DARWINSBITCH – ORE (CD by Digitalis Industries) *
CONCERN – TRUTH & DISTANCE (CD by Digitalis Industries) *
BLACK TO COMM – CHARLEMAGNE & PIPPIN (CD by Digitalis Industries) *
FABIO ORSI & SEAWORTHY – NEAR AND FARAWAY (CD by Lowpoint) *
MEM1 – +1 (CD by Interval Recordings) *
STEPHEN MOORE – TO BUILD A FIELD (CD by Deep Listening) *
ANDROMEDA MEGA EXPRESS ORCHESTRA – TAKE OFF (CD by Alien Transistor)
TORSTEN PAPENHEIM – SOME OF THE THINGS WE COULD BE (CD by Schraum)
FREDDY STUDER – VOICES (CD by Unit Records)
JAY CLOIDT & AMANDA MOODY – D,ARC- WOMAN ON FIRE (CD by Minimax)
MARC HANNAFORD – POLAR (CD by Extreme)
JOHN WIESE – ZOMBIE (LP by Presto Records)
RADIOACTIVE PROSTITUTE – KING MARIS DAY (LP by Radioactive Prostitute)
ANTOINE CHESSEX/ARNAUD RIVIERE (7″ by Le Petit Mignon)
EARLY HOMINIDS – METATARSAL (CDR by Music Mundane) *
FOLDHEAD – DRUGS PAINT ALCOHOL (CDR by Music Mundane) *
JAMES WYNESS – FIGURE AND GROUND (CDR by Khora) *
DENIS KOLOKOL – ILY (CDR by Audiotong) *
KRAUSS – GOLDEN TREASURY (CDR, private) *
SUMMER SOLSTICE (CDR compilation by Twilight Luggage)
LARMOYANT – LIVE AT ROBOT (CDR by Twilight Luggage) *
DOC WOR MIRRAN & TESENDALO – MOMENTUM 2 (CDR by Mirran Threat)
DOC WOR MIRRAN – GUITARRED & FEATHERED (CDR by MissmanagemenT) *
JEREMY BIBLE & JASON HENRY – MAGNET (CDR by Gruenrekorder) *
KK/KK / POLDR (cassette by Razzle Dazzle)
DARWINSBITCH – ORE (CD by Digitalis Industries)
CONCERN – TRUTH & DISTANCE (CD by Digitalis Industries)
BLACK TO COMM – CHARLEMAGNE & PIPPIN (CD by Digitalis Industries)
Marielle Jakobsons is one half of Myrmyr (with Agnes Szelag) and one half of Date Palms (with her partner Gregg Kowalsky), but solo she works as Darwinsbitch, which in the year of Darwin seems to be an appropriate name. I have no idea if she works longer under this disguise, or if its something for the occasion of 2009. Apparently she uses sine oscillators and violin, and, not mentioned on the cover, no doubt an array of sound effects. The music she creates is best lumped into the world of drone music, but there is a bit more happening than just that. Jakobsons doesn’t go for a steady, minimal stream – one piece per half hour, but there are two longer ones and five shorter pieces. Its this variation in length that makes this a CD in which variation is important. Jakobsons explores various territories per piece, and once fully covered, she let’s go. If a handful of minutes is enough, then its enough. That’s what makes this a great release. Drone music that is to the point and not droning for the sake of it.
Also Gordon Ashworth, also known as Concern, is a new name for me, who delivers three pieces on his ‘Truth & Distance’ release, which are alike Darwinsbitch in the field of drone music. He uses zither, lap harp, mbira, banjo, piano, clarinet, alto horn, trombone, accordion and lots of reverb. His instruments are scanned with vibrating objects in order to create overtones and it makes this almost a modern classical release. Somewhere in between music for an installation and Phill Niblock, I’d say. This is more the territory where things are on endless sustain, but perhaps due to the variety of sources and the relative shortness of the pieces things don’t leap into static, but are vibrating, changing throughout its minimalist approach to keep things fascinating. Ashworth has plenty of skills to deliver three fine pieces. Not a second too long, not a minute too short. Very nice work.
Behind Black To Comm is Marc Richter, also the man behind the excellent Dekorder label from Hamburg, plus Renate Nikolaus and Ulf Schütte. They have a couple of releases before, which I really liked, and this new one is no disappointment either. I am not entirely sure what or who Pippin is, mentioned in the title, but it seems to me that Charlemagne is Charlemagne Palestine. Black To Comm are armed farfisa organ, tapeloops, metal percussion, violin, toys, water, shruti box, whistle, feedback and more, but it seems to me that the farfisa plays the leading part, and is a tribute to Palestine. The drone is the backbone here, and over that Palestine like drone they more or less improvise their way about. Electronics, feedback, metallic rumble, they all find their place under the drone sun. Not always as meditative as the previous two releases on Digitalis Industries, I guess one could best start with Black To Comm, for its fiercely packed drones are the heaviest of the three. A fine but massive set. (FdW)
Address: http://www.digitalisindustries.com
FABIO ORSI & SEAWORTHY – NEAR AND FARAWAY (CD by Lowpoint)
Both of these artists have delivered works that cross the boundaries of ambient, field recordings and glitch, and their respective discographies read like a who’s who in label-land, Small Voices, 12K, Sound & Fury and Celebrate Psi Phenomenon. Here they deliver a CD of three pieces, each a solo one, and one collaborative (something which Low Point does quite a lot actually). Orsi’s piece is entirely built from heavily and heavenly layered guitar sounds plus some bird calls. It floats nicely about in the best Brian Eno tradition. This approach is continued in the collaborative, title piece. Stretched out tones of gliding and endless sustaining guitars. That perhaps is nice for the listener, but one could also see this as too much of a continuation of the Orsi solo piece, and wonder what Seaworthy does. The Seaworthy solo piece is more sparsely orchestrated, bathing in empty and silent space, with single tones on the guitar popping up at the end. That marked indeed a difference. Both Orsi and Seaworthy are quite equal partners in this particular musical field, which of course is fine enough, but perhaps a somewhat sharper distinction between both would have resulted in a somewhat more sharper collaborative effort. Aside from that this is quite a great work, filled with ambience, tranquility and spacious music. (FdW)
Address: http://www.low-point.com
MEM1 – +1 (CD by Interval Recordings)
I have no idea why I wrote in Vital Weekly 566 that Mem1 was from Israel, because now it seems they are from Los Angeles. Or maybe they have moved in the meantime? The duo is Mark and Laura Cetilia. He on laptop and she on cello, and so far I reviews two their works, and on both occasions I thought the processing of cello sounds through means of laptop were quite nice, but somehow didn’t seem to fulfill its potential. I am not sure if they felt the same way, but for ‘+1’ they invited nine composers to work with them. Names I recognized were Jan Jelinek, Frank Bretschneider, Jen Boyd and Steve Roden. The press text and cover leaves us a bit in the dark as to how these things were conceived. Did Mem1 deliver the sound, and the others composed with those? That, somehow, doesn’t seem to be the case. Did the nine deliver sounds to be added? Perhaps it is the case. Its not easy to ‘read’ this release. The music on most of the tracks is alike, and whatever differences there are they are very small. Should one missed out on the story of the nine other composers, then one could easily assume the music is all made by the same band. Perhaps that is a good thing as it makes quite a homogenous album, but on now its kinda hard to see the added value of the nine extra composers for this. Some of these pieces are a bit overlong for the mood they try to capture, which was my problem with Mem1’s music before. The moody atmosphere of carefully processed stays a bit too much on the safe side of things, and one hopes for an outburst, but that never seems to come. Again for me it doesn’t fulfill its potential, but its getting a bit closer, I guess. (FdW)
Address: http://www.mem1.com
STEPHEN MOORE – TO BUILD A FIELD (CD by Deep Listening)
The world of serious music and serious art is hardly touched in these pages, perhaps because Vital Weekly thinks that the ground they cover is serious enough. So I do know who Merce Cunningham is, a choreographer, partner of the late of John Cage (and who died last sunday so I read in this morning’s newspaper), but that Christian Wolff, Takehisa Kosugi and David Behrman are members of his live band I don’t know. Likewise Stephen Moore, also part of his band, but also a composer of music for the younger generation of choreographers, whose names don’t mean much either to me. All six pieces on this CD were composed for dance pieces. The title refers to Moore’s role in this: “designing and executing sonic structures that define the emotional and rhythmic topography of time”. To that end he uses acoustic sound sources and electronics, studio and live composition. This is something that is on display here. ‘Comae’ is a pure computer piece of various kinds of software running about, whereas for instance in ‘Transmission’ computerized sounds which are somewhere halfway through being guided by a beautiful choir like singing. In ‘Escalation’ rhythm plays an important role, a sort of highly messed up techno sound (I wouldn’t be surprised if he would call this his ‘techno piece’, but its also a bit long) which marks a contrast with the almost ambience of ‘Dream Tango (An Exit)’. This makes this release into a varied bunch of music, and probably an excellent display for the many sides Moore has. Nice work throughout. (FdW)
Address: http://www.deeplistening.org
ANDROMEDA MEGA EXPRESS ORCHESTRA – TAKE OFF (CD by Alien Transistor)
An exceptional release, especially for the fact that a complete orchestra of some 20 young musicians is involved. Just imagine what a hell of job it is to synchronize agendas with so many people. Well Daniel Glatzel – also very young (25) – did it. So he must be a fantastic animator and very convinced of his musical projects. In the recent past the orchestra worked with the rockband The Notwist and with Herbert Grönemeyer. With “Take Off” they stand on their feet. It is a suite of eight compositions by Glatzel that impress above all because of their clever and professional arrangements. But I really wished everything was musically more interesting. In my ears it sounded all very conventional, lacking personality and originality what the compositional side concerns. He uses many melodic ingredients that sound very familiar but that are not treated originally in order to compensate this fact. He plays with idioms coming from film music, jazz, easy listening, etc, in a very open-minded way. It results in an album that is more about pleasing then about demanding. Nothing wrong with this. But just listen to any album by Van Dyke Parks and you get the point I want to make. In “Cotton Candy Nebula” and at the end of “Asteroids” the music becomes a bit experimental, cacaphonic and non-melodic, but still within borders. The surprises we find in the arrangements and the breaks and twists from time to time. But again, never over the top. This entertaining album proves from beginning to the end that Daniel Glatzel is a very capable composer and arranger. I hope he will show more of his own face in the future and will develop a more personal voice. The orchestra does a very good job. The pieces are performed very enthusiastically with drive and much energy. And everything is recorded nice and clear. A courageous undertaking from a promising talent! (DM)
Address: http://www.alientransistor.de/
TORSTEN PAPENHEIM – SOME OF THE THINGS WE COULD BE (CD by Schraum)
Papenheim is a guitarist and composer from Berlin. Besides his solo work he performs mainly as a member of Rant with Merle Bennett on drums. With “Some of the Things we could be” however Papenheim takes another direction. He presents 12 new compositions played by Dave Bennett (guitar, clarinet), Merle Bennett (drums), Christian Biegai (altosax, bassclarinet), Axel Haller (bass), Christian Marien (drums), Matthias Muller (trombone), Derek Shirley (bass), Roland Spieth (trumpet), Michael Thieke (altosax), Clayton Thomas (bass), Gerhard Uebele (piano) Ute Voelker (accordion) and Torsten Papenheim (guitar, banjo, piano). The musicians recorded in small subensembles. And they had no idea of the compositions they were contributing to. Later the recordings were assembled into complete pieces by Papenheim according to the ideas he had in mind. Through this procedure Papenheim realized this project, getting inspiration from very different corners: chambermusic, jazz and improvised music, non-musical approaches, soundcollage, etc. Dave Bennett is the right producer and partner Papenheim needed for this avant garde project. All pieces have the same charming simpleness and primitiveness that make up their identity. The pieces are very open with sparse instrumentation. Many pieces have an almost weird Residentslike strange atmosphere because the musicians are not playing in tune with the compositions as Papenheim had them in his mind, causing an alienating effect. Also because some instruments are out of tune from time to time (piano). All this is done deliberately by Papenheim. It seems he seeks for a musicality by including disturbing and non-musical elements. This makes “Some of the Things we could be” an interesting and satisfying release. (DM)
Address: http://www.schraum.de/
FREDDY STUDER – VOICES (CD by Unit Records)
Freddy Studer is a self-taught drummers and percussionist from Luzern, Switzerland. He started his career in the early 70s playing with people like Christy Doran, Urs Leimgruber, Stephan Witwer. Later also with many musicians from outside Switzerland. The duo-format, especially with women, is what Studes seems to prefer. Between 1996 and 2004 he recorded six CDs with duets by Robyn Schulkowsky (perc), Jin Hi Kim (komungo), Joelle Léandre (bass), Dorothea Schürch (vocals), DJ M. Singe (turntables) and Ami Yoshida (vocals). For his new project made up of duos, “Voices”, Studer invited three women to sing and improvise: Lauren Newton, Saadet Türköz and Ami Yoshida.. Well maybe it is better to replace ‘sing’, by ‘screaming’, ‘yelling’, etc, etc. The vocal work from all three ladies has little to do with what we usually call singing. The CD opens however with a solo piece by Studer called ‘Sound Intoxication’, a richly textured improvisation. The dialogues between Studer and Newton I found the most engaging and appealing, like in “Axis” where Newton sings with a jazzy phrasing. The improvisations with Saader are often softer and more introspective, whereas the exercises with Yoshida move on the other side of the spectrum. Yoshida like in “Nakae” makes explores extreme use of her voice. Studer feels at home with all three vocalists. And the duets with all three women show his ability to co-create rich and strong interwoven improvisations by voice and percussion, using many different techniques. (DM)
Address: http://www.unitrecords.com
JAY CLOIDT & AMANDA MOODY – D,ARC- WOMAN ON FIRE (CD by Minimax)
The name of Jay Cloidt appeared earlier in Vital Weekly. We reviewed an album be him called “Kole Kat Krush” released by Starkland. On that album Cloidt profiled himself as a composer with an interest in popular music. Not so strange as Cloidt started as a blues and rock musician, before studying composition by David Berhmann and Robert Ashley. Starkland now distributes this new album by Cloidt and Amanda Moody, released through MiniMax a recordlabel run by Paul Dresher. Again an album with strong ties to popular music. 11 songs this time, with texts written and sung by Amanda Moody. Moody is a multitalented writer, actress and singer who gained success with her music theatre work (“Serial Murderess”, 2001). For this project she reworked and updated the Joan d’Arc-legend. Not so strange the music, written by Cloidt, evokes medieval atmospheres. He creates effective musical environments for the different episodes by electronic and acoustic means. Concerning the acoustic part it is interesting to mention that we can enjoy the celloplaying of Joan Jeanrenaud of the Kronos Quartet plus two other celloplayers (Elaine Kreston and Danielle DeGruttola). Apart from piano (Jon Herbst) and guitar (WillBernard) and cello everything else – mainly electronics – is played by Cloidt himself. The vocals and text are on the forefront in this narrative work. Moody is a very capable and expressive singer and reminded sometimes of Diamanda Galas. In “Born in Blood” she combines singing in a rockmanner with opera. In “10.000 Silver Doves” she is inspired by gospelmusic. With her impressive voice she puts a lot of drama in the songs. And when we realize that the cello is coloring most of the songs, you can imagine that we dwell around in dark and emotional corners of the human soul. Not so strange when you revitalize the Joan d’Arc legend. A very intense experience. (DM)
Address: http://www.dresherensemble.org/
MARC HANNAFORD – POLAR (CD by Extreme)
Hannaford is a big talent from Australia where he is an established musician now. With his previous album on Extreme, “The Garden of Forking Paths”, Hannaford returns now with a solo piano-album. Apart from the opening track “Canon Cancrizan at the Unison in Inversion and Augmentation” written by John Rodgers, all other pieces are composed/improvised by Hannaford. Hannaford says about this album: “Polar is about exploration: the exploration of space through sound” utilizing either improvisation or composition”. A statement that is not very specific about what he is doing on this CD, and demonstrating it is not an easy thing to translate what music is about into verbal language even for the creator of the music in question. So let us start with some objective remarks. Hannaford included six works on this release. Four pieces are of a very short length (1 – 2 minutes), accompanied by two extensive pieces: “Genius and Emptiness” (15:36) and “No Further Correspondence” (20:14). All of them were recorded on one day in the Yara Edge Theatre. So it could be a live recording, although we hear no trace of an audience. If you ask me if it is jazz, completely improvised, or an example of modern composed music, all three of them could be the case. It sounds like modern music as it moves on an abstract level, but with the emotional content and tension we know from jazz and improvised music. A very satisfying combination. Nothing from what Hannaford is doing is easy to grab, but if you listen with attention and let the music lead you where ever it goes, it is a very rewarding experience. (DM)
Address: http://www.xtr.com/
JOHN WIESE – ZOMBIE (LP by Presto Records)
2 tracks using loops and a locked groove track: John Wiese is well known and respected but this release perhaps not marking so much as a departure as a different (& at depth radical) step/trajectory- is both complex and yet simple. The idea of the circle or loop is simple enough, children’s songs are often simple repetitions but hidden in this simplicity is the Ouroboros, the eternal return of the same and the opposite to the Judeo/Christian /Islamic faith on which the ideas of a teleological and understandable evolutionary and scientific universe is predicated. Of even the idea of artist as creator/originator (of course Barthes!) – there is no origin to the locked groove. Not only that but the locked groove has mythic and legendary narratives, from Sgt. Pepper through to RRR. Wiese loops a favorite Drunks With Guns track for one side the other consisting of a more
complex and indiscernible looping process to render some Sissy Spacek material into a monolith. Added is a locked piano chord to be played for 21.5 minutes and included is the score and sleeve notes which render this LP’s exegesis. To those of the Gerridae family, Side A is cool but the simple repetition of the DWG is both obvious yet not- it is terrific- in more senses. as is the eternal return. Wiese is here doing something quite subtle, if the incomprehensibility of noise marks the end of something – that grand western metanarrative that begins with Moses leading his people (us) out of the land of the yearly inundation of Hapy, we are now beginning to hear the echoes and depths of this pre-history in these loops. Yes an excellent and deep *disk*. Well John you might have started something – but if The Demon in GS 341 is true you haven’t? eh? But what you present for yourself and us is (the challenge of?) amor fati – “That which has been is that which will be, And that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun.”- Waugh’s Dust and much more. even the impossibility of making a sleeve to fit the record- squaring the circle was a failed greek project. (jliat)
Address: http://prestorecords.com/home.html
RADIOACTIVE PROSTITUTE – KING MARIS DAY (LP by Radioactive Prostitute)
This is a basic rock band line up from a band which tours the US far across a line from the other vinyl releases I’ve reviewed elsewhere, improvising a fairly – now from a HWN point of view coherent sound, from a musical point of view they do cite Nirvana amongst others- they even admit that an uneasy sonic truth has developed – which is IMO a pity as this kind of performance resembles or used to resemble a war, and catechism, that’s not to say I don’t like the performance and I suspect live they are entertaining, but how many Peace films have been made compared to War films, How many cop films in which no crime takes place, even (especially!) in the world of popular music there is the need I suspect for conflict. On what I’ll call the B side against a rumble of background noise is chatter which includes talk of ETI, screaming and feedback. I suppose its vaguely Mothers of Invention – which makes it doubly difficult – as apart from Hot Rats I wasn’t a big fan – wasn’t there some MOI LP with prostitutes and fishing from a hotel? – but I cant find any reference on Google – did I imagine this? Its along time ago when this kind of student antics was fun, before AIDs and student loans – I confess to not only buying a Hawkwind LP but actually going to a concert! Oh and Gong – radio gnome invisible – those crazy kids. (jliat)
Address: http://www.radiopros.org
ANTOINE CHESSEX/ARNAUD RIVIERE (7″ by Le Petit Mignon)
My one- and only- criticism of this release is that it’s limited to only 300 copies. (though I get to keep my promo) The artwork is stunning – someone knows what they are doing! A coarse and beautiful silkscreen sleeve which could have been a woodcut, the disk itself clear, with “clever” labels identifying the polish and pill sides respectively. You can check this out on the website (and hear mp3 extracts which saves me detailed description) – of Le Petit Mignon “a gallery and a music label located in the mighty specialist of experimental and avant-garde music record store Staalplaat” Which explains the quality? Just in case you might think its all packaging – well no- the two pieces complement each other and the whole production. Antoine Chessex’s sax sounds like an alarm until its swamped in HWN – in which tide it rises and falls, Arnaud Rivière’s electronics are equally brilliant and harsh – though much more sporadic. I should also name check designer, printer and regurgitater Mounir Jatoum of La Commissure & mastering by Rashad Becker at Dubplates. Vital does not give stars – so I’ll say 5, and I’m just left wondering how and why Frans let this one go. I could say much more regarding the detail of both the sound and whole production but just end by saying as clearly as I can if anyone is into noise or art or just beautiful things – get this or weep. (jliat)
Address: http://www.lepetitmignon.de/
EARLY HOMINIDS – METATARSAL (CDR by Music Mundane)
FOLDHEAD – DRUGS PAINT ALCOHOL (CDR by Music Mundane)
Paul Walsh was once half of Smell & Quim, and released music as Swing Jugend. For whatever reason he doesn’t tell us, he started creating music for his own pleasure rather than for releases. For another reason he doesn’t share with us either, recently he decided to release music again, and play live. Partly this has to do with the encouragement of Neil Campbell, our man of Vibracathedral Orchestra and Astral Social Club. Its on Neil’s label Music Mundane that the two release a CDR of joint music. As you can of course expect this is noise music. I do seem to remember Smell & Quim as a noise duo which weren’t exactly the loudest in town, but they used a nice combination of shaking metal, distortion pedals and old fashioned tapeloops. Here Paul and Neil use mainly analogue synthesizers, distortion pedals and old fashioned tapeloops. Unlike some of Campbell’s own work in this area, he opts to do shorter pieces here with Walsh, and they are of course trademark noise bits in what is now a classic Campbell fashion. Many dirty but spacious synthesizers, sometimes feeding through distortion pedals, but it never is that true type noise thing. Which makes this actually quite a nice release, for those who love to have their noise with a bit of extra.
True type of noise can be find in the last, long piece by Foldhead, Walsh’ new solo name. As said, I am not to keen of a lover of that sort of thing, and I’d gladly leave would have left that for Jliat, but its the two other tracks that are quite nice. In the opening piece (all three untitled of course) things are quite soft with stretched tones that have a nice creepy undercurrent. In the second piece this creepy sense is continued, but things are already a bit louder, but still on the right side. For me that is. Its a pity that both of these nice tracks last about the same length of the third piece. I don’t mind noise, but it could be shorter and perhaps the others could be longer and more pieces alike that. I thought this was a pretty great come back album, in fact two of them!
Address: <foldhead@hotmail.co.uk>
JAMES WYNESS – FIGURE AND GROUND (CDR by Khora)
One James Wyness writes me that ‘this is an advance copy of my self-released CDR. I’ll be releasing it as the first hard copy release on my netlabel Khora in July’. What I hold in my hand already looks like the ‘real’ release, with a great, printed cover, so what ‘advance’ copy? And hard copy on a netlabel? That seems to be case, well, perhaps not in this case actually, of Vital no longer reviewing MP3s (as announced since three months and still missed by many, so why not bring the subject on in a review, and not in a header everyone seems to be skipping): this CDR (small jewel case, full color one card as cover) is of course a CDR release of a MP3, but then no doubt none of the CDR will be sold, and its merely to fool yours truly around. Or is that a cynical thought? As said, even when Wyness doesn’t use the proper lingo for record releases (and be honest: why should he?), his release looks at least great in that professional printed cover. There is the artist name, title (‘Figure And Ground’) and on the front it says ‘field recording and processes’, but the booklet reveals a fair bit. This music was made as part of a sound installation. I won’t go into all the details described in the booklet, but it seems Wyness wants us to listen to this in some sort of mediative manner, a zen way of hearing. One piece that lasts about forty two minutes, at which basis lies a good sized bit of rain sound. That seems to fit the Dutch Summer (actually there was a release of pure, unprocessed rain sounds with Dutch Summer as its title), since everyday there is rain – so why hear it on CD my mother would say? Its a bit unclear what the process part of the music is about, but sometimes it seems that the rain sounds leap over into white static hiss. After about twenty-seven minutes it stops and on comes a deep drone like thing. That works up again towards the end of the piece into more seaside sounds. If anything, it seems that Wyness is inspired by Francisco Lopez, both in approach to field recordings and the dynamic way to process them. Quite a nice release this one. Not entirely new or surprising, but quite a consistent work of processed field recordings. (FdW)
Address: http://www.khora.co.uk
DENIS KOLOKOL – ILY (CDR by Audiotong)
Oh maybe this is the place where I should have something about CDRs and MP3s, but then again, this cover looks OK. It could have been a real thing. Or perhaps I like Audiotong as a label (no bribes, I think). Or perhaps its the fact this label also does real CDs. They enclosed a compilation they produced for The Wire with the current state of affairs in Poland, which contains names like Emiter, Robert Piotrowicz, Anna Zaradny, known from Vital Weekly reviews. A nice bunch of electronic, avant-garde and improvised music. But today we only deal with Dennis Kolokol, who deals with serious electronic music, created with the means of a laptop. One of the three pieces is recorded, ‘Go Find Yourself In My Dream’ was recorded at the Studio For Electroacoustic Music in Krakow and that can be heard. Maybe its the environment of such a studio, but the opera like voices, and jumpy electronics smell like serious academic music, but Kolokol does add a bit of spice to it, that faint trace of industrial music. In the opening piece things are much wilder and it almost seems the opposite thing: industrial, almost noise based music with the ideas of musique concrete as its starting point. In the closing piece ‘Chasing 43’, there is apparently the guitar of Alexander Chikmakov, but it takes some time before we hear it. A soft, non rhythmic click piece, with the guitar, when it finally comes on, play a melancholic touch. Three quite diverse pieces of music, that show a fine display of quality. Serious but not so serious, humorful and above all skilled. (FdW)
Address: http://www.audiotong.net
KRAUSS – GOLDEN TREASURY (CDR, private)
This is one of those things that leave me puzzled: is it a demo? There is no label mentioned, not even an address. Just eleven tracks, some vague credits. I think its from down-under somewhere, but the mailer has been trashed already. Maybe these things would be best if ignored, but while not all the tracks are great, some of them are really quite nice. Likewise as there are no credits mentioned, its hard to say what is what. But my best guess is there is a guitar, an organ, drumcomputer and a rudimentary form of sampling. In ‘Dog On The Loose’ this leads to some nice garage like psychedelic music, but for the same matter things are off the track in ‘Hurtling Towards Doom’. Some pieces are too much improvised and its hard to keep up attention, but then the nicer thing is that all of the tracks are quite short. Perhaps all of this is not really my cup of tea, both musicwise as well as the presentation, but at least there is a couple of decent tracks around here. (FdW)
Address: none given
SUMMER SOLSTICE (CDR compilation by Twilight Luggage)
LARMOYANT – LIVE AT ROBOT (CDR by Twilight Luggage)
In our western world we don’t need to care about old, pagan stuff like solstices, as for the majority of us those things don’t really matter, disconnected as we are from nature. Sad as it is, perhaps. So it eludes me somehow how and why one could record music for the summer solstice, and perhaps my expectations were not that high. Perhaps I anticipated another heavy type of noise compilation here, seeing it on Twilight Luggage, who don’t exclusively deal with noise, but release a fair share of it. That turns out not to be the case, as the music is actually quite pleasant here. The two noise bits are indeed there, but they are conveniently placed at the end of the disc. Moody of course (why of course? oh, seasonal change of course), atmospheric, but never ‘gothics’ singing about how magick the moment is. There is a nice ambient, rhythm piece by Continental Fruit, an improv rock piece by Boe which actually wasn’t that well spend on me. The atmospheric pieces are by Chuch, Andre Folsy, Eloine, John lithium, Torstein Wijik and The Tobacconists. Cape Of Seaweed and Andreas Brandal are in between all of these genres. Quite a nice compilation, with or without a seasonal thematic approach.
Lamoryant is Jarle Nordvik on guitar, Andreas Brandal on guitar, tapes, theremin and Hans Kristian Senneseth on electronics. Together they recorded this piece live at Robotbutikken on August 18th 2007. I don’t exactly see why this had to be released almost two years later. Its a piece in which the guitar improvisations of Nordvik and Brandal are at the centre, with some vague rumbling on electronics to do what? Processing? Improvise likewise? Its quite an uninspiring sixteen minutes of music. None of the improvised parts could hold my attention for very long – and I tried a couple of times (in case someone writes me stating that I probably didn’t listen close enough) but failed miserably to detect any beauty in this. (FdW)
Address: http://www.twilightluggage.com
DOC WOR MIRRAN & TESENDALO – MOMENTUM 2 (CDR by Mirran Threat)
DOC WOR MIRRAN – GUITARRED & FEATHERED (CDR by MissmanagemenT)
Hardly recovered from Doc Wör Mirran’s previous release, a 10CDR set (see Vital Weekly 666), here are two more releases. The first one can be seen as a sort of extension of that, or perhaps as an extension of ‘Momentum 1’, which was reviewed back in Vital Weekly 379. Back then it seemed to be influenced by Conrad Schnitzler’s analogue electronics, here its more along the lines of drone works. Behind Tesendalo we find Peter Schuster, who has a fine string of drone based releases throughout many years, and I was thinking its no doubt his presence here that the six tracks have the heavy stamp of drone all over them. Deeply atmospheric, with the analogue synthesizers on endless sustain. Humming ad infinitum. Some bird calls are mixed in, an occasional far away melody is faded in and there is a minor threat in ‘Momentum 6’. A very fine release that not necessarily holds anything new under the drone sun, but fits a great summer day of rain and clouds.
With all this drones being ambient one could easily forget that Doc Wör Mirran is so much more. They started a new side label of Empty (MT) records, being MissmanagemenT (MT again, get it?), of which I don’t understand much. It has something to do with being independent (but that accounts for the majority of bands in Vital Weekly), and free distribution of music. If you want a release, you can get one – but it doesn’t seem to be a revolutionary thing. The cover looks nice, with a real cigarette, also a nice treat. Doc Wör Mirran is here a band, with Joseph B. Raimond on guitar, synth, bass and drum programming, with contributions in the studio and by mail by Ralf Lexis, Adrian Gormley, Frank Abendroth, Laurent Gabiot and Jeandra Raimond. Doc Wör Mirran sound like a rock band here. Lots of guitars, bass and drum computers are used here, with some spoken word material by Abendroth. Not in a real heavy rock way, but gentle, floating, a bit post rock like but played in naive manner. A bit Durutti Column like, but perhaps that’s because I don’t know many guitarists. Sometimes retro, seventies rock like, but also with a touch of experiment in ‘Shitkicker Industrial’. Doc Wör Mirran is a mighty diverse band. I can’t believe there is someone in the world, other than Joseph B. Raimond himself I guess, who likes all the releases by them, but its nevertheless always in for a good surprise. (FdW)
Address: http://www.empty.de
JEREMY BIBLE & JASON HENRY – MAGNET (CDR by Gruenrekorder)
Apparently Gruenrekorder is happy with Jeremy Bible and Jason Henry. Following their ‘Marker’ release (see Vital Weekly 646), here is ‘Magnet’. The two have had their releases on their own Experimedia label, and all of the releases deal with instruments being processed, found sound and mucho effects. Especially the delay pedals are pushed through the floor. It seems to me that the rhythmic aspect of ‘Marker’ is left behind, and that they are now more or less improvising their way through a given set of sound. I am not sure however if that is really a good idea. The five pieces are quite long, but seem to be lacking variation and depth. Editing should have been in place I guess, and not the entire piece. I am not sure why they do what they do. My guess would be that their intention is to create an atmospheric sound, but perhaps also due to the relative low volume, this hardly comes across. Things stay very remote and far away. That is a pity. I sense there is a lot more in this music, which doesn’t seem to get out very much. Unless of course this is a deliberate thing, which could very well be the case, I’d say there is lots of room for improvement. (FdW)
Address: http://www.gruenrekorder.de
KK/KK / POLDR (cassette by Razzle Dazzle)
The world of cassette is even more than the world of CDR, the place to experimental with sound. That was the case thirty years ago, and still is the case today. Poldr’s label Razzle Dazzle released a whole bunch of them and here its a split with KK/KK, which is one Chris Kalafatis who recorded two parts of ‘He Had LSB’ in April of this year, using an EMS AKS, which seems to me more pieces of improvised electronics – ‘let’s see what this bugger does’, which also harks back to thirty years ago, when people freaked out for an hour and released the results on a cassette. Its not bad this one, don’t get me wrong.
Poldr, also known as Benjamin Laurent Aman has one twenty minute piece of what also seems to be improvisations, but more in the field of drone music of a more uptight character. A bit noisey, but perhaps that’s due to the fact that the recording is a bit distorted. Guitar is at the basis, but everything is smeared together through extensive use of effects. The piece is actually quite alright if you like your drones to be somewhat louder and more with a bite and could have been equally released on a limited CDR. Why not, I wonder? (FdW)
Address: http://www.razzle-d.com