: Hilton provided the basic
material in the form of nine or ten sounds, which were reworked
by Bianchi 'into an organic perpetuum mobile' and then the final
mix was created by Hilton. Two long pieces at work here, a bit
more monolithic than the 'The Smoking Mirror' and also a bit more
electronic, with a lesser emphasis on field recordings and acoustic
instruments - unless of course they have ultimately disappeared
in the electronic processes that were used in this music. Big
amorph masses of sounds, an ocean of cascading sounds, with many
shades of grey collapse, collide together. Until a real collision
takes place and things suddenly change shape, color, depth, speed
or intensity. This is likewise a great release, perhaps not entirely
suitable to be played right after eachother, but music to be played
in the dark for sure (or to be avoided in the dark if that scares
you too much - such can be the effects of these). (FdW)
Address: http://young-girls-records.blogspot.com
Address: http://vivo.pl/simlog
MIKA MARTINI & OSCAR CHAVES - REVOLVER
CENIZAS (MP3 by Ruidemos)
TZESNE & BAZTERRAK - REKALDE (MP3 by Ruidemos)
CNEO CORNELIO - ARBOL (MP3 by Ruidemos)
Of these three new Ruidemos releases, the shortest is by two South
American musicians, Mika Martini from Chile and Oscar Chaves from
Colombia. Together they played in 2007 in Santiago de Chile. I
don't know if this is an unedited cut of almost eleven minutes.
Their electronics swirl around in big swimming pool of reverb
and delay machines, but actually I must say its quite nice. Perhaps
a bit scattered around, free floating in all directions, and perhaps
a bit short. It certainly leaves matters open for the future.
An older, 2006 recording, by Tzesne, of whom we reviewed work
before, together with one Bazterrak. The latter plays his own
software called Software Slicer - which sounds like a great thing.
'Rekalde' lasts twenty-three minutes and there is not much slicing
going on. One long piece of digital drone music, with a deep end
bass, crackling glitches on top. A very nice piece of music. Dark,
atmospheric, ambient and experimental. Nothing new, but executed
with great. No doubt performed in total darkness.
Also with one track, but then almost forty-five minutes is a release
by Cneo Cornelio, which seems like a new name to me. He (she?)
hails from Spain, where this was recorded at Gabinette de Investigacion
Sonora, Laboratorio CoDa. That sounds great. Its not easy to say
what is used here, but its highly likely that its only some pieces
of software running amok. But it seems also that it is picked
up by some analogue gear to create a somewhat more rough edged
piece of music. That saves the piece I guess. Just the computers
playing around would have made things a bit too sterile. In the
end the work is a bit long for what it wants to say, I think.
It could have been a bit more concise and to the point, but nevertheless
its quite alright altogether. (FdW)
Address: http://ruidemos.org
YUAF - VILLA OCKENBURG (MP3 by Larraskito)
MANUEL GIAO - GRANDONDA (MP3 by Larraskito)
MUBLES (CDR by Le Brutal Records)
Villa Ockenburg is near The Hague in The Netherlands and I have
no idea what it is. But in April of this year Yolanda Uriz (flutes)
and Angel Faraldo (live electronics) spent three days over there
and they recorded the three pieces on this free release. The flute
sounds are fed through what seems to be a computer with whatever
kind of software we don't know, but the results are very nice.
The sounds flow about, especially in the intense first part. Spooky,
haunting, feedback like, full of menace. In the second part things
become more concrete as well as traditionally improvised, which
is the least interesting piece, and also the shortest. The last
piece returns to the atmospheric side of things, but more stripped
bare to its essentials. Perhaps a bit less spooky than the first
part but quite nice as well.
Something entirely different is the release by Manuel Giao, who
wants to connect beauty and horror, and wonders if that's possible.
Well, yes, Giao, that is possible. The history of art is full
of examples of that. His music is loud, based on guitars and distortion
pedals, close to the point of feedback, lo-fi and dirty. The first
piece opens up loud and is gradually torn down, but the second
piece seemed the nicer one. Meandering through various sound effects,
the guitar is less noise based but it gets there very occasionally.
It makes that there are more things happening in the piece, and
although not structured very much, its the more adventurous piece
here.
As a CDR, from the same source, comes a release by Mubles, which
is a group of Terri Florido, Miguel A. Garcia, Alvaro Matilla
and Carlos Valverde. Perhaps one could see this as the cross-over
between the previous releases, the combination of noise and improvisation,
between ambient and composition. I believe to have heard guitars,
lots of sound effects and electronics. Maybe there is more than
that, but I am not sure. This quartet improvises their way through
a whole bunch of grainy textures, dirty atmospheres, noisy quietness
and silent harshness. Throughout not bad, but occasionally a bit
long and a bit unfocussed. Moving in various directions at the
same, rather than the four deciding upon a goal, it seems. That
seems to me the next objective and then surely things will flourish
from there on. (FdW)
Address: http://www.xedh.org/larraskito
Address: http://www.xedh.org/mubles