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VITAL WEEKLY
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number 675
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week 17
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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
PIMMON - SMUDGE ANOTHER YESTERDAY (CD by
Preservation) *
RAPOON - DARK RIVERS (CD by Lens Records) *
LEGENDARY PINK DOTS - PLUTONIUM BLONDE (CD by Roir)
ERIC LA CASA & PHILIP SAMARTZIS & JEAN-LUC GUIONNET -
SOLEIL D'ARTIFICE (CD by Swarming) *
PAL ASLE PETTERSEN - KOMPOSISJONER 2005-2008 (CD by Zang:) *
JOHN LUTHER ADAMS - THE PLACE WE BEGAN (CD by Cold Blue Music)
*
PETER GARLAND - STRING QUARTETS (CD by Cold Blue Music)
A CATASTROPHIC SILENCE (CD by Architectural Association Independent
Radio)
APRICOT MY LADY - Newly Refurbished and Tussock Moth (CD by Z6/Esc
Rec)
PERFECT VACUUM - A Guide to the Music of the 21th Century (CD
by Z6)
FACES - TIJDLUS (DVD by Z6)
ANNETTE KREBS & RHODRI DAVIES - KRAVIS RHONN PROJECT (CD by
Another Timbre) *
MAX EASTLEY & RHODRI DAVIES - DARK ARCHITECTURE (CDR by Another
Timbre)
LEVERTON FOX - COUNTRY DANCES (CD by Gravid Hands)
OGOGO - LUNAR SURPHASE (CD by III Records)
AIDAN BAKER - GATHERING BLUE (2LP by Equation Records)
BASS COMMUNION - MOLOTOV AND HAZE (2LP by Tone Float)
EDWARD KASPEL - DREAM LOGIK PARTS I-III (4 LP set + 2 CD by Beta
Lactam-ring)
TAYLOR DEUPREE - WEATHER & WORN (7" by 12K)
ANTOINE CHESSEX - TERRA INCOGNITA (LP by Absurd)
AL MARGOLIS & DAN BURKE - LIVE APRIL 5, 2008 - LE BONHEUR,
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (CD by Absurd) *
LARRY GUS - IASMOS (CDR by Okko Records)
NIKOS VELIOTIS - CELLO POWDER (CDR by Absurd)
VERY FRIENDLY #1 (book + 7" by Komplott)
ERDEM HELVACIOGLU - WOUNDED BREATH (CDR by Aucourant Records)
*
MIRKO UHLIG - SUPPER (CDR by Afe Records) *
GARY FISHER - BROKEN CYMBAL MUSIC (CDR by Found In A Skip) *
NIGHSHIFT (CDR by 267 Lattajjaa) *
HOURGLASS DROPS - KINGDOM OF BROKEN DREAMS (CDR by Tib Prod) *
ADULTS WITH CHICKS - APTENODYTES FORSTERI (double 3"CDR by
Tib Prod) *
ORPHAX - TURN LOOSE THE GOOSE (3"CDR, private) *
PIMMON - SMUDGE ANOTHER YESTERDAY (CD by
Preservation)
According to the press release it has been five years since we
last saw a release by Pimmon, but it seems much longer. Well,
perhaps I didn't see that last one, and it was longer for me.
Perhaps I thought Pimmon lost interest in doing music and moved
on to do something else. However its good to see him back on track,
and hear him doing what he does best. Densely layered electronics,
guitars, analogue synthesizers and such like. Melted together
inside the bit rot of the laptop, creating some highly intense
music. There is something happening on every level of the recording,
no silence in sight anywhere. Pimmon doesn't play microsound,
ambient glitch, but then also no noise or industrial music. Its
a highly personal mixture of those two odd ends tied together.
Musique concrete? Sure why not, but its never in the acousmatic
sense of the word. Pimmon's music is certainly beyond any tradition,
except for his own. And that might be the thing that some people
wouldn't like about 'Smudge Another Yesterday'. It may seem as
if Pimmon still sounds the same, and perhaps he does. That may
be one of the disappointing things about this release, and sometimes
I would nag about that. But after such a hiatus in recording,
in a time of his career when at least I thought I'd like a bit
more, this just picks up where he should have continued back then.
A fine come back album. (FdW)
Address: http://www.preservation.com.au
RAPOON - DARK RIVERS (CD by Lens Records)
Robin Storey, the man behind Rapoon, hails from the northern parts
of the England and if I understand well this new album is a 'sonic
exploration and reflection' of the landscape. If that is true,
I think more of Rapoon albums deal with that subject. But more
precisely 'Dark Rivers' is a thematic album about a particular
part in Northumbria which was once the border of the Roman empire
as well as an army base in the cold war. Out of a previous job,
I heard many Rapoon albums and always enjoyed them and after that
I lost count of whatever came out, but still enjoying the consistency
of his work. Tribalistic drumming, dark ambient soundscapes, sampled
voices and objects and for the first time, at least to my knowledge,
field recordings of birds. Its music that hardly seems to change.
Rapoon every now and then changes a bit, making a particular release
a bit more rhythmic, and another a bit more ambient, or, as in
the case of 'Dark Rivers' things seemingly in perfect balance,
but none of that makes an essential difference. Change is just
one of those things that hardly matters to Rapoon. That's a conscious
decision of course and makes a consistent body of work. Not something
I'd play on a daily basis (but then, what would?), but every now
and then, the dark side of ambient meets industrial in a most
gently way is fine enough. (FdW)
Address: http://www.lensrecords.com
LEGENDARY PINK DOTS - PLUTONIUM BLONDE (CD
by Roir)
Even though it's been out for a little while, nothing has appeared
in the Vital pages about the new Legendary Pink Dots CD. This
omission is duly corrected here. In the 80s the Dots' music was
very important to me. When the line up of Edward, Phil, Barry
Gray, Jason Salmon, Graham Whitehead and Patrick Wright exploded
in the late 80s, their music changed considerably. And how could
it be otherwise? New members were employed and a new course was
set. The Dots created The Maria Dimension, which gained them a
whole new audience ready to accompany the band on their new journey.
They kind of lost me during that journey, even though I think
1994's Nine Lives to Wonder is among the very best of their records.
Now we have the new CD Plutonium Blonde on ROIR, which is causing
quite a stir among Dots-lovers. Openers Torch Song and Rainbows
Too? are based on rhythm loops featuring crunchy guitars, keyboards
and saxophones added. They are nice to listen to, but not remarkable
or special. A World With No Mirrors is therefore a welcome change
with just Ka-Spel's singing, guitars and flute. You either love
or hate My First Zonee; an upbeat singalong with deliberately
silly lyrics. And then something very interesting happens; somehow
the atmosphere of the album completely changes when the utterly
beautiful Faded Photograph starts. A slow song with vocoder looping,
great lyrics and an interesting end (did I hear echo's of the
"hokus pokus" intro from Flowers For The Silverman?).
Spoken Word opens with, as one can suspect, spoken word, which
is something Ka-Spel's voice is utterly suited for. Add a nice
background of small bleeps and bloops ending in an almost early
80's (more echoes) rhythm box song. Mailman with its surprise
banjo playing is another lovely small song. At 2.33 this is one
of the shorter tracks on the album. Oceans Blue, with its reversed
sounds and spoken word, could easily be from one of the early
Dots cassettes. The playing is delicate and reflective. Savannah
Red is more rhythmic, almost gamelan, and a brief interlude to
the closing track Cubic Caesar, which is another beautiful, reflective
song with nice guitar playing. This is almost like an album with
two faces; out of the first 4 songs, 3 sound somehow out of place.
The rest of the album is a fascinating and true return to a form.
At 55+ minutes, I personally feel the album could have benefitted
from some editing (no prizes for guessed which tracks). This is
the best album the Dots have made in years. (FK)
Address: http://www.roir-usa.com
ERIC LA CASA & PHILIP SAMARTZIS &
JEAN-LUC GUIONNET - SOLEIL D'ARTIFICE (CD by Swarming)
The new French label Swarming starts with a trio that first played
together in 2005 in Brisbane and Melbourne, but when Samartzis
came to Europe in 2007, the collaboration he started with La Casa
and Samartzis, continued. They played concerts in France, Germany
and the Czech Republic. Guionnet plays 'extended saxophone', La
Casa microphones, prepared recordings, laptop and Philip Samartzis
electronics, field recordings and laptop. Almost forty minutes,
three pieces, some liner notes in French which didn't mean much
to me, and the whole thing being 'nice'. Now, I now that qualification
isn't a great one, but I can't help it either. I played it and
thought, yes, this is nice. I hear each player doing his specific
contribution, and it all sort of fits together in a nice way,
but at the same time I couldn't help also thinking: I heard it
all before also. By them, by others. That's isn't a big a problem,
and then the CD isn't bad at all, but it also doesn't seem to
stand out of what is done. By them, by others. Just a fine but
regular piece of work. (FdW)
Address: <swarming@free.fr>
PAL ASLE PETTERSEN - KOMPOSISJONER 2005-2008
(CD by Zang:)
Its been a while since we last heard from Pal Asle Pettersen from
Stavanger. He's one of the two behind the Zang: label, and organizer
of various concerts in Stavanger, as well as being actively involved
as a composer. To date his sparse releases are collections of
compositions he did, and they are numbered: 'Komposison 23', 'Komposison
15' etc. and this CD collects the pieces made between 2005 and
2008. Pettersen uses field recordings and treated acoustic objects,
but its hard to trace them to anything you would recognize as
ducks, rain, or the moving of ashtray on the table - to mention
a few possible sound sources. Everything is treated to the limit
here in a very 'traditional' musique concrete sense, even when
Pettersen doesn't use scissors and tape to work on his material,
but computer technology. Plug ins or sound tools that programms
have (normalising, reversing, pitch shifting), they are all used
here and with great care and style and not as a display of possibilities.
Just like Erdem Helvacioglu, reviewed elsewhere, the music composed
by Pettersen stands firm in this tradition and wouldn't look odd
in the catalogue of Empreintes Digitales, but like Helvacioglu
its surely something different and more original than many of
their peers on the Canadian label. Pettersen's compositions are
short and to the point, and throughout this is a fine collection
of pieces. (FdW)
Address: http://www.zang.no
JOHN LUTHER ADAMS - THE PLACE WE BEGAN (CD
by Cold Blue Music)
PETER GARLAND - STRING QUARTETS (CD by Cold Blue Music)
To be honest I must admit that the name John Luther Adams is a
familiar one, but did I ever hear the music? I must, perhaps with
much shame, admit I don't think I did. Perhaps this new release
is not the right place to start to know him, but then it perhaps
is. Adams found last year a box of old recordings from him from
the early to mid seventies, and he started playing around with
these old reel-to-reel recordings of some extraordinary music.
'In A Room' for instance uses two cheap speakers and a microphone,
and the feedback, shaped up with by means of the computer, sounds
like a beautiful flowing piece of sine wave/feedback material,
with great sustaining sounds. Think Phill Niblock or Arcane Device.
'At Still Point' uses two Fender Rhodes piano recordings, beautifully
layered over eachother, whereas in 'In The Rain', he uses rain
falling into various pots but they are reconfigured on the computer,
which gives the thing a sort of gamelan feeling. The CD closes
with a companion piece of 'In A Room', being the title piece.
Four very interesting pieces, and for once not pieces that were
scored for a solo instrument or an ensemble, like is common for
Cold Blue Music, but great pieces of electronic music. Excellent
work.
Something perhaps more along the lines of the usual Cold Blue
releases is the new CD by Peter Garland, who is besides a composer,
also a world traveler, musicologist, writer and former publisher
of Soundings Press. Like with Adams, I don't think I ever heard
his music. Like the title says, this CD has 'String Quartets',
number one and two to be precise. Here is where my capacity to
review music fails. Occasionally I could say something nice about
say a rock band, but these two string quartets are beyond my knowledge.
I think (!) they sound fairly 'normal', like late nineteenth,
early twentieth century string quartets (pauses here to think
of a name to compare it with, but fails again). I happen to play
this while having breakfast and reading the morning paper, and
this is perfect music to wake up with. I think its nice stuff,
even when I'm clueless otherwise. (FdW)
Address: http://www.coldbluemusic.com
A CATASTROPHIC SILENCE (CD by Architectural
Association Independent Radio)
Now here's a CD which is a bit hard to follow who did what and
where. Apparently its a compilation of some kind, but who did
what? Three tracks, three principle names are mentioned: Douglas
Moffat, Joshua Bonnetta and Steve Bates plus an extensive list
of people being thanked. "Acoustics, Electromagnetics, Cinematic
Soundtracks: three ways of listening to the city", in this
case the city being London. Big cities can be noisy places, we
all know (I think), and possible places for huge catastrophes
to happen. I think this is more less the approach for this compilation.
Street and city sounds are being processed, and each seem to be
working towards a 'collapse', or use a hidden tension underneath.
The three pieces are pretty nice to hear, although none of them
sticks out, nor to what has happened in the field of microsound.
There is a certain cinematographic aspect to these pieces which
makes them good candidates for experimental horror movies about
the subject of big city destruction. The cover is a mailer, so
its like a postcard. Nice! (FdW)
Address: http://aair.fm
APRICOT MY LADY - Newly Refurbished and
Tussock Moth (CD by Z6/Esc Rec)
PERFECT VACUUM - A Guide to the Music of the 21th Century (CD
by Z6)
FACES - TIJDLUS (DVD by Z6)
Three very different productions that have the involvement of
Lukas Simonis in common. Faces is a group of dutch composer en
electronica performer Huib Emmer. 'Tijdlus' ('Time Loop') is their
most recent project, a multimedia thing with the participation
of Lukas Simonis (guitar, composition), Joost Van Veen ( live
video), Nina Hitz (cello), Kaoru Iwamora (fortepiano, electronic
organ) and Huib Emmer (live electronics, composition). These people
come from very different backgrounds. Hitz plays old and new music.
Before Faces Iwamura played baroque music only. For the first
time now she plays a modern instrument: the ARP Odyssey. Joost
van Veen is an experimental filmmaker, filmperformer, sounddesigner
and producer of celluloid-involved projects. Emmer is a composer
and guitarist with a love for electronics. Long time member of
Hoketus and Loos. In the 'Tijdlus'-project music and video are
of equal importance. Images serve the music, and the other way
around. It is a live-cinema work, where music and images are interwoven
into each other during a simultaneous process. It is divided in
eleven parts, telling a story in a very associative way, using
archaic images taking from different times and several musical
idioms. Most of the visuals were taken from public domain source
www.archive.org and underwent creative treatment by van Veen.
The music sounds very poppy at places but turning without hesitation
into very abstract experimental soundconstructions, as is the
case in the opening chapter. We see old images of an expedition
into high mountains, accompanied by a Wall of Voodoo-like piece
of music that is followed by a calm soundwork. All the music is
composed by Emmer and Simonis who easily jump from baroque to
improvisation, filmmusic, etc. There is a surprise on every corner.
Five more sound-movie works are included dating from 2003-2009.
All together a very consistent and engaging collection of image-soundworks.
Perfect Vacuum is a project by Dave Marsh (vocals, recorder) and
Lukas Simonis (guitar, bass, keyboards, vocals, tight drumming),
assisted by a few others. An album of songs with nice harmonies
and melodies, bringing back the 60s. But there is more to say
about these songs. They are constructed and orchestrated in a
way we know from groups like the Residents, Homosexuals, Only
a Mother, etc. But above all we know these procedures from earlier
work by Simonis and his mates. Superficially these songs may sound
very accessible and even catchy, and that is what they are. But
they are very cleverly arranged and coloured with strange sounds
in a very fanciful way. A very enjoyable and full-grown album.
Apricot My Lady is Anne LaBerge (flute, electronics, voice), Lukas
Simonis (guitar, effects, voice), Jonathan Bohman (objects, voice)
and Adam Bohman (balalaika, objects, voice). The Bohman brothers
are known for there sound experiments. LaBerge is a pioneer flutist
and composer. As Apricot My Lady they are together since 2003.
For this CD they created 18 small miniatures, mainly instrumental
tracks. There are played on recognizable instruments plus many
found objects and sounds. But the ideas are not that pronounced
as on the album by Perfect Vacuum. It is a collection of musical
ideas that deserve more. Many pieces offer only a vague impression
of what they in potential are. They sound as loosely built constructions
without a clear focus. Happily the music on this album proves
itself as a very odd meeting between the punk attitude of Simonis
and serious music on the other side. In that respect this experiment
is absolutely perfect and demonstrating a very fitting going together
of very different musical approaches. But I hoped for a more appealing
execution of their ideas. (DM)
Address: <http://www.z6records.nl/
ANNETTE KREBS & RHODRI DAVIES - KRAVIS
RHONN PROJECT (CD by Another Timbre)
MAX EASTLEY & RHODRI DAVIES - DARK ARCHITECTURE (CDR by Another
Timbre)
Somewhere in April 2008 Rhodri Davies packed up his harp and electronics
and visited Annette Krebs in her Berlin apartment. There she had
set up her guitar, lined up some recordings and a mixing board
and the two spend a whole day doing recordings, which were then
edited by Krebs into what is now released as 'Kravis Rhonn Project'.
Both are accomplished and established players in the field of
new improvised music. One of the more surprising elements of this
work - spanning three tracks in total - is the presence of voices.
I am not entirely sure if these voices are to be understood as
'field recordings' or wether they were accidently picked up in
the process of recording. They are not easy to understand, but
make a distinctive difference in the music. Of course the two
play their instruments on the edge of silence, and thus the leaked
voices add just that little bit of extra, which makes this release
into quite a joyful thing. Careful, intense, this is of course
no easy listening music but the fully required concentration span
is needed here. But its a work that unveils a lot of silent beauty.
And Another Timbre, clever as there, also released at the same
a CDR with a live recording by Davies on his electric harp which
he gave with musician and sculptor Max Eastley. The latter plays
arc, whatever that may be, but they are surrounded by four sculptures
of Eastley, which produce irregular sounds by using phased motors.
It goes without saying that this is a delicate work too, but there
are some differences. First of all, this is an unedited live recording,
which can be heard and secondly there is a certain continuum in
the music that makes this easier to digest. That is, the full
concentration aspect required with the Krebs/Davies CD is not
really necessarily here. This is music that moves around, with
strange intervals in the music, creating an atmospheric texture
in the music. This is one that you can undergo, sit back and relax
and be amazed, rather than sit upright and do nothing else than
listen. Two different sides of the harp playing of Davies, twice
nice. (FdW)
Address: http://www.anothertimbre.com
LEVERTON FOX - COUNTRY DANCES (CD by Gravid
Hands)
Leverton Fox is the trio of Alex Bonney, Tim Giles, and Matt Groom.
The music is situated an an out, out of the way crossroads where
electronic, improvised, and collage music meet. Lots of off-kilter
loops and unidentifiable electronic sounds along with the occasional
trumpet, drums, or guitar. the pieces jump around a lot, but each
one has its own identity. this makes Country Dances compelling
throughout, rather than a pile of random textures. The trio also
play very well together as the pieces never get bogged down or
lose steam. Leverton Fox is hard to put in a box, and that is
a very good thing. (SF)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/levertonfox
OGOGO - LUNAR SURPHASE (CD by III Records)
It was only in Vital Weekly 668 when I reviewed 'Redux' a CD by
Igor Ogogo, which didn't please me at all, to say the least. The
half baked attempt at improvised music didn't work. Full stop.
Here he returns, again with some tracks with Rodney Oakey on midi
trumpet and Andrei Solovyov on trumpet and flute. I must admit
that this album is only marginally better. It moved away from
the strict improvised corner, and pieces are held together with
the use of drum machine (which is rather dull recorded), and Igor
Grigoriev plays guitar on top and said wind instruments come in
every now and then. Maybe this is his attempt at a pop record,
and some of the results are, as said, better, but throughout this
again was a CD that didn't do anything for me. (FdW)
Address: http://iiirecords.com
AIDAN BAKER - GATHERING BLUE (2LP by Equation
Records)
Somehow, the theme for this review appears to be "blue".
It's not just because of the title. For one, this Aidan Baker
album arrived the same day I picked up a second hand copy of Oren
Ambachi's In The Pendulum's Embrace 2LP, which was pressed on
gorgeous blue vinyl and, whilst I opened the door for the mailman,
Dennis Wilson's Pacific Ocean Blue LP (also pressed on blue vinyl)
was playing. Much to my happiness, the Baker album is also pressed
on blue vinyl and gorgeous it is too; 93 of the 499 copies are
pressed on marbled blue. Add to this the fact that the only other
Baker release I have in my collection, an early Drone records
single, is also pressed on blue vinyl and you get the picture.
Baker's latest album, a double one no less, comes in a gatefold
cover with color still-life photography by Alan McClelland. It
just looks great. Now on to the music. Somehow, here the theme
"blue" also persists; as this is downbeat music, played
in minor keys. Hailing from Toronto, Canada Baker is an accomplished
and inventive guitarist (another parallel with Oren Ambachi, though
admittedly not with Dennis Wilson who was a drummer) working in
the field of drones and ambient reworkings. He has also published
a number of poetry books. On this largely instrumental album the
ardent Baker-fan might recognize The Cicadas Sing Our Love Song
as that is a remix from an earlier version. Baker's music luckily
never falls into the trap that is computerized/filtered guitar
droning. His music is more like structured/composed sound (rather
than just washes of guitar) mixed in low, deep drones. With Baker's
music I get the feeling actual composing is the basis of his songs,
rather than just letting drones do their work. Occasionally lighter
sounds and recognizable guitar patterns protrude the atmosphere.
The tracklisting on this album is a bit confusing, with only 5
tracks identifiable on the albums themselves and 9 listed on the
cover. Oh dear. Still, in the end this doesn't matter as this
is an album you probably listen to as one whole. The vocal tracks
are on side two, including a surprise soft haunting version of
Joy Division's 24 hours. The final (side long) track adds some
drumtracks, but somehow I found this a bit of a distraction to
the general feel of the album. In all, a wonderful album. (FK).
Address: http//www.Chronoglide.com/equation
BASS COMMUNION - MOLOTOV AND HAZE (2LP by
Tone Float)
And we continue the guitar theme, though not the blue theme, with
the new release by Bass Communion aka Porcupine Tree aka Steve
Wilson. Himself an accomplished, and these days quite successful
artist, Wilson brings us this new, lavishly packed (though unfortunately
pressed on black vinyl, not blue), double LP with bonus 10 inch
record (exclusive to this release). The full set retails at 30
Euros. I have to admit I'm not a Wilson/Bass Communion fanatic,
so this record is my initiation to his music. The heavy vinyl
(180 grams) plays great and the sepia tinted cover featuring Japanese
photos of WWII scenes looks fittingly moody. It is therefore a
bit of a disappointment that the actual music doesn't quite live
up to its packaging. Consisting of a re-release of an album previously
released on Important records (though you wouldn't know from the
very sparse information on the cover, which simply states "guitar
pieces recorded by Steve Wilson on location between 14-17 February
2008"), this album features 4 (extended) side long tracks.
The first one, Molotov 1502, consists of a continuing single harsh
sound that could be a heavily filtered guitar, but could also
be anything else. It goes on without much development for 20 very
long minutes. Side two Glacial 1602 fares much better, here Wilson
employs what sounds like an e-bow with long attack and decay to
make his sounds. This is a much quieter, reflecting piece and
nice to listen to, even though this too knows little progress.
Side three's Corrosive 1702 sounds, well, corrosive and has the
same harsh atmosphere as side one and a fade out that takes minutes.
However, the real beauty of this record is hidden on side four's
Haze 1402. The 26+ (!) minutes of soft sounds on offer here are
soothing and beautiful, and form a tranquil and immersive soundscape.
By far the best track on the record. The free bonus 10 inch album
contains two tracks; 'Haze Sharpnel' by Steve Wilson and a remix
of said track by Freiband (Frans de Waard). The original is much
like the quieter bits of the 2LP set. Nice and friendly. The same
goes for the remix, which sounds close to the original track.
I have to admit I'm a bit disappointed by this release. There
is some great music to listen to (like Haze 1402 and the bonus
10 inch), but I seriously wonder how often I would listen to this
album. Perhaps I'm being too harsh on Wilson, it is just that
I had expected more from the man, but then again, I'm unfamiliar
with his other work, so this might just be a weaker brother or
his music might just not be for me. (FK)
Address: http://www.tonefloat.com
EDWARD KASPEL - DREAM LOGIK PARTS I-III
(4 LP set + 2 CD by Beta Lactam-ring)
Brand new is the very luxurious boxset by Edward Kaspel, even
though part of its contents has been available. Dream Logik Part
I was released on CD a while ago and starts off with the Twin
Peaks-like spoken introduction Threshold. From that point on Dream
Logik part I is a rollercoaster of sounds and ideas. Songs like
Harvester with its slow rhythm and spoken word, the beautiful
yet harrowing songs Good Life and And The Stars are among Ka-Spel's
best. I still don't quite get The 9 O'Clock Train To Oblivion
or Revolution 834, which are tracks where Ka-Spel runs electronic
amok, but somehow appears to lose control in the middle. As a
whole, Dream Logik Part I is a bleak and highly personal album,
full of confusion, that makes a fascinating listen. Dream Logic
Part II continues this theme, but here Ka-Spel seems more in control
of his sounds. If you know and like Dream Logik I, you will surely
love the music as presented on parts II; a collection of great
songs and soundscapes. The real beauty, for me personally, lies
in Dream Logic Part III; two long spacious tracks of beautiful
restrained ambience. Absolutely amazing! The boxset also includes
a bonus CD with an alternative version of Burning Church (from
Part III) and, if you're lucky, your set also comes with yet another
bonus CD, this time with 3 additional tracks, including a beautiful
spoken word track. A few final words on the packaging: this set
spells l-u-x-u-r-e-o-u-s. The box is embossed with silver colored
lettering and artwork. Inside are the 4 discs in high gloss color
sleeves, a numbered insert and the bonus CD(s). All artwork is
by Jesse Pepper who is rapidly turning into BLRR's house art-madman.
His tense paintings fit the music well. In all, a great looking
and great sounding boxset. There are 400 copies available of Dream
Logic Parts I-III and they retail at a very fair price. Now go
out and buy one! (FK)
Address: http://www.blrrecords.com
TAYLOR DEUPREE - WEATHER & WORN (7"
by 12K)
Always in for a surprise, our Taylor Deupree. With this 7"
he announces a series of 7" releases for 12K, and its the
first vinyl on 12K ever. Perhaps your initial thought would be
the same as for me: is the kind of music normally produced on
12K the kind of music that should go to vinyl? I don't think so,
but these two lovely pieces, exactly four minutes each, proof
me wrong. Deupree uses here acoustic instruments and looping devices
and is away from the computer. He creates two little drone pieces.
The drones form the hot bed for the sounds to sleep in, be conformting
and cosy. Initimate music and two pieces that fit underfully well
on vinyl. Relaxing music of which the only problem might be that
it is a bit short. That is the disadvantage of a vinyl of course.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.12k.com
ANTOINE CHESSEX - TERRA INCOGNITA (LP by
Absurd)
AL MARGOLIS & DAN BURKE - LIVE APRIL 5, 2008 - LE BONHEUR,
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (CD by Absurd)
LARRY GUS - IASMOS (CDR by Okko Records)
NIKOS VELIOTIS - CELLO POWDER (CDR by Absurd)
Recently I found that Antoine Chessex is/was a member of a band
who I actually saw a couple of times: Monno. He told me that himself,
when he played at Extrapool. That concert was short, powerful
and noisy, but it worked really well, with Chessex using the dynamics
of the space. Here he has a solo one sided LP, but with a hidden
track (think New Order's 12" on Touch) on the other side.
It is a kind of documentation of stuff he has done recently, using
saxophone and electronics. It starts out in known land (nodding
to the title here), of heavy noise: piercing electronics and sustained
saxophones. Then there is a somewhat quieter piece of saxophones
in a larger hall, which create a kind of strange atmosphere. Nice
as well. So it goes for the final track of the one side which
some heavily controlled playing. In between there is a noise blast
and so is the main part of the hidden track. I think I expected
a bit more of this, based on what I heard live, but this fits
the saxophone brut that he is known for.
I guess Dan Burke and Al Margolis don't need much introduction,
because if they do I'd be asking: where have you been? Or perhaps
you know them from their 'band' names, Illusion Of Safety and
If, Bwana. If not, I'd say go back in time and read the preceding
674 issues of Vital Weekly and discover their long history in
real underground music. Both have shifted a bit towards music
that might be less industrial by some standards these days, and
tending towards serious musique concrete, but what they recorded
on April 5 in 2008 in Belgium, seems to these ears harking back
to the older days of crude looped material, processed clarinet
and field recordings. Maybe it has to do with the fact that this
is a microphone recording, in stead of a line recording (the popping
of beer bottles is a present feature), but it gives the music
a very nice sort of retro feeling to it. Modern classical music,
meets industrial, meets musique concrete. Maybe a bit more editing
could have been in place, but its nice as its crude.
Somewhere in the more remote area of Xanthi there is family who
treat their two children with unusual birthday gifts, usually
specially played recorded CDs. One Larry Gus played some music
for the second birthday of Orion (who I saw being baptized, but
that's another story), which seems partly based on field recordings
of a children's party and, for a larger part, on electronic keyboards,
loop devices and a bit of vocals. Eighteen short pieces here of
highly improvised music - there is a story about the original
master being and it had to be restored or recreated in a short
time span, but it sounds quite nice altogether. Childlike, obviously
I'd say, intimate and also at times joyous. At thirty two minutes
also having the right length for such a thing.
And finally the last and/or latest release by Niko Veliotis, the
cello player from Greece. He recorded 100 one hour drones of 'every
possible pitch on the cello' which were subsequently mixed into
a work of one hour and released in an edition of 100. After that
the cello used on the recordings were turned into powder and put
into 100 jars. Welcome to the concept land. The work can be downloaded
for free. The music sounds like a motor in a turbine hall in a
factory at full works. Nothing much seems to be happening and
that is probably the downside of concepts in music. What sounds
(!) like a great idea may not always be a great piece of music.
And that's the case here: its not a great piece of music. Like
stale wind in an empty hall. Lots of engines at the same time.
That sort of thing, but certainly not worthwhile for a complete
hour. (FdW)
Address: http://www.noise-below.org
Address: http://www.cellopowder.com
VERY FRIENDLY #1 (book + 7" by Komplott)
The first time I saw a friend of mine depicted in a comic I was
quite pleased. Somebody from Rotterdam did a short comic on a
concert by Roel Meelkop, which was quite funny. Ronnie Sundin
is these days lesser known as a composer, or rather, we don't
hear much from him, but he is busy doing books with drawings,
which may count for comics. In the second issue called (following
issue 0), we have three comics: Ronnie Sundin goes to Trondheim
to visit Lasse Marhaug, the premiere of 'Deserts' by Varese and
Throbbing Gristle at the Crypt One Club (the concert where Genesis
was brought to hospital after an overdose) and various portraits
of female composers. I thought this was pretty funny stuff, and
a highly original thing to do. Sundin has a nice realistic style
in drawing, although I am hardly an expert in the field of comics
(owing just all Tin Tin books). The 7" has music by Lasse
Marhaug, who heads back to his Trondheim Tape days and builds
two different sound collages out of that. One is well balanced
on soft versus loud and the other one is mainly loud. Altogether
the funniest package of the week, which put a big smile on my
face. (FdW)
Address: http://www.komplott.com
ERDEM HELVACIOGLU - WOUNDED BREATH (CDR
by Aucourant Records)
Off hand I couldn't say how often we discussed music from Turkey,
but I bet it hasn't been more than five times. Erdem Helvacioglu
is from that country, but his music seems to be devoid of any
ethnical undercurrents, which of course is a fine thing - I never
tell this when discussing something from France, USA or The Netherlands
either, to mention a few. I am not sure if there is a strong tradition
for serious electronic music in Turkey (obviously we do know Mimaruglu),
but it surely stands in a wider tradition of electro-acoustic
and electronic music. Heavily treated sounds of objects, electronic
sounds washing about, the sort of thing that Empreintes Digitales
is known for, but the music of Helvacioglu sounds a little different,
a little more daring and engaging than much of what comes out
of Canada's home of this music. Five lengthy pieces of this stuff
(maybe one too many), but throughout this is quite intense music,
of which 'Dance Of Fire' is my favorite, as it has a great dramatic
curve and moves in quite a dynamic manner. Standing in the long
tradition musique concrete, and perhaps not entirely with a voice
of his own, but nevertheless a fine work. (FdW)
Address: http://www.aucorantrecords.com
MIRKO UHLIG - SUPPER (CDR by Afe Records)
This new release by Mirko Uhlig is a sort of 'conceptual reference
album', dealing with music Uhlig heard in the past. But which
record it is? Hard to tell. 'Old Clouds' anyone? Uhlig has become
one of the more interesting sound artists from Germany. His first
main work, the self-released 'VIVMM' CDR (this year to be re-issued
on LP I believe) was an exercise in drone based music, but he
also dabbled with noise, and with this new album he expands his
horizon a bit further. The main backbone is ambience and drones,
but there is also bits of guitar music popping up from the world
of folk. It seems to me that the main thing here is generated
from processed guitars anyway. Uhlig creates highly atmospheric
music, but avoids the pitfalls of regular drone music. He knows
how to add surprise elements, interesting changes and sudden moves,
and lifts his music out of ordinary and do something that is at
large not a new thing, but surely is new exciting enough. Uhlig
doesn't produce that many works but when he does, its a great
one. (FdW)
Address: http://www.aferecords.com
GARY FISHER - BROKEN CYMBAL MUSIC (CDR by
Found In A Skip)
So I never heard of Gary Fisher, and his release is quite poorly
packed, which is a pity, since I think a somewhat attractive cover
is a pleasure to open up and enjoy the music. As his music is
quite interesting I think its a bit of a pity that the presentation
is so lo-fi. I assume that Fisher plays a broken cymbal on these
recordings, and the titles indicate what he uses to that end.
'Beater, skewer, hands', 'Rice', 'Coin', 'Foil', 'Shoelace, hands'
- that sort of thing, and he plays with these objects his broken
cymbal in an improvising manner, carefully exploring the objects
at hand. Occasionally he bursts out in louder bits, but throughout
he manages to keep things well under control. Especially in 'Shoelace,
hands' this leads to interesting results of low rhythm based music.
Although not entirely 'silent' as some of his peers would do these
things, Fischer created an interesting solo work that should put
him a bit on the map of improvisers and hopefully some fine collaborations.
This release is a fine introduction to the qualities his work
has. (FdW)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/foundinaskip
NIGHSHIFT (CDR by 267 Lattajjaa)
From Moscow and Yaroslavl (two places quite
apart) comes a trio called Nighshift, who are "Self-proclaimed
punk-ambient" as it says on the website of 267 Lattajjaa.
Four tracks of ambience that much is sure, and why not: played
with the attitude of a punk band. They sound very much present
and alive, say the punk element of this, which is pretty much
due to the nature of the recording I guess, and on other hand
they create some highly atmospheric music, with the use of field
recordings and electronics. The four tracks have exactly the right
length to be entertaining and surprising and the only thing about
this release that let me a bit down is the fact that's pretty
short. Four track, totaling twenty minutes, whereas I could have
easily liked another three pieces, another fifteen minutes, and
see what else the have under their hat. But this is a fine start.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.dlc.fi/~hhaahti/267lattajjaa/
HOURGLASS DROPS - KINGDOM OF BROKEN DREAMS
(CDR by Tib Prod)
ADULTS WITH CHICKS - APTENODYTES FORSTERI (double 3"CDR by
Tib Prod)
Behind Hourglass Drops is a young Dutch man living in Germany,
whose name right now eludes me. He gave me a CDR one night which
had pretty interesting ambient industrial soundscapes, which were
probably created with digital sound synthesis. Now Tib Prod has
also released a work by him, which makes me less satisfied. Here
it seems Hourglass Drops wants to explore the boundaries of ambient
noise, or perhaps wants to go over the limits and plays noise
music that Jliat would find too soft and I think its too crude.
Partly because the recording is mildly distorted, but also because
compositionwise I think there is room for improvement. Things
start and stop and in between there is not much change, dramatic
built up or anything quite engaging to hear. Maybe it sounds a
bit like old Maurizio Bianchi, but without the same urge or necessity.
The best tracks are however at the end of the release, when he
shows some interest in creating changing pieces and structuring
his compositions. The last four or five pieces on a 3"CDR
would have been great.
No information what so ever on Adults With Chicks, who do a double
3"CDR called 'Aptenodytes Forsteri', which seems to be some
sort of environmental inspired release: several cards with wild
life pictures. I haven't got a clue why this was put onto two
3"CDR, but surely there is a reason somewhere anywhere. Its
a bit of a pity that things are kept so mysterious as the music
deserves a bit more attention than this. Adults With Chicks play
music that is best described as deeply atmospheric, maybe built
from heavily processed field recordings - think Paul Bradley or
Keith Berry, but then cut to several shorter pieces, some even
only two minutes long. That is quite nice as its a form that not
many people do, and Adults With Chicks do a very fine job at that.
Nice, intelligent, thoughtful, ambient. Just the band name and
lack of info are a bit off for me. (FdW)
Address: http://www.tibprod.com
ORPHAX - TURN LOOSE THE GOOSE (3"CDR,
private)
Behind Orphax we find Sietse van Erve who recently started Moving
Furniture Records, but for whatever reason this new release is
just 'self-released'. Maybe because its a 3"CDR? The foundation
of this recording is a live recording he made in Tilburg, using
geese recorded in Hungary, along a bowed thumb piano, a bowed
plastic cup, an electric razor, an electric toothbrush and his
voice. Later on this piece extended with more field recordings
- the tram in Amsterdam and the garden of his parents. All of
these together make a multi-layered piece of sounds. Lots and
lots of layers are used and the high end part is bit harsh on
the ears (some compression would have been in place), but throughout
it makes a good Orphax piece. Dense, atmospheric, but not just
quiet. Contrary I'd say. Orphax uses some more uptight noisy textures,
but knows how to keep things under control and not leap into mindless
noise. Orphax has found a great balance between both ends. (FdW)
Address: http://www.orphax.com