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VITAL WEEKLY
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number 724
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week 12
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Vital Weekly, the webcast: we offering
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the audio-supplement to Vital Weekly. Presented as a radioprogramm
with excerpts of just some of the CDs (no vinyl or MP3) reviewed.
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* noted are in this week's podcast. We
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ZEITKRATZER - [OLD SCHOOL] JOHN CAGE (CD
by Zeitkratzer Records)
ZEITKRATZER - [OLD SCHOOL] JAMES TENNEY (CD by Zeitkratzer Records)
*
GEN KEN MONTGOMERY & CONRAD SCHNITZLER - GEN KON DUETS (CD
by GD Stereo) *
LAURA GIBSON & ETHAN ROSE - BRIDGE CAROLS (CD by Baskaru)
*
@C - MUSIC FOR EMPTY SPACES (CD by Baskaru) *
GILLES AUBRY/STEPHANE MONTAVON - LES ECOUTIS LE CAIRE (CD by
Gruenrekorder) *
LUNAR MIASMA - CRYSTAL COVERED (CD by Basses Frequencies) *
AIDAN BAKER - BLUE FIGURES (CD by Basses Frequencies) *
VOICE ELECTRONIC DUO (CD, private) *
NADJA - UNDER THE JAGUAR SUN (2xCD/2xLP by Beta-lactam Ring Records)
ERHARD HIRT & AXEL DORNER - BLACK BOX (CD by Acheulian Handaxe)
PETER GEISSELBRECHT - CHARLES IVES/FEDERICO MOMPOU (CD by Acheulian
Handaxe)
DAFNA NAPHTALI & CHUCK BETTIS - CHATTER BLIP (CD by Acheulian
Handaxe)
SOUND ART III - THE SWEDISH SCENE (DVD by Svensk Musik)
SOUND ART IV - THE SWEDISH SCENE (DVD by Svensk Musik)
TOMAS DVORAK - MACHINARIUM SOUNDTRACK (LP by Minority Records)
WILT - SHE WALKS THE NIGHT (7"/cassette by Husk Records)
KOGUMAZA - SEVENS/MARA (7" by Low Point)
PHILIP SULIDAE - AN HIGH LAND (CDR by Dontcaresulidae) *
NO & ICS - M-TYPE ALPHA (CDR by Ripples Recordings) *
JIM SANDE - HARVEST BELL RIDE (CDR, private) *
MARINOS KOUTSOMICHALIS - MALFUNCTIONS (CDR by Agxivatein) *
HIDEKAZU WAKABAYASHI & HAROLD NONO (CDR by Bearsuit Recordings)
*
DURAN VAZQUEZ - LAISSEZ FAIRE, LAISSEZ PASSER (CDR by R.O.N.F.
Records) *
NOS - LIVE (CDR by Rat Multimedia Productions)
MACHINE GUN - FREE IMPROVISATIONS (CDR by Creative Commons)
MACHINEFABRIEK & SABINE BURGER - INSTUIF (DVD-R by Machinefabriek)
PLATFORM - FOUR ELEMENTS (CDR by Minimal Resource Manipulation)
PAUL MAY & PLATFORM - FLOCK SCISSORS (CDR by Minimal Resource
Manipulation) *
MUTANT BEATNIKS - ANIMAL FARM (CDR by Ifar)
MUTANT BEATNIKS - FOUNTAIN (CDR by Ifar)
MUTANT BEATNIKS - BLAZEN (CDR by Ifar) *
BIRGIT ULHUR & GREGORY BÜTTNER - TECHRICKS (3"CDR
by 1000füssler)
XIPHIIDAE - SEWN WITHIN A CIRCLE (two cassettes by Housecraft)
REUBEN SON - GLOWING DEPARTURE (cassette by Private Chronology)
KARL BRODERUS - RADIX (cassette, private)
ZEITKRATZER - [OLD SCHOOL] JOHN CAGE (CD
by Zeitkratzer Records)
ZEITKRATZER - [OLD SCHOOL] JAMES TENNEY (CD by Zeitkratzer Records)
So far we learned that Zeitkratzer played new scores by current
artists, such as Alva Noto, Francisco Lopez and John Duncan (to
name just three) or interpretations of works by Lou Reed and
Throbbing Gristle (to name another two). Perhaps its merely a
logical next step that they start playing modern classical music
from the 'old' school. Coming up are works by Alvin Lucier and
Morton Feldman, but the new series '[Old School]' start off with
John Cage and James Tenney. From Cage they performed three pieces,
all composed in the last years of Cage's life, a highly productive
era. It would have been nice to see them play say 'Cartridge
Music' or 'Variations', but here they go for the pieces 'Four',
'Five' and 'Hymnkus'. The first and the third last thirty minutes
and 'Five' only five minutes. All of these pieces are rather
'open' for interpretation. It would be a bit far out to explain
the way they work, with time frames and how to play them, but
its exactly the sort of material that Zeitkratzer is happy with.
The ensemble's instruments (bass clarinet, clarinet, melodica,
piano, trumpet, percussion, violin, violincello and double bass),
played by those who have a background in improvised music, are
well cut to play music that leaves much room for the players
to choose their own sound material within given time frames.
In 'Hymkus' they stay close to the ensemble feeling with repeating
notes on the wind instruments, but in 'Four' they go all out.
Wildly scraping of instruments, improvised playing of wind instruments
and all of that making a great piece. The short 'Five' is along
similar lines, but perhaps a bit more structured - as per Cage's
instructions.
I'm less familiar with the ideas and music of James Tenney, so
its a bit hard to say anything about it that is connected to
historical knowledge. I learned from the booklet that Tenney
created 'swell pieces': music for long sustaining sounds, played
on traditional instruments (same list as above), which have an
almost electronic feel to it. It works in the region of overtones.
Its great music. Sounds swell, rise from below and beyond and
make a dome like sound. Think Alvin Lucier or Phill Niblock and
you get my drift. But whereas they seem to be operating from
a more studio based environment this is all live, which makes
it even more remarkable, since it sounds like many voices at
once, more than what the list of instruments suggest. In 'Koan:
Having Never Written A Note For Percussion' the tam-tam is played,
making a low rumble, that swells up like a giant roar. Indeed
a swell piece. Whereas the Cage CD is a fine release but perhaps
something we already heard before, this is Tenney release is
mind blowing. (FdW)
Address: http://www.zeitkratzer.de
GEN KEN MONTGOMERY & CONRAD SCHNITZLER
- GEN KON DUETS (CD by GD Stereo)
Over the years I always have many respect for the work of Conrad
Schnitzler, even when I heard only a very small percentage of
it. He is never part of any movement or style, and go very much
his own way. I do believe I have his release which he did in
the late 80s with Gen Ken Montgomery. It was a time when both
were interested in 'non-keyboard electronics', which is playing
the synthesizer by twiddling the knobs and not about playing
a nice melody. That was Schnitzler's big thing until the mid
nineties. Then he moved, also, towards playing the piano through
some computer technique and he wrote some complicated pieces,
which were impossible to be performed by ten fingers. Gen Ken
moved out of electronic music and has an interest in field recordings
these days. One day he was playing a CD with piano works of Schnitzler
with his windows open and the sound of construction workers outside
mixed nicely with the piano music. Very much a John Cage move
towards listening to music and sound. The results of that are
to be heard on this CD. No electronics, but Schnitzler's piano,
which isn't as complex here, but stretched out, sparse on notes
most of the times, with all sorts of construction workers sounds
mingling together. It works really well indeed. A strange collage
of sound, that somehow works very well. If I may suggest something:
don't put this on headphones/ipod or such like, but play this
on your CD player, open your window and make your new, Cage like
version, merging it with sounds from your own environment. Excellent
work for both of them. Great black and white package with separate
cards. (and then I also take this opportunity to raise a question:
Plate Lunch, a label which no longer exist since the label owner
died years ago, organized a Schnitzler remix project which had
to be a triple CD set. Does anyone know what happened to these
remixes - who has them?) (FdW)
Address: http://www.gdstereo.com
LAURA GIBSON & ETHAN ROSE - BRIDGE
CAROLS (CD by Baskaru)
@C - MUSIC FOR EMPTY SPACES (CD by Baskaru)
I must admit I never heard of Ethan Rose or Laura Gibson. The
latter is a singer, who also plays guitar and is best described
as a folk singer. Rose has been recording music for films, installations
and uses old and new technology. For their collaborative record
they started with the recording of Gibson's voice, lyrics as
well as wordless vocalizations, in a basement, in a forest and
in a field. Rose added later on instruments and edited these
voice recordings. Last week I lamented about two releases that
had voices, but these folky songs are actually quite nice. There
is a certain rawness about the vocals that move beyond the ordinary
of a folk song. A slight distortion at times. The instruments
used here are piano, strings and bells. Intimate music obviously,
which has a great gentle side to it. Ambient music you say? Well,
perhaps. Think Fovea Hex but then in a somewhat more cruder form.
A great CD. What more can I say?
Of an entirely different nature is the album by @C, the duo of
Pedro Tudela and Miguel Carvalhais - the latter also being the
boss of Cronica Electronica. I haven't heard much from them in
a while, but apparently they already have a dozen releases, on
CD, CDR and digital format. The easy way of putting it: a laptop
duo, but @C is 'about contrasts, unheard juxtapositions staged
so that they make perfect sense as part of a continuum that is
better described as a hallucination or a mystical voyage than
mere cinema for the ear', which is another way of putting it.
Its not entirely clear wether they made recordings from empty
spaces, or wether they set out to record music for empty spaces,
but the recordings were made while en route (Aalst, Glasgow,
Lisboa, Nagoya, Paris, Porto, Sao Miguel and Stirling), so we
have lots of field recordings from those places and spaces, not
all of which are necessarily empty - it seems. While en route
they received various people from Nuno Aroso, Miguel Bernat,
Raymond MacDonald and Jonathan Uliel. I don't know these people
but judging by the music, they no doubt added some improvised
playing. To me it seems that @C keep on doing what they do best,
which is to play music that sounds improvised but then largely
generated through electronic means, every now and then with a
player on real instruments. Percussion is most likely thing here
it seems. Very vibrant music, bouncing off in all directions,
like vivid and rapid change of styles with some odd moments of
rest (in '76.5 - Listening To K.J.', a sort piano piece). Microsound
gone macrosound? @C have something unique at their hand. It seems
that their music didn't change much over the past ten years,
but they have carved their sound approach a bit deeper. (FdW)
Address: http://www.baskaru.com
GILLES AUBRY/STEPHANE MONTAVON - LES ECOUTIS
LE CAIRE (CD by Gruenrekorder)
In a very nice cardboard sleeve we find a CD (by Gilles Aubry)
and a large poster with a text in French by Stephane Montavon.
I am sure lots of people speak or read French, but there are
more who don't. So it eludes me why this is part of it. No doubt
there is a relation to the two pieces on the CD, which were recorded
during a six week stay in the CD. Aubry taped the busy city from
within rooms with 'resonant properties': a bathroom, a market
hall, a basilica, a courtyard, a refrigerator and a parking house.
You hear the city, but its always a bit remote, a bit far away,
a bit blurred. Its not a strict fifty minute recording here,
but Aubry has made a collage out of these recordings, superimposing
them (which means he layered a few), in order to further blurr
the effect. The humming of machines, walking and talking of people,
cars passing far and above. Like a beautiful day - like today
actually - when the window is open and sounds from outside leap
into your environment. I have not been to Cairo, but I can vividly
imagine it would sound like this. I am not sure if two is more
than one here: both pieces seem to have a similar approach, which
makes perhaps the second one a bit superfluous. Not always more
equals better, and in the limitation one can show beauty too.
But through a pretty good release, musicwise. I can judge about
the text, but a translation would be welcome, I guess. (FdW)
Address: http://www.gruenrekorder.de
LUNAR MIASMA - CRYSTAL COVERED (CD by Basses
Frequencies)
AIDAN BAKER - BLUE FIGURES (CD by Basses Frequencies)
Behind Lunar Miasma we find one Panos Alexiadis (of Heavensore
and Insult Recordings), whom we already heard on a collaborative
3"CDR with Ondo (see Vital Weekly 715), but here a full
solo work. He plays, according to the cover, analog synths, guitars
and effects. Five lengthy pieces which display a true love for
the seventies cosmic music. No sweet arpeggio's on these keyboards,
but sine waves and sabre tooth tones, free floating in a weightless
space. A bit raw but also quite moody. Sometimes chilling cold
such as in 'Circle Mountain', but also all cosy and warm such
as in the title piece, which is lengthy sustaining chords and
oscillating sounds. Almost ambient house music, but that beat
never arrives, and that's fine. A perfect album to either go
to bed with, or wake up music to stay a new day a fresh. Nothing
new under the sun, but played with great care and style, further
deepening the ideas of cosmic music. Emeralds fans should pay
notice.
There was a time when we reviewed almost on a weekly basis music
by Aidan Baker (or perhaps my memory is blurred in that respect).
Now that he seems to be more well-known his releases are not
as many anymore, or they do not reach me that much. Its been
a while. The music on 'Blue Figures' is all recorded live, in
Berlin and Prague and has Baker on guitar and voice. A mini disc
streams some bird sounds and throughout there is a mood-heavy
ambient atmosphere. Baker plays his guitar, feeds it through
his sound effects, which predominantly is a loop station so that
sounds start repeating and floating about, all along while Baker
keeps adding more and more delicate small tones, but he knows
how to keep things 'small' and 'intimate'. Of course all improvised,
Baker shows us to be a true master of his trade. Carefully he
constructs his music, stone by stone, brick by brick and when
it reached the climax he just as carefully deconstructs the music
again. Excellent drone music. (FdW)
Address: http://www.bassesfrequences.org
VOICE ELECTRONIC DUO (CD, private)
Who exactly this Voice Electronic Duo is I don't know. I believe
they are from Poland. They perform five works here, all of which
use poems. One each by Luiggi Russolo, Zosia Esden, Ezra Pound
and John Cage, leaving one piece to be instrumental. The term
poetry must be regarded with some mild caution. Its not a careful
recitation of a poem, but using it more like loud sound poetry.
The text is as such hard to recognize, if at all. Its more like
wordless humming, singing and shouting. The music is quite a
vivid affair most of the times, with wild driving sequenced sounds,
or carefully placed bell like bubble sounds, such as in the title
piece (apparently a Cage poem, where the voice starts to sound
like a Laurie Anderson howl). Its hard to make up my mind about
it. No doubt this is all quite serious, but it moves away from
the serious composed music into something that is more based
in the world of improvisation and noise - without ever getting
real noise, although things tend to be loud. Its not bad, but
perhaps also a bit too singular in approach towards the music
and the way the poems are approached. For now I give it the benefit
of doubt and it would be good to see what else they can come
up with in the future. (FdW)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/voiceelectronic
NADJA - UNDER THE JAGUAR SUN (2xCD/2xLP
by Beta-lactam Ring Records)
It seems that the stream of releases of Nadja will never stop.
Nadja is a duo of Aidan Baker and his partner Leah Buckareff
from Toronto. The duo makes music since 2005 in an ambient, experimental,
doom-metal, drone and shoegaze sphere. They released a lot of
albums at different labels, as band or in cooperation with other
bands or musicians like Fear Falls Burning, Black Boned Angel,
Atavist and A Storm of Light. Every album has his own atmosphere
and concept with it is own surprise. "Under the Jaguar Sun"
is a special release. CD 1 called "Tezcatlipoca (Darkness)"
has the typical hypnotic Nadja-sound with compositions which
slowly develop and based on bass-guitar and guitarsounds. The
five tracks flow into each other as a slow and quiet sea with
melodic bass-melodies to rough waves with grungy singing of Aidan
Baker or the whispering voice of Leah Buckareff. The other CD
"Quetzalcoatl (Wind)" is more acoustic based and played
with a great variety of instruments, like piano, cello, violin,
sitar and harmonium. Sometimes it reminds to old psychedelic
albums from the seventies/eighties. The experiment of this release
is that the listener can make his own Nadja mix. You play the
two albums simultaneously and create a new composition and it
is worth doing it. This development in Nadja's musical career
is a climax in the musical experiments, where metal, doom, drone
and psychedelica meet each other. It is a challenge for the duo
to examine how they can explore the interaction with the listeners
of their music. This is the first step... what will be the next?
(JKH)
Address:http://www.blrrecords.com
ERHARD HIRT & AXEL DORNER - BLACK BOX
(CD by Acheulian Handaxe)
PETER GEISSELBRECHT - CHARLES IVES/FEDERICO MOMPOU (CD by Acheulian
Handaxe)
DAFNA NAPHTALI & CHUCK BETTIS - CHATTER BLIP (CD by Acheulian
Handaxe)
The name of this small label refers to a concrete artifact, an
axe that appeared about 1.4 million years ago and was used by
early humans. Why Hans Tammen, a german guitarist who lives in
New York since 2000, choose it as the name for his label I don't
know. With the music on this label we are in a totally different
area of human activity, far away from simple artifacts that have
a function in our daily routines. Here we are dealing with highly
experimental music that is beyond the dimension of function and
artifacts. "Black Box" carries two improvised duets
recorded live in a location of the same name in Munster, 2007.
Players are Axel Dörner on trumpet and Erhard Hirt on guitar
connected with electronics. Dörner is a specialist in extended
techniques and creates of wide range of sounds and textures coming
from his trumpet. The guitar playing by Hirt is very relative
in a way, as he uses lots of electronics. Sometimes a bit over
the top if you ask me, and not serving any goal. The music becomes
so abstract and radical that it becomes difficult to feel emotionally
engaged in this music. "Chatter Blip" by Dafna Naphtali
and Chuck Bettis does not suffer from this lack. Again it is
a CD by a duo producing highly experimental improvised music.
Naphtali plays electronics, voice and sound processing. Bettis,
electronics and voice. However with this one I have another problem:
the absence of focus is felt even stronger here then on "Black
Box". It is too much of everything: electronics, improvisation,
vocal art, etc, etc. Very free form and going nowhere. "Breach"
is the unexpected exception on this cd for me. This is a real
communicative and structured piece of work. I guess this project
still has to grow. The different backgrounds, skills, etc. have
to merge into a more distinct voice. Now it is an eclectic collage,
that didn't make any impression on me. So both releases do not
convince me in the end, although they have their interesting
parts. So I turn all my hope on the last one. German pianist
Peter Geisselbrecht performs two works dating from the 20th century.
First "Concord Sonata" by Charles Ives. My first encounter
with this famous piece. It portrays american writers of the 19th
century movement Transcendenalism: Emerson, Hawthorne, The Alcotts
and Thoreau. Especially the second part, "Hawthorne",
struck me, as it was like if I was listening to improvisor Thollem
McDonas. A great work, played with verve by Geisselbrecht. Mompou
was a spanish composer, and from what I hear the spanish equivalent
to Eric Satie. His work "Musica Callada 1", composed
in a less is more style, is built up from 13 short pieces of
reflective piano music that bring you melancholy moods. Like
"Concord Sonota" this work is inspired on literature.
On the poem "La Musica Callada" la Soledad Sonora (Silent
Music, Resonant Sollitude) by the mystic Juan de la Cruz to be
more precise. So taking inspiration from transcendental and mystic
writers is what both compositions have in common. Nice to have
both works on one CD in very enjoyable interpretations by Geisselbrecht.
(DM)
Address: http://www.handaxe.org
SOUND ART III - THE SWEDISH SCENE (DVD
by Svensk Musik)
SOUND ART IV - THE SWEDISH SCENE (DVD by Svensk Musik)
Oh Sweden. Country of too much money (might just be my perception,
I guess) for all things 'art'. The organization Svensk Musik
'exist to disseminate information on Swedish music and to make
it more readily available". Which means producing a book
in the 90s and now two DVDs. And just if you thought you'd knew
about everybody from the serious music scene (through the activities
of Fylkingen and Firework Edition), seven out of eight names
here are all new to me. They present audio visual installation
pieces, which I believe to be on DVD a mere substitute for the
real thing. It just doesn't have that same feeling. We see the
lifting and moving of a curtain for instance (Liv Strand). Her
'Pipeline' is a much more fascinating experience of moving through
hospital pipes. Mathias Josefson (whom we know as Moljebka Pvlse)
has piece based on daily sounds and strange moving images - probably
sunlight through curtains. A nice drone piece. Andreas Gavell
Mohlin creates a sonic graffiti pen and we see him, with a hood,
moving through public space writing text on walls, trains and
doors. We don't see the text, since it just produces sound. A
nice idea but even at seven and half minute a bit long. Anna
Lindner's piece is a version of 'Guitar Drag', but then a sewing
machine is towed with a Volvo. Probably some feminist statement
which eludes me.
The other DVD starts with Johannes Helden (who has released on
Trente Oiseaux and Ideal Recordings), who has an interest in
writing too. An interesting, rather sad piece, and sadly also
a bit short. Refined microsound. Nadine Byrne has been one half
of Ectoplasm Sisters and she has two short pieces which are also
quite poetic, with ghostly voices. The piece by Mattias Petersson
and Frederik Olofsson is called 'Ström' (electricity) is
mainly a oscilloscope piece, with high and low end tones which
reach somewhere in the middle towards the end. Christine Odlund
shows us her score. We see the time-line moving and it looks
great. A refined piece of drone music. While some of this looks
very nice (Odlund, Josefson) I wonder if you would look it a
lot. From a music perspective however this is a nice overview
of some great artists from Sweden. Promotion succeeded!
Address: http://www.mic.se
TOMAS DVORAK - MACHINARIUM SOUNDTRACK (LP
by Minority Records)
Computer games are not my game. Never had any interest, never
will. Machinarium is a game developed by Amanita Design for which
Tomas Dvorak (related to Antonin Dvorak, I wonder?) created the
soundtrack. The pieces on this record are to work as a standalone,
which I think they do. I have no clue what this game is about.
Dvorak, who works as Floex and of whom I never heard, likes the
blending of ambient music, electro-acoustic music and classical
music, joining instruments and electronics. If we forget the
whole notion of the computer game then this is a pretty enjoyable
record of music that perhaps owes less to classical music that
the blurb suggests, and also from the world of ambient music,
but more from the background of intelligent dance music, with
washy ambient structures here and there, melancholic melodies
and odd musique concrete like samples. Sometimes we hear instruments
being sampled (guitars, a harp), but it seems to be quite remotely
present here. As said, its all enjoyable but also something that
one tends to forget when its over. Music to use to set a tone
or a nice mood, but it seems also nothing more than that. Which
is of course nothing bad. Perhaps its music for games: you don't
pay that close attention to the sound? (FdW)
Address: http://www.minorityrecords.com
WILT - SHE WALKS THE NIGHT (7"/cassette
by Husk Records)
Its not easy to read, but it says Wilt on the cover of the 7",
and, even smaller and even more difficult to read, on the bonus
cassette. Wilt is one James P. Keeler, who has had a couple of
releases on Ad Noiseam before and he presents here new pieces
on a 7", as well as a bonus cassette. The title piece (I
assume to be played on 33rpm) is a very dark ambient piece, with
ultra slow guitars and even more slowed chords on a piano. A
pity its rather short - but then this kind of music never deserves
a 7", I guess. On the flip two pieces of noise drones. A
scream and howl, with guitars that drag on in the most filthy
manner. I guess its OK, but rather not my cup of tea. The cassette
has another version of that 7" a-side (now I know it has
to be 33rpm), which is a bit longer and still suitable pleasant
dark ambient. The two pieces on the other side sound like experiments,
which may be nice, but sound a bit too muffled and drown away
in the hiss of the cassette. A bonus for the die-hards indeed.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.huskrecords.blogspot.com
KOGUMAZA - SEVENS/MARA (7" by Low
Point)
This band was formed early last year and I believe this is their
first record, along with one released by Lancashire & Somerset.
Its basically a rock trio - drums, bass, guitar - which play
garage like rock music. Low Point compares it to 'the infinite
repetition of Moondog and the spiritual throb of Lungfish' -
but I never heard neither. The music is indeed very much based
in repetition, with a pounding rhythm in 'Sevens', and guitar
twang, but nothing much more seems to be happening beyond that.
'Mara' has the guitar more upfront, tinkling away, with the bass
heavily on the lower end. Drums are mixed to the background.
Especially the drums don't seem to be recorded very well, like
in a garage, which may very well fit the esthetic of the band,
but it could have sounded much better. (FdW)
Address: http://www.low-point.com
PHILIP SULIDAE - AN HIGH LAND (CDR by Dontcaresulidae)
More music by Philip Sulidae, of whom we reviewed two 3"CDRs
before (see Vital Weekly 692) and a release on Ripples (see Vital
Weekly 709). This new one he calls a work of 'burnt and weathered
audio relics', recorded using field recordings, organ and sampler.
The release on Ripples show him moving towards the land of drones,
which is also what is at work here. But the six pieces here all
seem a bit more rougher edged. I have no idea what burnt and
weathered relics are, although I can imagine. Maybe he buried
some tape in his backyard and let nature to the processing? Maybe
I am guessing too much. The drones on this release are not those
which lull the listener into a deep sleep, but rather have some
great tension underpinning the whole. There seems to be some
sort of loops going on, odd sounds (which I first thought to
be coming from outside actually, always good to be fooled) which
aren't easy to be traced back to any origin. Some sturdy processing
was applied, which makes this whole thing quite mysterious. Not
entirely a new approach, but done with great care. (FdW)
Address: http://www.philipsulidae.com
NO & ICS - M-TYPE ALPHA (CDR by Ripples
Recordings)
A collaborative effort between Ics, being Andrea Ferraris, who
has collaborated with almost anybody from the Italian underground
scene and No, the duo of Fabio Perletta and Matteo Meloni. Ferraris
gets credit for field recordings, Perletta does electronics,
concrete recordings and signals treatment and Meloni, electronics,
prepared zither and guitar. Their piece lasts twenty-four minutes
and has quite an improvised feel to it, even when its all dark,
drone like and ambient based. Low rumble forms the background,
quite mysterious. On top there are highly obscured elements -
say the zither and guitar - which are fed through a large amount
of sound effects. That may or may not count for the idea I have
of this sounding improvised, but the whole piece sound a bit
unfocused to me. A bit thrown together rather than carefully
planned. I am not sure who they aim at. No entirely improvised
in any way, nor really microsound, or musique concrete. It sort
of is between all of that, without being able to make their mind
up. Something to think about a next time when they play together.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.ripplesrecordings.webs.com
JIM SANDE - HARVEST BELL RIDE (CDR, private)
Its been a while since 'Particle', a release by Jim Sande on
his own Labile Music (see Vital Weekly 519). I have no idea why
this is not on Labile Music, or rather on no label at all...
The music doesn't seem to have made any progress and continues
where the previous has left off. A variety of 'real' instruments,
such as piano, bass, clarinet, oboe, vibraphone and such like
make up a sweet form of minimal music. Quite slickly produced
again, but throughout it sounded like a small progress from 'Particle'.
The real kitschy elements seem to have disappeared. Melancholic
music, moody, atmospheric, joyful - the whole range of emotions
pass by the listener. If anything, and I'm not sure if that is
what Sande wants, this music is perfect to act as a soundtrack.
To short films, but just as easily I can see Sande compose a
larger work for film. Undemanding, yet not bad. A pleasant backdrop,
while doing your homework. For those who love Andrew Poppy playing
short moody and at times jazzy pieces. (FdW)
Address: http://www.jimsande.org
MARINOS KOUTSOMICHALIS - MALFUNCTIONS (CDR
by Agxivatein)
So far I heard four different releases by Marinos Koutsomichalis.
The first 'Chroma' (see Vital Weekly 663) didn't do much for
me, too static in its straight recording of machines, but 'Anasiseipsychos'
was a great release (see Vital Weekly 677) with sine waves and
treatments, a highly minimal yet exciting release. Then 'Peripatetic'
was a more like work of various field recordings which I thought
was alright but not great. But the other one, released at the
same time, 'Trevor Jones Studio Sessions Vol. 1' was again a
very nice work with drones (the latter two reviewed in Vital
Weekly 703). So quite a mixed bunch of releases so far, but its
with some anticipation that I play this new work. 'Malfunction'
deals with 'unwanted' noises, machines behaving not as they should
be and other forms of hum and static from machines. He does that
through a variety of shorter pieces, seven in total, which seems
to be a new thing, following the lengthy previous releases. Here
Koutsomichalis works in a more 'industrial' music context, with
heavy static sounds, hum and suppressed feedback. A bit noisy
perhaps, but surely not unpleasant stuff. Koutsomichalis knows
how to pull back and a very quiet piece (the fifth one) too.
Throughout a release that was pretty alright, again highly conceptual
like so many Koutsomichalis releases, but not his best. That
would still be the 'Anasiseipsychos' release. (FdW)
Address: http://www.agxivatein.com
HIDEKAZU WAKABAYASHI & HAROLD NONO
(CDR by Bearsuit Recordings)
The two musicians on this release have never met. Harold Nono
lives in Edinburgh, Scotland and Hidekazu Wakabayashi in Osaka,
Japan. They create their music through the exchange of sounds
through the internet. Nothing new, as that seems to be common
practice these days in the world of Vital Weekly. Nono has his
background in the world of guitars and punk, whereas Wakabayashi
is from a jazz/classical background. I'd say Wakabayashi wins:
there is not much punk to be found here, but an awful of classically
inspired music pop tunes. Piano play the dominant instrument
here but there are also guitars, bits of voices, rhythm, glockenspiel,
string instruments - no doubt some of those come from the sampled
source of say a program like garageband, but its an absolutely
fine quality that runs through these songs. I am reminded of
the Sack/Blumm collaborations, but perhaps a little less naive.
Eleven excellent songs, moody, melancholic and sometimes cheerful,
an excellent springtime sunday afternoon release. A mild breeze.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/bearsuitrecords
DURAN VAZQUEZ - LAISSEZ FAIRE, LAISSEZ
PASSER (CDR by R.O.N.F. Records)
R.O.N.F. Records thinks that this release is more suited for
me than Jliat, since its dark ambient rather than their usual
noise onslaught. I seem to have reviewed the music of Duran Vazquez
on two previous occasions. Once was a split CD with Sumugan Sivanesan
(see Vital Weekly 402) and a MP3 release in Vital Weekly 656.
None of them are easily reminded here however. On the first release
he used field recordings and on the second computerized no-input
mixer to a larger extent. This seems also to be the case on this
new one, along with perhaps synthesizer and the odd taped speech
and a bit of field recording (from inside a car?). Dark it is,
ambient at times, but its at other times also quite unsettling,
almost noise like. This is certainly not music to lull the listener
into deep sleep, but rather transport him to the post apocalyptic
scenery of a recently exploded nuclear bomb. Since it defies
categorization (ambient, industrial, drone, field recording),
but merges together the best of all of those worlds, this is
actually quite a nice release. As said quite unsettling, nerve
shaking rumble from the inner core of the earth, music by and
no doubt for the last human on earth. (FdW)
Address: http://www.ronfrecords.com
NOS - LIVE (CDR by Rat Multimedia Productions)
Behind NOS we find Claudio Ferrari (electronics), Ricky Canessa
(bass, keyboards and master editing) and Marco Cacciamani (devices
& implements). The cover shows them at work behind their
equipment. This is a live recording from May 2009 in Genoa, Italy.
Its hard, this music. Hard to say what it is, or wether I like
this. Its perhaps something that is outside my musical knowledge?
They use drum machines, but on top they improvise in a rather
dull way on their keyboards, guitar and bass. A bit funky, a
bit jazzy, maybe even some psychedelic music, but not for a single
moment I was grabbed by it. It all sounded quite tedious and
boring. There are better ways of doing nothing, without getting
bored, than listening to this. (FdW)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/itnos
MACHINE GUN - FREE IMPROVISATIONS (CDR
by Creative Commons)
We reviewed their first one, "Three Wise Men in a Straight
Jacket" earlier. Now this Swiss trio strikes back with a
second release. Free improvising is their language and they speak
it fluently. One hour of very concentrated improvisations, recorded
live on two different locations in Switzerland. Again very captivating
and wild excursions by a fantastic unit of John Menoud (saxes),
Frederic Berney (bass) and Filippo Provenzale (drums). Information
on the instrumentation is not complete. In the first track there
is obviously someone playing the piano. Menoud I suppose, as
the sax is absent. The drumming by Filippo Provenzale is of an
enormous power. Just listen to "Zero Below". "F(x)=2f(x)
+ sin(x)" starts as quiet duet between sax and bass. Gradually
they come lose and the drummer joins. The piece mainly circles
around intense sax playing by Menoud. "Breasted Wonda Kitty"
is constructed around short patterns that come again from Menoud.
At several moments we hear two saxes. Played by Menoud at the
same time, or with the help of a not mentioned guestplayer???
For "Willard", the closing track, they concentrate
on small gestures without losing intensity. All three have considerable
musical possibilities, and they succeed in creating some very
emotional and inspired improvisations. Chapeau gentlemen and
grussie mit ein, and (DM).
Address: http://www.myspace.com/machineguntrio
MACHINEFABRIEK & SABINE BURGER - INSTUIF
(DVD-R by Machinefabriek)
Its not difficult to see why Rutger Zuydervelt is an excellent
partner to work with. Besides being just a likeable person that
is, he is also someone to work quick and deliver fine results.
Following a long string of musicians he worked with, he also
has interest in film. On various occasions he did work at the
Rotterdam Film festival. Here he presents a new work which he
made with Sabine Bürger. Its going to be part of a larger
project, which will also include Steve Roden. 'Instuif' last
about twenty minutes, but is best played on repeat for a long
time, just as was intended by the creators, on a large screen.
Not just because its so good, but because its so minimal. The
image seems like water flowing from various directions, superimposed
on eachother. Maybe sparks from a fire turned green on the screen.
Snowflakes (and just as I thought winter was over) perhaps. The
music sounds very stationary too. Two or three loops derived
from the guitar. That's it. Its not something to watch very carefully,
but more something to create an environment with. Perhaps the
smaller screen of your TV, with sound hooked up to your home
installation, is maybe a surrogate version of the real thing,
but darken your room and you'll have a great moody setting. Excellent
work. (FdW)
Address: http://www.machinefabriek.nu
PLATFORM - FOUR ELEMENTS (CDR by Minimal
Resource Manipulation)
PAUL MAY & PLATFORM - FLOCK SCISSORS (CDR by Minimal Resource
Manipulation)
Matt Atkins, also known as Platform, continues with his CDR releases,
as always around twenty minutes of music. The 'Four Elements'
are not earth, water, fire and air, but elements from the table
of. Two long tracks and two short tracks. All four are about
rhythm, but very minimal, slow ones. Almost like industrial music,
but without the connotation of hammering, machine like, or, on
the other hand, not being very 'dance' oriented either (think
Pan Sonic). The backdrop of these pieces are quite ambient, which
add a strange atmosphere to it. Almost spooky in approach. Excellent
stuff, moving away from his Autechre inspired previous releases.
With free improv drummer Paul May he has released before 'Broken
Hulk Display' (see Vital Weekly 661). Again its the case of May
delivering recordings of his drumming to Atkins, who then processed
the whole thing. Whereas on the previous I had the impression
he was creating loops with the material, it seems here that Atkins
just treats the material as a whole, adding all sorts of effects
to the various parts - say reverb on the cymbals, delay on the
tom etc. In 'Secret Martyrs' however he does something new. Atkins
switches on some synthesizers, May drums the 4/4 beats and its
almost getting close to techno music. In its dubby effects with
echo and reverb, its all a bit too odd to be true dance music,
but its certainly also something quite weird for the world of
improvised music. Quite a good follow up this one. Varied, funny
and serious. (FdW)
Address: http://www.minimalresourcemanipulation.co.uk
MUTANT BEATNIKS - ANIMAL FARM (CDR by Ifar)
MUTANT BEATNIKS - FOUNTAIN (CDR by Ifar)
MUTANT BEATNIKS - BLAZEN (CDR by Ifar)
If you pack your releases as vaguely as IFAR does, then its probably
no wonder that they haven't read our guidelines either and quite
'happily' send us two releases from 2008. No website is mentioned,
no information on the cover. Just the band names, the title and
the tracks. I mean: if you want to persist on being underground,
you can never complain about any lack of recognition to what
you do, I'd say. All three releases are Mutant Beatniks. 'Animal
Farm' has twenty-two tracks and last seventy-seven minutes -
enough to fill a day with, but its the first out of three. It
starts out with a whole bunch of rather short tracks, which sound
more like sketches of sample-mania. Voices, electronics, orchestral
sounds, bits of noise, stretching the sound. Some attempts are
quite alright, but throughout there are lots of weaker brothers
in this lot. It seems to me that they couldn't make up their
mind what to release, and hence released it all. Cut out half
the tracks and it would be better release.
Eight minutes shorter, with fifteen tracks, also from 2008 is
'Fountain'. Tracks are a bit longer here, and are less sketchy.
It seems that Mutant Beatniks spend some more time on actually
making a composition rather than have a few sounds running amok.
Again sampler based, but less media based (i.e. no lifting of
sounds from TV, radio or vinyl), but perhaps (carefully used
wording here) played by themselves. Some of the sound effects
are a bit silly, like gliding up and down a tonal scale or profound
pitching of a sound. Throughout a much better release, with perhaps
some redundant pieces too (or rather: its all a bit much again),
but its getting better.
So we move on to 2009 with 'Blazen'. The statistics read: ten
tracks, forty two minutes. That's more like it, I should hope.
Some editing, a more selective mind. That sort of thing. Its
the best release out of three. It combines the ideas of both
albums, the sample mania, the collage sounds, sound effects,
but here they are cleverly combined into pretty strong pieces.
The weaker spots are kept to a minimum, and each of the ten tracks
is worth hearing. Plunderphonics meet musique concrete in a pretty
rough landscape of sound. Sometimes rhythmic, sometimes funny
and sometimes just good. This would have been a fine start, I
guess. (FdW)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/edgeofthecosmos
BIRGIT ULHUR & GREGORY BÜTTNER
- TECHRICKS (3"CDR by 1000füssler)
The label 1000füssler from Hamburg produces high quality
releases of electronical and electro-acoustic music. For this
release Birgit Ulhur and Gregory Büttner did a collaboration
project. The sounds are recorded at the flat of Birgit Ulher.
Birgit Ulhur plays trumpet, mostly in free-improvisation and
experimental music. Gregory Büttner makes soundart and electroacoustic
music and runs the label 1000füssler. Both live and work
in Hamburg-Germany.
"Gregory Büttner plays sounds from a computer through
various small speakers, which Birgit Ulher uses as mutes for
her trumpet. This way the trumpet sounds and the electroacoustic
sounds are modulated by the acoustic resonance chamber of the
trumpet. The trumpet is simultaneously a transmitter and a receiver."
The combination of the acoustic sound of the trumpet, air and
blowing with the electronic sounds of the computer works well.
The first track "Tehr" has a warm character because
of the sound of breathing. "Eri" starts slowly and
quiet, but has more high tones which makes the listening to the
music difficult. Sometimes it is paining my head. The third track
"Rix" starts noisy, is more experimental by variation
and using different sounds of the trumpet and computer. "Techricks"
is not an easy album to listen. At a small volume it is more
ambient and some details are a small layer in the music. When
you play it loud, all soundsources are more obvious and a lot
of is to discover in this release. Nice experimental work! (JKH)
Address: http://www.1000fussler.com
XIPHIIDAE - SEWN WITHIN A CIRCLE (two cassettes
by Housecraft)
A kind of swordfish is what Xiphiidae is, and its also the name
of Jeffre Astin's solo project. Discogs learns us that there
is occasional help from people like Kane Pour, Joshua Tippery,
Kyle Conklin, Evan Galbicka, Jason Nicolaus, and Gabriel Ortiz.
There have a whole bunch of cassette releases, and 'Sewn Within
A Circle' is one of the more recent ones. Beside the band name,
the title and 'Housecraft No. 100', there is no other information
on the box. And just why should there be? Its the music that
counts. There is of course no such thing as 'cassette music'
(just as there is no music for vinyl, CD or MP3), but if you'd
ask me to describe the kind of music people release on cassettes
these days, music that of Xiphiidae would be a close thing. Improvised,
yet electronic. Ambient, yet psychedelic. Rough but never real
noisy. I think Xiphiidae uses a guitar and a few sound effects,
and hopefully an ancient four track recorder to tape this on
(a computer would spoil things, makes it too clean), for those
rough edits and minor flaws. But the sheer love which is set
forward in these lo-fi drones make up for that in quite a big
way. Very nice indeed. You almost wished this was a CD. (FdW)
Address: http://housecraftarea.blogspot.com/
REUBEN SON - GLOWING DEPARTURE (cassette
by Private Chronology)
Three lengthy tracks, all recorded live, are to be found on the
cassette by Reuben Son from the USA. On all tracks he plays with
guitars, both 6 and 12 string ones, acoustic and electric, cassette
tape, e-bow, singing bowl. How many hands does this guy have?
I assume there is some scheme to play all of this through some
mechanical means, as two of the three tracks sound pretty experimental,
to an extent where we don't recognize any guitars at all. Some
sort of transformed sound, when the tape doesn't go along the
heads properly. Only in the third track we recognize the 6-string
acoustic guitar. Its all pretty experimental, with no real head
or tail. The perfect music for a limited cassette release. (FdW)
Address: http://www.privatechronology.com
KARL BRODERUS - RADIX (cassette, private)
No real information on the tape. Just a transparent sticker saying
'Karl Broderus' 'Radix' '2009' and an e-mail address. The music
is all noise based. Lots of distortion sounds, with sounds bouncing
in and out - what kind they are I have no idea, but the cut up
approach reminded me Merzbow's 'Scum' 2LP, but, perhaps due to
the fact that this is a tape, the recording quality here is a
little bit less. I guess its alright, but nothing really great.
(FdW)
Address: <karlbroderus@gmail.com>
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