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VITAL WEEKLY
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number 676
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week 18
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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
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Submitting material means you read this and approve of this.
* noted are in this week's podcast
RÉGIS BOULARD & CHIEN VERT -
LES TOURISTES (CD by !EDITIONS)
KASHIWA DAISUKE - 5 DEC. (CD by Noble Records)
OLD DOG - BY ANY OTHER NAME (CD by Porter Records)
THE NU BAND - LOWER EAST SIDE BLUES (CD by Porter Records)
PROJEKT TRANSMIT - PROJEKT TRANSMIT (CD by Staubgold)
JOHN WIESE - CIRCLE SNARE (CD by No Fun Productions)
EGK - ELECTRICALS (CD by Another Timbre) *
OCTANTE - LUNULA (CD by Another Timbre) *
PILLOWDIVER - SLEEPING PILLS (CD by 12K) *
MOLLY BERG & STEPHEN VITIELLO - THE GORILLA VARIATIONS (CD
by 12K) *
Z'EV & BRYAN LEWIS SAUNDERS - DAKU (CD by Outfall Channel)
WASTELAND JAZZ UNIT - ABSENCE PACT (CDR by Outfall Channel) *
ROBERT VAN HEUMEN & JOHN FERGUSON - WHISTLE PIG SALOON (CD
by Creative Sources Recordings)
RAMLEH - SWITCH HITTER/THE MACHINES OF INFINITY JOY (10"
by Black Rose Recordings/Broken Flag)
OO-RAY - MAGNIFICATIONS (CDR by Luv Sound) *
CISFINITUM - NEVMENOSIS (CDR by Afe Records) *
HORCHATA - ACYTOTA (CDR by Afe Records) *
GENETIC TRANSMISSION - SPIRAL (CDR by Afe Records) *
KNURL - A HAIL OF BLADES (CD by Impulsy Stetoskopu)
JOSETXO GRIETA - HITZAK, EGINAK, PERTSONAK, ANIMALIAK (DVD by
Discos Crudos / Munster records)
ASPEC(T) - EL OBSCENO PAJARO DE LA NOCHE (Cdr by FF HHHH)
ARKLIGHT - TEARDROP ENTREATIES (Cdr by FF HHHH)
ZOOLOGIST - THE CANE TOAD (3inch CDr by Sicksicksick)
BLACK GUYS BLACK HISTORY (CD by Sicksicksick /Hype Machine)
PRINCESS DRAGONMOM - UNICORN MAN (Cdr by Time Stereo)
PRINCESS DRAGONMOM - THE ROBOTS (DVDr by Time Stereo)
PRINCESS DRAGONMOM - TAPES 1993-1997 (Cdr by Time Stereo)
TOY BIZARRE - KDI DCTB 216 (3"CDR by Ingeos)
BAS VAN HUIZEN - ONTGALMAN (MP3 by Monocromatica) *
NIENTE RECORDS VOLUME 1 (MP3 by Niente Records)
CERNLAB - 52.09 (MP3 by Electroton)
RÉGIS BOULARD & CHIEN VERT -
LES TOURISTES (CD by !EDITIONS)
On "Les Touristes" Boulard presents his new group after
working with Streamer. Chien Vert is a french trio of Stéphane
Fromentin on guitars and voice, Nicolas Méheust on mellotron,
rhodes, mini moog and bass, plus Régis Boulard himself
playing drums, voice and Rhodes. Rock in a postrock vein if I
have to typify the music in one sentence. Easy going minimalistic
rockmusic, mainly instrumental, and focused on creating a certain
atmospheres. In their sound the old keyboards they use attract
most of the attention. The piece "Chien Vert" for example
is dominated by mellotron, evoking old progrock days. In "Omaha-les-Bains"
they show their jazzy face with even in a even more easy going
pace, although the drummer is very busy in this piece. In "Click
Men - Yes Men" they show again another face with a delicious
freerock improvisation. In "Swing is White" they create
a very weird and spooky world. "Visitez Alcatraz" is
an uptempo exercise with strange keyboards. With their musical
possibilities they do a good job, developing a non-spectacular
music that works under the surface. Concerning their musical identity
however they are more into searching and seeking, then into finding.
(DM)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/chienvert
KASHIWA DAISUKE - 5 DEC. (CD by Noble Records)
Kashiwa Daisuke is a highly respected Japanese artist who originally
was introduced in a radio program by legendary Ryuichi Sakamoto
presenting talents of electronic music. Since then the artist
contributed with works to commercials and TV programs. That the
artist has an interest in progressive rock comes clear, not so
much in the musical expression but more in her ability surprise
the listener with the completely unexpected. The main ingredient
on this third album is the beautiful piano works adding an excellent
nocturnal atmosphere to the album along the electronic soundscapes
lying beneath. But as the listener drift into tranquility the
next in line is over-the-top harsh moments of cut-up electronics,
furious breakbeats and drones of noise. The album knocks down
any conventional approach to musical genres and in this unpredictable
nature, Kashiwa Daisuke has composed an impressive work of multistylish
expressions. Highly recommended! (NM)
Address: http://www.noble-label.net/
OLD DOG - BY ANY OTHER NAME (CD by Porter
Records)
THE NU BAND - LOWER EAST SIDE BLUES (CD by Porter Records)
Two new Porter releases in the jazz section of their catalogue.
Old Dog and The Nu Band are bands we are talking of. Both quartets
consist of talented and experienced musicians. And both of them
strongly depend on traditional forms of jazz (bop). Whether they
do so in a traditionalistic or experimental way is beyond my judgment.
But I must say beforehand that I never get very excited by jazz
that in whatever way remains close to the paradigms of bop. Anyway,
let us see what we have here. Old Dog is a quartet by Louie Belogenis
(tenor), Karl Berger (vibes, piano), Michael Bisio (bas), Warren
Smith (drums). Deeply rooted in the traditions of jazz, Bisio
and Belognis wrote nine compositions. The warm playing by Belogenis
was what striked me first in the opening track of this album.
A nice ballad. The weak spot in me perception is the pianoplaying
by Berger in "Endless Return". On vibes he is more at
home if you ask me. In a driving, uptempo composition as "Swa
Swu Sui" I missed a finishing portion of convincing power.
And this feeling also dominates after listening the complete CD.
It is deprived of any feeling of necessity.
The Nu Band is made up of Roy Campbell jr (trumpet, pocket trumpet,
flugelhorn) Mark Whitecage (alto sax, clarinet), Joe Fonda (bass),
Lou Grassi (drums). All four of them contribute with compositions
of new bop for their CD. Each track gives room for nice solo work
for sax and trumpet. Fonda gives away a nice solo with a fantastic
sound on his bass in "Heavenly Ascending". There is
a lot of humor in the drumwork of Grassi in a piece like "Avanti
Galoppi". In every track one feels the enthusiasm of these
players. They interact very playful and inspired. The joy they
have in playing this style of jazz is not to be missed. Yes, even
seductive for someone with my tastes. I liked this one more then
the Old Dog CD. But from both quartets we can say that no new
chapters in jazzhistory are written here. But well-crafted and
spirited jazz it is. (DM)
Address: http://www.porterrecords.com
PROJEKT TRANSMIT - PROJEKT TRANSMIT (CD
by Staubgold)
For Tony Buck it was time for something completely different.
You probably know him from the ambient-minimalist jazz trio The
Necks, or the noise band Peril and improv outfit Kletka Red. So
he proved himself already as a multisided artist. But with this
project he shows again another facet of his musical preferences.
He choses now for very straight forward rock, doing it almost
all on his own. He wrote and produced this project. Except for
one song, 'Masters of War', written by Bob Dylan. Buck plays drums
and guitar and sings. Helped out only by Dave Symes on bass. Together
they sound as a real band who deliver their music with conviction.
Most tracks rest on a minimalist base of propulsive beats or riffs.
Over layers of a thick noise Buck weaves with voice and guitar
simple melodic lines, creating a harmonious and hypnotizing ensemble.
His singing is mixed direction background which was a good decision.
With this album of agitated rock Buck makes his point very manifestly.
A fantastic outburst of rock energy (DM).
Address: http://www.staubgold.com/
JOHN WIESE - CIRCLE SNARE (CD by No Fun
Productions)
John Wiese working within the genre of noise as an "experimentalist"
forgive the title, is significant in that his work using microphone
and electronics appears to be a coherent development which is
rather surprising given the general un-hegemony. Certainly anyone
who is following his career or has any interest in this genre
will need to consider this as it offers something not so much
as a departure or resolution but certainly a development. Each
piece - of the 4 tracks builds from minimal staccato noise into
a rich field of electronics and microphone manipulations. Though
(there is I'm afraid a 'though') I have great respect for this
and other of his work, moreover I'm reminded of the mix of wit
and seriousness of Bruce Nauman - a significant conceptual artist
who perhaps because of his wit rather than seriousness has become
something of a 'hero' to the following generation of artists.
Is the very fine work of Wiese the beginning of a new dawn or
a glorious sunset (to steal a Wagnerian metaphor) . What I'm attempting
to say is how modern and so somehow non-contemporaneous this all
seems which offers the following idea. From one (my) perspective
this is hauntological in appearance though in no way as kitsch
retrofuturism or in any sense of the cyber-punk musicological
use of the term- but Wiese might be part of the predicted re-orientation
to the past rather than a naive attempt at transcendence, though
the "spectre" of transcendence remains. (jliat)
Address: http://www.nofunproductions.com/
EGK - ELECTRICALS (CD by Another Timbre)
OCTANTE - LUNULA (CD by Another Timbre)
Kyle Bruckmann (oboe, english horn & analogue electronics)
and Ernst Karel (trumpet & analogue electronics) hail from
Chicago, operate as EGK and have had a few releases before, which
I thought were pretty good. Their music doesn't seem to deal that
much with the instruments they play, which are most of the time
not to be recognized at all, although on the other hand it hasn't
entirely disappeared either. Sometimes we hear the wind instruments,
but throughout mostly this music deals with the electronic processing
thereof. Perhaps that's why I like it so much. EGK feed the sounds
through their analogue electronics, making it sound entirely different
of course, but it keeps that improvised music feel, with sudden
moves and swift changes, or in 'Interval' a mean drone like sound.
That combination of analogue and electronic improvisation leads
to mighty fine results here again. I must say that I didn't hear
much new under their sun either, but I guess this is the third
or fourth CD I heard by them in maybe twice as many years, so
there is no overproduction there.
More traditionally improvised music can be found by Octante, which
is a quartet (oddly enough not a five piece) of Ruth Barberan
(trumpet, speaker and microphones), Alfredo Costa Monteiro (accordion
and objects), Ferran Fages (oscillators and pick ups), Margarida
Garcia (electric double bass). Their music has also electric and
electronic elements thrown in to the proceedings, but then throughout
it deals mostly with acoustic sounds of a more quieter nature.
This is the kind of improvised music that requires more concentration
than the one from EGK - although some people may differ with me
about that. But I thought that almost an hour of this kind of
music is too much of a long stretch for me. Two times thirty minutes
is just a bit too much I thought. Otherwise it was quite nice.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.anothertimbre.com
PILLOWDIVER - SLEEPING PILLS (CD by 12K)
MOLLY BERG & STEPHEN VITIELLO - THE GORILLA VARIATIONS (CD
by 12K)
12K is never shy to sign up an entirely new act, which I guess
is one of the more nicer things about the label. Rene Margraff
(born in 1975) lives in Berlin and works for a well-known music
software company it says on the press release (if I think and
say out loud Ableton Live, I hope they make a nice donation to
Vital Weekly - thank you) and plays guitar. Last year he started
to play as Pillowdiver, armed with a guitar, looper pedals) or
perhaps his own software and the nine pieces act as sleeping pills
I guess - or perhaps its because I could some after a month of
irregular sleep. Pieces last around three to six minutes and are
based on a few loops, and mild distortions. Its quite nice altogether
as a sort of later at night relaxing music, but its hardly anything
special I think. Nice, but not great. Is that enough to release
something? It is to 12K, but I surely have my doubts here.
Stephen Vitiello released before on 12K, an excellent collaboration
with Machinefabriek and here he does one with Molly Berg, of whom
we learn 'is a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who has appeared
on recordings by Cracker and Jason Molina' - entirely my mistake
that this doesn't mean much to me I guess. Together they played
some music for Brazilian video artist Eder Santos, but it turned
out they had so much material that they edited to some more 'songs'
and 'variations' out of it. Berg plays clarinet, voice, whistling,
field recordings and such like and Vitiello returns to playing
the guitar here, after a six years hiatus. Quite intimate music
going on here, but also a bit single minded. The flageletto guitar
playing is a thing you can do only so often on a record and not
an entire record I guess. I'd say again later night atmospheric
music like Pillowdiver, but I'd play that one first and then this
one, as Vitiello & Berg have a some what softer pace in them.
Both CDs are nice, but not as spectacular. (FdW)
Address: http://www.12k.com
Z'EV & BRYAN LEWIS SAUNDERS - DAKU (CD
by Outfall Channel)
WASTELAND JAZZ UNIT - ABSENCE PACT (CDR by Outfall Channel)
Its good to see a good release on CDR being released on CD, and
this time with an even nicer cover (not that the original on Stand
Up Tragedy Records wasn't bad, but this just nicer, silkscreened).
In Vital Weekly 646 I wrote: "Certainly one of the stranger
releases I recently reviewed was Bryan Lewis Saunders' 'N1-N4
Variations', of him talking in his sleep. Here he has another
set of spoken word - four stories and an introduction of the word
'Daku'. It can be love, time, god or anything. Its meaning is
its use, Saunders says. Saunders recites his texts, or rather
tells his stories and Z'EV uses his voice to create the music.
Z'EV's recent outings in electronic music, say 'Forwaard' and
'Outwaard', where he processes environmental sounds and which
are far away from his usual percussion based work (although nothing
new for him, as Z'EV also created text sound pieces in the earlier
days of his career). Even when following the text is something
that I don't always do, concentrating more on the texture of the
voice in combination with the music, this is a great story telling
release. Saunders has a great voice, telling stories about being
sick and pain that grabs the listener, while Z'EV provides a fine
soundtrack to it. The voices are transformed into animalistic
cries and whispers, adding scary elements to the music. I'm not
entirely sure if it is meant as such but there is an uneasy, horror
like element that is part of this music. Excellent radioplay stuff."
And that's where I still stand.
Wasteland Jazz Unit is a first time around, at least in these
pages. They act as the heirs to the Borbetomagus sound. One Jon
Lorenz on saxophones and one John Rich on clarinets and what the
liner notes don't tell you is the extensive use of feedback that
howls and screams about here. Its only twenty-five something minutes
long, but what a fury it is. Normally noise as heavy as this is
not my thing that much, but I have good memories of the various
Borbetomagus concerts I saw and this brings that back. Improvised
music with that strong noise rock edge to it. (FdW)
Address: http://www.outfallchannel.com
ROBERT VAN HEUMEN & JOHN FERGUSON -
WHISTLE PIG SALOON (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)
The idea of repetition in the film Ground Hog Day (aka whistle
pig day) is that the past as the future can be re inscribed with
novelty, and appears in a more opaque form in the writings of
Deleuze and Guattari - an opacity in part given by a certain reading
of Nietzsche which carefully removes - "of the self same"
- which is cool - as it arises out of a long line of (lit) critters,
I.A. Richards, William Empson, William K. Wimsatt, Monroe Beardsley,
F.R. Leavis as well as Roland Barthes, Jacques Derrida, Paul de
Man, Geoffrey Hartman et al. so allowing the "re-appropriating
a previous moment." It opens up I suppose a conscious re-evaluation
- re-working of difference - to and with the pioneers of modernity
such as Cage and Tudor. And so techniques become -re-new-ed. However
one criticism needs to be addressed which is scientism - these
works were produced in a culture *lab* - how immune from the Sokal
affair? - but for myself at this moment more importantly the serious
reality of Nietzsche's eternal return of the same as a not knowing
identical experience, "this spider.. moonlight...",
"the most scientific" not literary idea, a la Markov.
"John configures the electric guitar as a site for multiple
simultaneous points of interaction and queries the iconic cultural
status of his instrument via feet, fingers and feedback. Robert
crunches, growls and smashes both John`s live sampled sound as
well as his private stack of industrial bits and organic beats."
Either there is nothing new - or there is endless novelty - "two
cultures"? (jliat)
Address http://hardhatarea.com/WPS/
RAMLEH - SWITCH HITTER/THE MACHINES OF INFINITY
JOY (10" by Black Rose Recordings/Broken Flag)
When Ramleh became Toll, somewhere in the mid 80s, I wasn't pleased.
Toll seemed more like a rock band than the power electronics of
Ramleh, which was one of my favorites on the scene, more than
Whitehouse. Toll never bothered me that much. Strangely enough,
looking back now, I did like Skullflower, which was connected
to Toll, sharing members and such like. Ramleh took over again
from Toll, but continuing the rock sound, in which noise and improvisation
merged together. This new 10" contains their new recordings,
the first since 1998, made between 2004 and 2008. There is no
return to power electronics, which is again quite sad, as I'd
loved to see an updated version on that. Here its bass, vocals,
drums and guitar. 'Switch Hitter' is quite a psychedelic song,
with vocals, but somewhere half way through seems to be falling
apart a bit. 'The Machines Of Infinity Joy', an instrumental piece,
seems to fare better, and pounds its way through life. Its been
a while since I last heard Skullflower, or Toll, and this record
is quite good, so I should dig out the old stuff again, and see
what it was that didn't attract me in the good ol' days. Still,
a return to power noise would be great, and hopefully the planned
re-issues do materialize sometime soon too. (FdW)
Address: <srmeixner@yahoo.co.uk>
OO-RAY - MAGNIFICATIONS (CDR by Luv Sound)
Ted Laderas is the man behind OO-Ray. Laderas has been with an
electro-band Ainu, which I believe I don't know, nor what he did
there. However three years ago he started to learn to play the
cello and as OO-Ray he plays solely cello music, which however
never seems to sound like a cello. He loops the sounds around,
feeds them through a bunch of electronic sound processors and
in the end we have this swirling mass of sound. You could all
too easily think this is a bunch of analogue synthesizers at work,
buzzing away at work for a new album for Hypnos, but apparently
its not. All cello and loops devices. The only tracks were this
is clearer is at the four live pieces at the end of the release,
when there is indeed the cello. In the eight studio pieces this
is not the case. Here the deep end ambient structures are the
main thing. As such nothing new under new under the sun - think
for instance Vidna Obmana's various explorations in this direction
- but Laderas plays things with great care and style. A fine work
for late night listening. (FdW)
Address: http://www.luvsound.org
CISFINITUM - NEVMENOSIS (CDR by Afe Records)
HORCHATA - ACYTOTA (CDR by Afe Records)
GENETIC TRANSMISSION - SPIRAL (CDR by Afe Records)
Eugene Voronovsky, the man behind Cisfinitum, went to the Moscow
conservatory and is a professional violinist. In his music as
Cisfinitum he uses various 'regular' instruments, such as violin,
piano and percussion, but also found sound. All of the sounds
are processed, either with analog tools from the soviet era, as
well as digitally. Cisfinitum already has loads of releases, which
I haven't heard all, and I'm sure I wouldn't want to, but 'Nevmenosis'
is surely a fine release. Its a compilation of compilation pieces
plus two unreleased pieces. Dark, atmospheric, with some field
recordings, such as the birds in 'Hermine'. Cisfinitum plays music
that is best enjoyed at night, sitting in an almost dark room,
to make sure you got that scary effect (or that estranged mood
effect, which ever you prefer with the dark soundtrack of the
night) to the full extent. Somehow I think it sounds pretty 'Russian',
but its hard to say why that is. It isn't the most original voice
in dark ambient, but he does things with great care.
Behind Horchata is one Micheal Palace, of whom we only heard a
release he did with Andrea Marutti (the man behind Afe Records).
He worked as a research scientist, and the work brought him to
the rainforests where he did recordings, which he uses in his
music. His reworkings involve lots of computer processing and
thus its hard if not impossible to recognize anything from the
original sound input. The pieces he creates are, unlike Cisfinitum,
entirely in the digital world of sound processing, but the outcome
is pretty much the same. Deep, drone, atmospheric music. Horchata
has a lot of tracks on his album, which spans almost an hour,
and I must admit that even when I thought this was all very nice
its also quite long altogether and that there isn't enough variation
in the material to keep it interesting throughout. Maybe some
pieces less and the album as a whole could have benefitted from
that.
Things are a bit more experimental with Genetic Transmission,
which is the project of one Tomasz Twardawa, who had a whole bunch
of releases on various labels, like Tochnit Aleph, Beast Of Prey
and War Office Propaganda, but none I ever heard (I think). Here
he has one track of about forty-three minutes, filled with field
recordings at the start, but going into metallic rumble quite
soon after that. Once it gets there, it stays there. Sometimes
he adds different sounds, like multiple ticking clocks, but when
the ball rolls, it rolls. It's nice, but perhaps too single minded
and perhaps also a bit unfocussed. The composition is rather like
loose sand and not coherent and strong. That is a pity. If Twardawa
would have chosen for strict separated pieces, or parts, it would
be a bit clearer and leaving the improvised aspect of it behind.
But it surely had some finer moments too. Nice, but with room
for improvement. (FdW)
Address: http://www.aferecords.com
KNURL - A HAIL OF BLADES (CD by Impulsy Stetoskopu)
Everything about this release is extreme. Starting out with the
esthetic aspect this latest CDR-release by Canadian concrete noise
legend Knurl has been packed in-between two big metal plates connected
with four bolts drilled through each corner of the plates. A highly
impressive cover art on this one. Taking a look at the sonic containment
of the release, Knurl a.k.a. Alan Bloor exclusively utilises circular
saw blades to compose this piece of anti-music on the album known
as "A hail of blades", an album that are divided into
five intersections. Opening with a work of extremely harshness
from beginning to end next in line starts slowly and peacefully
moves like an ambient piece of found sounds in the first few minutes
but as the eight minutes long track develops, drones of crushing
noise slowly builds from deep levels of the sound picture taking
more and more space until the track ends out in sonic chaos of
ear-aching noise. The sounds of crushing electronics continues
in the third intersection meanwhile the fourth chapter takes its
approach in high frequency screeching noises. As the fifth and
final piece arises the speakers are guaranteed to burn from the
inside thanks to painfully extreme noise built on crushing power
electronics. There are noise music and there are art of noise,
as Italian futurist Luigi Russolo suggested a century ago. Alan
Bloor once more reveals that his Knurl-project belongs to the
latter category. An extreme yet seriously addictive work of crushing
art. (NM)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/impulsystetoskopu
JOSETXO GRIETA - HITZAK, EGINAK, PERTSONAK, ANIMALIAK (DVD by
Discos Crudos / Munster records)
So there's these three guys in a dark room - one a drummer on
a stage - the other two in semi darkness, a vocalist who screams
a lot and a guitarist who makes fairly rhythmic noises as does
the drummer. The camera working is dizzily shocking and the sound
grows and falls in intensity - though in the mix the vocals are
more up front than the others. It may sound cruel to say this
but "You never had seen anything like this, and never will
have the chance to see it." leaves these open to the trades
description act. Not that I'm saying this is bad - its not- but
wrong on two counts - we can see it over and over as it's a DVD
- and they are following a well trod path. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VZFjQpWB68
which might not be where it started but was shocking enough to
illicit a no comment from George Martin, and Lennon may well maintain
ages before the YBAs that 'you can make anything you want out
of it' .. or I could reference Derek Bailey http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f20VQjKH9xk
or many others - what strikes me as very odd is the feeling that
the Oxley Bailey piece is more cohesive in its free play. Maybe
Josetxo Grieta is trying to communicate something. All of which
reverses the naivety of the idea of anything being free. oh -
but places itself- these guys- if not us - back in the very naff
position of admitting to (a) transcendence.. And that is from
me a far more shocking
indictment of the piece. (jliat)
Address: http://www.artoartian.org/
ASPEC(T) - EL OBSCENO PAJARO DE LA NOCHE
(Cdr by FF HHHH)
ARKLIGHT - TEARDROP ENTREATIES (Cdr by FF HHHH)
Aspec(t) appears to be sax and electronics improvisation as almost
jazz whilst arklight electric guitars drums and vocals as improvisation
as not almost regular rock/pop- I think like some of those (whatever
happened to them) New Zealand bands- effectless amplification
strumming discordant rhythms etc. So if you are at all interested
checkout the website there are mp3 samples which saves me a task
of description. Unlike Josetxo Grieta both of these in different
ways lack any transcendence but affirm the immanence of certain
improvisational performance. Roughly translated in the case of
Arklight as 'couldn't give a fuck' whereas Aspec(t) as from the
name with bracketed t produce crescendos of electronics and wailing
grunting sax - and I'm now doing what I said I wouldn't! Anyway
I think immanence is now cool - again - it seems Jacques Derrida's
attempt to re-introduce god into the room has failed and though
dead its Deleuze who is the main man - and so immanence - which
means these two bands are cool and JG and JD are not! (jliat)
Address http://www.ffhhh.be
ZOOLOGIST - THE CANE TOAD (3inch CDr by
Sicksicksick)
BLACK GUYS BLACK HISTORY (CD by Sicksicksick /Hype Machine)
The Cane Toad is a mixture across 4 tracks of found sound electronics
guttural noises and blips and burps (a particularly annoying burping)
snippets of sound tracks- in short an electronic collage which
is "the third in a series of concept EPs (of) John Gross
and Todd Novosad Denver 'pillars-of the-noise-community'.."
Whereas Black history is a full length CD - "A comprehensive
collection of the Albuquerque duo's 3" harsh noise cdrs and
drone endless loop cassettes." which is very much in the
mold of the 3inch. (Another set of sound collages.) Information
regarding both "projects" is limited but I think a clue
in all this "stuff" is the idea of a 'noise community'.
The actual idea of Art has been sublimated by
"community" as also the terms "concept" and
"experiment" etc. In platonic terms a society devoid
of artists. Noise or art as an anthropological structuring rather
than any critique- internal - of art or external of culture/society/community.
Within such communities there are all the emotional and sociological
tropes we find in any other, whether religious or political, a
very familiar phenomenon "they are haunted by the thought
of other groups as fearful and hostile as they are themselves...
they lie entwined together... each looks to his mate for support
and comfort and finds in the other a bulwark. against the difficulties
of every day and the meditative melancholia which from time to
time overwhelms the Nambikwara. In one and all there may be glimpsed
a great sweetness of nature, a profound nonchalance, an animal
satisfaction as ingenious as it is charming, and beneath all this,
something that can be recognized as one of the most moving and
authentic manifestations of human tenderness" (jliat / Levi-Straus/
J Derrida)
Address: http://www.sicksicksickdistro.com/
PRINCESS DRAGONMOM - UNICORN MAN (Cdr by
Time Stereo)
PRINCESS DRAGONMOM - THE ROBOTS (DVDr by Time Stereo)
PRINCESS DRAGONMOM - TAPES 1993-1997 (Cdr by Time Stereo)
Current members: Davin Brainard, Warn Defever, Ronald Cornelissen,
Dion Fischer, Erika Hoffmann, Jeremy Kallio, MOG if this is correct,
who have spun out of harsh electronic noise to performance art,
here on the DVD featuring robots who are often destroyed- yet
in friendly manner - there is nothing sinister. Although the reason
for the occurrence of such performances at a certain distance
may not be connected in any direct way to what was once called
"performance art" which arose out of attempts to push
perceived boundaries of what was art. It could be that cut off
from any pre-existing foundations - PDM share the general anthropologic
drift of much of what is now called noise - noise art - etc. Creating
now either at the end of art - or the discovery that reality is
more a Möbius strip than a road which leads to Rome, a historical
schism from what was- has occurred and in any critical evaluation
comparisons with the recent past look less profitable than wider
cultural comparisons. Ones where custom has replaced meaning through
the kinds of performances - which are very stylized - typified
by PDM and a good section if not all of the noise scene. Though
not rooted in any historical way to Art or any tradition- significantly
any pre-art tradition, which might provoke a Deleuzean rhizomatic
critique or account, I think such accounts at best will only re-occur
- so- I will venture something that is probably not unique or
new. Not that these disparate groups cut off from modernity's
teleology's are aware or not, but I refer to such things as The
Padstow Obby 'Oss or The Mari Lwyd. What for? - an acceptance
of madness or a respite from the intellect and emotions which
threaten to overwhelm? Of something which once had meaning but
is now pointless - but not as pointless a whipping a dead or living
horse. (jliat)
Address: http://timestereo.com
TOY BIZARRE - KDI DCTB 216 (3"CDR by
Ingeos)
Cedric Peyronnet, the man behind Toy Bizarre, starts an ambitious
project of twelve 3"CDR releases, each with one piece of
twelve minutes and all the data is based on "observations
and data, reported by Jude Anderson, about square 1 m of the Atherton
Gardens, City of Yarra (Melbourne, Australia)" and if I understood
this right, the cover mentions the various sounds used, 'the laugh
of school kids playing on the soccer field', 'tram rattles' and
such like, but it also mentions 'heavy clouds, no wind', the temperature
and such like. The musical component is a strong piece in the
best Toy Bizarre tradition. Drone like, microsounding, but also
full with sound, sustaining and ringing overtones and sound sources
being obscured. Or perhaps its just the list mentioned on the
cover, come to think of it, and perhaps even in a chronological
order. Toy Bizarre has a strong voice of his own, setting him
apart, I guess, from many of his French peers - the more serious
blokes - but throughout the many years of him being active, an
unique voice in the serious underground music. Not always mentioned,
but certainly along the lines of Roel Meelkop, Marc Behrens and
Richard Chartier. (FdW)
Address: http://www.ingeos.org
BAS VAN HUIZEN - ONTGALMAN (MP3 by Monocromatica)
From literally almost around the corner - probably one of the
few artists who drops his promo's unstamped through the HQ letterbox
- comes a MP3 release by Bas van Huizen, who surprised us before
with his computer based compositions in the field of musique concrete,
but here he decided to create an entire album devoted to the guitar.
He plays the six strings occasionally like a guitar, wailing about,
with an e-bow. But by and large his interest goes out to play
around with samples of the guitar, making it sound like anything
but a guitar. I must admit that the parts in which the guitar
doesn't sound like a guitar were my favorite and that parts which
sounded like one, didn't do much for me. Too much like retro prog
rock guitars for me. But as said in the other pieces Van Huizen
creates a fine tapestry of sound. Here and there it reminded me
of Asmus Tietchens, especially in the metallic rumble of the seventh
piece. Throughout a fine work. (FdW)
Address: http://www.monocromatica.com
NIENTE RECORDS VOLUME 1 (MP3 by Niente Records)
Quite a bizar one, this compilation. I have no idea wether this
is released as CDR or as a MP3, but I gather the last. It has
lots of names I never heard of, like Vonneumann, Lendormin, Die
Hoehe 19, Mongoholi Nasi, Nihil Is Me, but also some which I did
hear before, such as St.ride, A Spirale, Harshcore, Bob Marsh.
Musicwise this is also not easy to pin down to something, but
if there is a common theme running through these seventeen pieces,
I'd say its improvisation. This is not always in a traditional
sense of the word, but can be electronic, noise based or otherwise,
but not in a way that is more common in the Vital pages. This
makes this compilation slightly chaotic, but full of energy. Not
every track around here is great, but nothing takes up much space
here either. What you don't like is over pretty quick, but then
so is what you may like. A good place to learn some more furious
improvised noise makers. (FdW)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/nienterecords
CERNLAB - 52.09 (MP3 by Electroton)
Electroton is a German label based in Nürnberg. The label
focus on state of the art in contemporary electronic music exclusively
releasing digital downloads. Since its opening release on the
1st of august in 2008, the label has released another album in
september 2008, this present album being the third shot from the
label. Behind present project Cernlab, you find German sound explorer
Marek Slipek who is also behind other projects , among others
with the artist Sven Hahne as Conphusion. As Cernlab, Marek Slipek
has an sound explorative approach to his expression with abstract
sounds and rhythm textures. The abstract textures are combined
with conventional and listenable textures with a nice balance
between catchy and experimental style. During the playtime Cernlab
comes around stylish touches of minimal electro and dub-like textures
giving a nice clubbish approach to the exploring edge of the work.
Very interesting indeed! (NM)
Address: http://www.electroton.net/