AVA MENDOZA – SHADOW STORIES (CD by Resipiscent)
LIZ ALLBEE – THESEUS VS. THE SHIP OF FOOLS (CD by Resipiscent) *
MASAOKA/CHEN/GRUSEL/NAGAI (CD by Resipiscent) *
JANA WINDEREN – ENERGY FIELD (CD by Touch) *
KYRIAKIDES MOOR – FOLIA (CD by Unsounds) *
KYRIAKIDES MOOR – REBETIKA (CD by Unsounds)
AB BAARS & MEINRAD KNEER – WINDFALL (CD by Evil Rabbit)
DAWN OF MIDI – FIRST (CD by Accretions)
EDWIN LO – RABBIT TRAVELOGUE: CENTRAL REGION (CD by Rabbit Travelogue Edition) *
DAKOTA DAYS (CD by Ponderosa)
PHANTOM DOG BENEATH THE MOON – THE TREES, THE SEA IN A LUNAR STREAM (CD by Rusted Rail) *
ART GIRAFFEFUNGAL – BLACK PORRIDGE KALEIDOSCOPE (CD by Pointy Bird)
PITCH WHITE STORM – FOUR LAYERS OF ABSTRACTION (CD, private)
CODE INCONNU- CODE INCONNU (CDR by Chmafu Records)
TRIKE – TRIKE & THE VIKINGS (CDR by Cheap Satanism) *
JONAS RUCHENHEVER/PETER STENBERG – TRAUMPHANTASIE/PLATEAU (CDR by Industrial Culture)
HERFSTTONEN (CDR by Esc Rec)
I/D/ARA OPHIDIA (CDR, private)
KASPER VAN HOEK – FRANK 3 (CDR by Heilskabaal Records) *
HARUKI – THE LAND THAT LIES BEHIND US (3″CDR by Hibernate Recordings) *
SUNSLIDE – FIELD PIANO (3″CDR by Field Muzick) *
ANDREW MARINO – REVISITING (cassette by Full Spectrum Records)
STIRNER – VRIJE GELUIDEN (cassette by Skum Rex)
SMUT / RIGHT NOW SPLIT (cassette by Friends and Relatives Records)
RUST WORSHIP – INFORMALITIES (cassette by Obsolete Units)
NONHORSE – NOXON (cassette by Obsolete Units)
FILTHY SMEAR – CONSTIPATED ALBION (cassette by Total Vermin)
FILTHY TURD – DEATH EJACULATIONS (cassette by Knife in the Toaster)
AVA MENDOZA – SHADOW STORIES (CD by Resipiscent)
LIZ ALLBEE – THESEUS VS. THE SHIP OF FOOLS (CD by Resipiscent)
MASAOKA/CHEN/GRUSEL/NAGAI (CD by Resipiscent)
As I write this I am not at home, not behind my desk, chewing on music, but at a friends’ house, watching over a sleeping baby upstairs somewhere. I lie on their ‘thing’ on in the living room (I am not good with the names of furniture, which I could avoid by using the word couch), and outside its beautiful spring weather. However I am listening to these three releases. The first one is by guitarist Ava Mendoza, who played along the likes of Scott Amendola, Carlo Bozulich, Marco Eneidi and Henry Kaiser (I recognized one name) and its said that her debut album will ‘enamor fans of Sonny Sharrock, John Fahey, Marc Ribot, Nels Cline, James Blood Ulmer, Keiji Haino, Fred Frith’ and others. Here I recognized some names indeed. I am still lying on this thing and think of the nice weather conditions outside. Maybe its by now hotter in the southern US states I wondered? Why is it that I connect much of Mendoza’s album with music from the Southern states of USA? Swampy, bluesy music. Actually its quite nice, I thought, while lying down. Its morning, but all of a sudden I thought it would be nice, if it was a little more hot, and I could open a stone cold beer. I think I liked this music, but I also think its nothing for Vital Weekly.
As a women is Liz Allbee, who lives in Berlin and her instruments are trumpet, electronics and voice. You might perhaps jump to the conclusion that Allbee comes from the world of improvisation and that’s where she operates. That is only partially true. There is a lot happening on this CD: perhaps somehow, somewhat based in improvisation, but there is so much more, above all: its musical. Sometimes one gets the impression that Allbee wants to play a poptune. I have no idea what her electronics are about but no doubt some form of loopdevice to create rhythms. Perhaps using her voice, perhaps her trumpet, or perhaps there is some rudimentary form of a drum computer. But I think she loops more than just that: also her voice, also her trumpet and thus forms little melodies around she improvises her work. Maybe that seems an odd combination but its one that works surprisingly well. At times a bit noisy, at other times more like serious avant-garde, but always keen to add that (small) pop angle. The tracks are short and to the point. A bit sketch-like perhaps, but due to the variety of approach this is a highly enjoyable and well succeeded hybrid of styles, with Allbee doing something that is surely her own.
Then solely rooted in the world of improvised music we find a CD which is based on the first meeting of guitarist Kenta Nagai, vocalist/cellist Audrey Chen, koto player Miya Masaoka and the modular synth operated by Hans Grusel. On September 11, 2009 they played for the first time at High Zero Festival in Baltimore, in a derelict church (we are supposed to hear the water dripping, but I didn’t). They played one long piece which no doubt for the sake of convenience is cut into separate pieces. Each of the player has quite some experience in playing improvised music, yet as a whole this CD is not always successful. The four players stay in a territory which they probably feel save and know their way. The improvisations here are pretty ‘musical’ and not like so many others an exploration of what sound possibilities an instrument has to offer. That of course is not a bad thing. But one can hear too much their search for that next nice bit they intend to play. Some more rigorous editing would have been in place here, weeding out those bits that don’t work well, and perhaps would have resulted in a CD that would have been half the length, but with stronger music. (FdW)
Address: http://www.resipiscent.com
JANA WINDEREN – ENERGY FIELD (CD by Touch)
This is my second encounter with the work of Jana Winderen, following ‘Heated: Live In Japan’ (see Vital Weekly 669), where she created a piece of music with the use of various field recordings. A very good piece of music, but nothing that leaped out of what we already heard by others in the same field (sorry of that bad line), like BJ Nilsen or Chris Watson, both of whom are also on Touch actually. Here she presents a new work made in Barents Sea (which can be found north of Norway and Russia), Greenland and Norway, in cold sea, glaciers. Apparently we are supposed to hear fish (cod, haddock, herring, pollock) hunting, calling for a mate or just trying to find their way. I am not sure, and bound to think its not, but it seems that Winderen has added some electronic processing to the sounds she recorded. Or maybe its just the drone of a trawler also picked up with her hydrophones. Again I must say this is a beautiful work, which if you don’t know much about the fact that it is recorded below sea level, most of the times, could pass on as a high and mighty work of drone music. Like so many genres discussed in Vital Weekly (ambient, noise, field recordings), its hard to stand out with a particular work. Jana Winderen delivers once again a great work, which can easily meet up with the best in her field. No wonder she is on a high quality label like Touch. (FdW)
Address: http://www.touchmusic.org.uk
KYRIAKIDES MOOR – FOLIA (CD by Unsounds)
KYRIAKIDES MOOR – REBETIKA (CD by Unsounds)
The press text suggests that this the second and third CD release from Yannis Kyriakides (computer) and Andy Moor (guitar), but then somehow I missed out on the first one. The two have played a whole bunch of concerts in 2009 and ‘Folia’ is a sort of studio version of their endless improvisations. It’s based on a “famous tune from the 16th and 17th centuries called ‘La Folia'” and apparently is of some influence on the music. I must admit I don’t know that tune, so did I recognize it in here. On ‘Rebetika’, which was previously available as a download from Seventhings (but which has two extra tracks on the CD version), they ‘lovingly deconstruct and reassemble their favorite rebetika music’. Rebetika, in case you don’t know, is the blues music of the greek from about a century ago. On that CD it seems to me that they use original recordings, which Kyriakides samples on his computer, feeds to the plugs, along which Moore improvises on his guitar. In the nine pieces here things sound pretty coherent. The starting point always are the melancholic melodies that lie at the heart of the rebetika. Sometimes things go out more into an abstracter field, even noisy, nervous hectic parts, but it makes sense.
‘Folia’ on the other hand is different. Its here that these boys go out all the way and show off what they are all capable off when it comes to improvising, and brings them all over the place.
From introspective playing to noise oriented
bits, or even bits that contain rhythms (without becoming dance music of course). Their improvisations are not bound by any rules, the great red book of improvisation, but instead they play whatever comes to mind. Kyriakides picking up the guitar, processing it on the spot, feeding it back and Moore responding to that. It brings out seven great pieces that can be seen as a whole but also as separate entities. Excellent. (FdW)
Address: http://www.unsounds.com
AB BAARS & MEINRAD KNEER – WINDFALL (CD by Evil Rabbit)
Evil Rabbit is a label run by Dutch pianist Albert van Veenendaal and German double bass player Meinrad Kneer. Started in 2006, they concentrate on contemporary European jazz and improvised music. Most releases concern Dutch-based projects of international line ups. Now we focus on the work ‘Windfall’ by Ab Baars (tenor sax, clarinet, shakuhachi, noh-kan) and Meinrad Kneer on double bass. Kneer is a new name for me. Since 1995 he lives in Amsterdam, and participates in numerous projects and groups that operate on the borders of jazz, improvised, ethnic and contemporary music. Ab Baars, a long time member of the famous Instant Composers Pool Orchestra, needs no further introduction. On two occasions in 2008 Baars and Kneer recorded the 11 improvisations that make up this CD of 46 minutes. To be enjoyed here is a fine interplay between two very skilled musicians. Their improvisations move between very raw and very subtle ones full of nuances and contrasts. Their dialogues are however also it dry and academic, which is characteristic for some sections of Dutch improvised music. This makes it is difficult to stay tuned from time to time. At the same time it is clear we witness some beautiful and disciplined poetry here! (DM)
Address: http://www.evilrabbitrecords.eu
DAWN OF MIDI – FIRST (CD by Accretions)
Dawn of Midi is Pakistani percussionist Qasim Naqvi, Indian contrabassist Aakaash Israni and Moroccan pianist Amino Belyamani. A very international – non-western – line up, but they live and work in Europe and the States. Dawn of Midi is a traditional acoustic combo although the name of the band made my thoughts fist go to electronic equipment. This strong collective plays a very sensible kind of jazzmusic. Because of the backgrounds of the musicians I expected non-western influences, but I failed to notice them if there were any. The improvisations are above all very intense and coherent, delivered in a beautiful recording by engineer Steve Rusch. All timbres, colors, little movements and sounds, received equal attention from Rusch. Already from this perspective only, it is a joy to listen to this album. But the music itself is also fantastic. In most of the improvisations the music moves on very tranquil and peacefully. Subtle and warm. But at the same time there is a constant tension and concentration that binds all together. The pianist has a minimalist approach , hammering the same cluster of notes on and on, or just playing one note. The drummer is the most busy one of the three, making lots of runs, figures and crazy noises, circling around the more modest playing by piano- and bass player. There improvisations are open and challenging, and have great depth. They take you on a mysterious and hypnotizing journey. A real beauty. (DM)
Address: http://www.accretions.com
EDWIN LO – RABBIT TRAVELOGUE: CENTRAL REGION (CD by Rabbit Travelogue Edition)
The name Edwin Lo doesn’t sound exactly Chinese, but he send his CD from that country, where he recorded the field recordings over a three year period in Sheung Wan and Central. The Rabbit mentioned refers to a fictional character in this story, traveling about. It starts out with a rather low end hum but soon enough the field recordings come in which he is “trying to articulate is to observe, correspond, questioning the central value by using sound and its archival and creative practice”. We hear street sounds, the activity of people (at one point they seem to be arguing, which is fascinating to hear), and even a sort of talk is picked up, in English, about what seems to be a demonstration – I might be wrong here. Maybe its a political edge to the work? I am not sure. But throughout this is quite a fascinating work, even if one (like me) has never visited the region. Lo rather does a clever mix of sounds and atmospheres, which are all quite evocative. Otherwise there is not much to say, other than this work of field recordings is very nice. (FdW)
Address: http://rabbit-travelogue.com
DAKOTA DAYS (CD by Ponderosa)
Here I am in trouble. This is popmusic. Loaded with tons of references: public Image LTD, Fleetwood Mac, new wave, John Lennon. The latter had his Dakota Days, where he spend the last years of his life, before caught in the rye. Dakota Days are Ronald Lippock (Tarwater, To Roccoco Rot, White Tree) and Alberto Fabris (Pacifico, Masculine/Feminine), who worked on this album from summer 2008 to early 2009. They play a radical new version of ‘Slow’ by Kylie Minogue, or ‘Love Boat’ theme (just using the lyrics). Lots of guitars, piano, great vocals (which is rare with the popmusic that usually lands on this desk), drums. Fresh popmusic, good popmusic. I actually enjoyed this a lot. But then I always liked popmusic. Never as something to write about, but simply to play it. I am better, I hope, about weird music, then about such simple yet great music as Dakota Days. One to keep in rotating for all those moments I have no pressing Vital matters. Excellent. (FdW)
Address: http://www.ponderosa.it
PHANTOM DOG BENEATH THE MOON – THE TREES, THE SEA IN A LUNAR STREAM (CD by Rusted Rail)
Once Phantom Dog Beneath The Moon were called Snowmachine, a name I must admit I liked better. A duo from Ireland of Aaron Hurley and Scott McLaughlin. As Snowmachine they had a release on Deserted Village (see Vital Weekly 464), in which already we heard the roots of Phantom Dog Beneath The Moon: lots of guitars and vocals. I guess they liked it that much that its now continued. Its music that is really not for Vital Weekly. Music that is best described as folk music with an avant-garde edge. Hurley has a falsetto voice, and the instruments, all played by McLaughlin, include guitars, cello, piano, glockenspiel, bass, melodica, harpsichord and electronics. The music, eight tracks, almost all around five to seven minutes, is not bad, I guess, but I’m missing out on points of reference myself. Not rooted here in indie-rock, shoegaze or folk its hard to say wether this is great, or a great copy, or bad, or a bad copy. Sometimes the music expands into the world of drone, through over-use of reverb to get that haunting atmosphere. Sometimes it sounds like mediaeval tunes. Like said, I don’t think its bad, but I guess its not something I would play very often. Especially the voice is something I have a problem with. So it goes, I guess. (FdW)
Address: http://www.rustedrail.com
ART GIRAFFEFUNGAL – BLACK PORRIDGE KALEIDOSCOPE (CD by Pointy Bird)
Pointy Bird is a small label from the UK run by Andrea and Pete Bradley. The second release of Art Giraffefungal at Pointy Bird is a recording of a live free improvisation. The sounds are electronic and the info-sheet tells that the sound generators and recordings were all made on trains and boats. I cannot hear it, but that makes no sense. The sounds are pure and with no overdub and not multi-layered. That makes this album attractive and worth listening.
The CD has 16 short tracks with the length of about 2:30 minutes. Every composition has his own atmosphere from cold white noises to calm repeating tones. The pure electronic sounds are well composed in a straight way. I reminds me to old electronic experiments, but Art Giraffefungal makes in a short period very intensive compositions. He leads you through his sound-pallett of distorted sounds and deep-dark tones. The track “Spaghetti Machine Feedback Error” is full of echoes and beats that starts like an experimental reggae-track and ends in more straight sounds. The two tracks based on radio-sounds are nice generated, not in a new or special manner, but it fits well in the concept and the investigation of the pure sounds and that is what you can find on this CD. (JKH)
Address: http://www.pointybirdrecords.co.uk
PITCH WHITE STORM – FOUR LAYERS OF ABSTRACTION (CD, private)
Pitch White Storm started as an initiative by Jeroen Pek, Onno Witte and Stormvogel in 2006. In 2008 they were ready for their first work called ‘The View & The Tales’, described by themselves as a ‘jazzrock suite’. For ‘Four Layers of Abstraction’ the group turned into a sextet with new members Mark Thur (laptop, soundscapes, sampler, small percussion, bag or marbles),
Dave de Marez Oyens (bassguitar, filter modler, milk frother, e-bow), Oene van Geel (violin). The original members: Stormvogel (grand piano, beerglass, analog & digital synthesizer, voice), Jeroen Pek (C flute, alto flute, bass flute, educci, breath FX, voice), Onno Witte (drums, glockenspiel, Orff instruments, small percussion, voice). For this project the band worked with sound sculptor Mark Thur who was asked “to join in and jockey the computer as a full fledged musical instruments. The result was a bunch of spherical improvisations, live performed on acoustic and analog instruments, but instantly sampled, transformed and manipulated by electronic and digital machines. All layers were recorded separately on different locations and dates by PWS members, featuring Oene van Geel (violin). To preserve the magic of ‘pure psychic automatism’, none of the musicians were allowed to prepare before recording their layers.”
The results of this procedure are difficult to categorize, this being a first indication that this is a successful experiment. All five pieces sound spaced out and trippy, but without a groove. It is music of psychedelic and hallucinating proportions, heading somewhere between pure sound art and music. The long opening track “Corner Cube/Retro Reflecter” reminded me sometimes of Miles Davis in his electric 70s phase. Thur plays a crucial role. Depending on his electronic surgery the music moves away from its acoustic starting point. Waves of music are layered, resulting in open electroacoustic world music. At first hearing it appeared to me without a sense of strong direction. But it started to grow after repeated listenings, and gradually I became impressed by the hidden inner logic of these excursions. (DM)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/pitchwhitestorm
CODE INCONNU – CODE INCONNU (CDR by Chmafu Records)
I suppose it is no coincidence that this Austrian band carries the same name as one of the films of Austrian director Michael Haneke. Code Inconnu is Markus Sworcik (drums), Gottfried Krienzer (guitar) and Christoph Uhlmann (synth). As a trio they started in 2001, with Graz as their base. For their newest and third release they are joined by Reas Klockl (bass) and Hannes Schauer (vocals). So I deduce they changed direction considerably for their new record. They compiled an album of composed song structures that have strong roots in 80s new wave. Sometimes I had to think of how Allen Ravenstine added electronics to the songs of Pere Ubu, although Code Inconnu is a totally different band. Their music often sounds like a very thick soup. All sound ingredients together produce something very dense and unable to look through. A massive wall of sounds and noise, especially because of the use of heavy electronic tapestries. This is noise rock par excellence and done very convincingly. It works well for me in tracks like ‘Recollected’.
In quieter tracks like the first part of ‘Point’ the music looses my interest. In their mixing of vocals and electronics the most interesting things happen, like in ‘Dub an ordinary woman’ that opens with great guitar work by Krienzer. But reviewing CDs of rock music I always have the feeling that nothing changes in rock music. Essentially it are always the same basic ingredients. Also in the case of Code Inconnu I come to this conclusion. Although they are able to put their own stamp in a very dynamic and fresh way. They spread out much energy and power as we expect from rock music, and that makes them appealing. But for me this does not compensate the fact that it is in the end rock as we know it so well. I wished they put more “inconnu codes” into their music. With the closing track “Young Canadians” they lost all my credit. It is full of the usual pop pathos that just horrifies me. The vinyl version of this record is released by Noise Appeal Records. As a CDR it is realized by Chmafu Nocords. (DM)
Address: http://www.nocords.net http://www.noiseappeal.com
TRIKE – TRIKE & THE VIKINGS (CDR by Cheap Satanism)
Apparently Trike from Canada has won $20.000 on a Canadian tv/radio competition and a Yamaha Equipment Sponsorship, so it eludes me why they want to release their music on a CDR? No track titles on the cover, but mentioned on the press text. Odd. The music is nothing for Vital Weekly actually, but I saw Trike live a while ago and their sheer professionalism in playing quirky electro-pop tunes was very, very nice. A duo of Xania Keane (voice, drum-programming, violin, tap-dancing, percussion, spanking) and Stephen Paul Taylor (voice, synth, programming, percussion, guitar, bass and trombone) who recorded this album near some ancient Viking graves – hence the title. Good double male/female vocals around here, great melodies, excellent production and highly commercial (and speaking about commercial: ‘Smack Me Around’ will be used by Tic Tac). Trike have everything to be famous, front cover of teenie pop magazines. ‘For Fans Of Jarvis Cocker, The Cars, Pet Shop Boys, Lady Gaga’ – I should get my daughter (11) for an in-depth review and not a grumpy old man, who actually liked it too. Very un-Vital. Very unlikely once they reach true fame, they will be again featured here. (FdW)
Address: http://www.cheapsatanism.com
JONAS RUCHENHEVER/PETER STENBERG – TRAUMPHANTASIE/PLATEAU (CDR by Industrial Culture)
For a label whose name is Industrial Culture one doesn’t perhaps the kind of music as presented by Jonas Ruchenhever and Peter Stenberg. I don’t think I heard of them before (although I might be wrong). They each have a piece here on this split release, although each piece must be seen as various pieces. Both artists use the same musical material: field recordings, guitars and electronics. Its not easy to point out the differences between the two. Stenberg seems to me the one who uses longer curves in his music. His piece has three parts, whereas Ruchenhever comes to eight. But both of the artists perform an interesting combination of improvised music on guitar that, due to the use of sound effects, grow and grow into some kind of drone music. But its not the kind of drone music that is pure drone, but a bit more daring, a bit different than what is usually labeled as such. Its more like a collage of sounds, some chopped up, some sustaining, some with crackles and hiss, and with what could be computer processing, which results in pretty good music, that works beyond boundaries of improvisation, drone and microsound/ambient glitch. Not much difference between the two, whom I expect to know eachother, although one is from Sweden and the other from Belgium, makes also that I have no preference for one or the other, but throughout a pretty strong album. (FdW)
Address: http://www.industrialculture.org
HERFSTTONEN (CDR by Esc Rec)
Somewhere in The Netherlands there is a place called Okkenbroek, of which I never heard. The have a festival called ‘Landtonen’ (tones of the land) and asked Esc.Rec to invite a bunch of musicians to come up with a piece of music especially for this festival, keeping in mind the rural aspect of the village. Paul de Jong, the cello player of whom we haven’t heard much lately, but was once in the mighty The Books, has a melancholic piece of music, with a soaring piece of music on the cello, spoken word and computer manipulations. Carefully constructed and actually very beautiful. It moved some in the audience to tears, which is understandable. Mia Mia, of whom I never heard, created a video and we get the soundtrack here for it. Also a mellow piece of music, but more gentle, more musical. Floating like a leaf in the wind, with some vibraphone like tones, dark strings in the background, like autumn clouds on an otherwise sunny day. Far, far away influenced by dance music I guess, with very gentle beats lurking in the background. Gluid, being Bram van den Oever, has a real vibraphone player and a real cello player, while playing himself samples of field recordings (birds of course and more local talk). Here is where we get the closest to real dance music. Perhaps intended to be a bit folk dance like, in which the whole village cheerfully attends. Three lengthy pieces, three times spot on. Okkenbroek can be proud of the achievement! (FdW)
Address: http://www.escrec.com
I/D/ARA OPHIDIA (CDR, private)
A split release between two bands of which I never heard before. They are both from Singapore. Its send by I/D who give some information: “an improvising noise-rock collective sharing a common love of progressive rock, jazz fushion, harsh noise, psychedelic vibes, black & doom metal, post-punk and disco dancing sounds. They don’t give a damn about what is or isn’t ‘tasteful’; they just want to rock ‘n disco you hard”. The release however starts with Ara Ophidia, who play music that is highly atmospheric and probably find their life in all things ‘ritual’ or ‘magick’. Lots of reverb on sound sources unknown, which makes the whole thing sound a bit ‘far away’. I think lots of guitars are used here, along with said sound effect and delays. Its actually not bad, this ambient doom metal, a bit like early Main. The pieces sound open for some further rework to be fully satisfying. I/D has the most space here, in one track that last twenty-four minutes. Its easy to say what it is not: disco dancing for a start. Jazz fushion? Hardly. Free improvisation through a rock context? Yes. Harsh noise? Surely. The saxophone plays the main instrument, along with drums and guitars. I don’t like saxophone playing this, blearing away on end, even within this noise setting, which may remind us of Borbetomagus. Too long, too unstructured. I’m sure they don’t mind, but I do. (FdW)
Address: <hseah@yahoo.com>
KASPER VAN HOEK – FRANK 3 (CDR by Heilskabaal Records)
The third release by Kasper van Hoek from his time at the Frank Mohr Institute in Groningen. Four tracks of which little is revealed. The soundsources were recorded between 2005 and 2010 and mixed 2009-2010. That’s all. The press text reveals some more info: all of these pieces use some kind of stringed objects, maybe a guitar, maybe some kind of device with strings that Van Hoek build himself, which he feeds through max/msp patches. Sometimes it involves old live recordings, but its not always clear, what kind of mixing took place; some of this material sound like it was recorded live and nothing more. Although the four pieces aren’t bad, there seems to be something missing in them. Its hard to say what it is. Maybe the problem lies with me, but I found it a bit hard to get into this. The material didn’t quite get to me. It sounds a bit too unfinished for me. (FdW)
Address: http://www.heilskabaal.net
HARUKI – THE LAND THAT LIES BEHIND US (3″CDR by Hibernate Recordings)
Boris Snauwaert is Haruki. His first release, ‘Haphazardly, While Sitting’ (see Vital Weekly 652) I didn’t like very much, but his second ‘To Humble A Nest’ (see Vital Weekly 687) I did. They sounded quite different from eachother. The first one was quite improvised on a metal string instrument, whereas the second was a collection of pieces that had field recordings, electronics, analogue and digital and that rusty saw again. It seems now, with this new release that this is a combination that suits him quite well. All the elements of ‘To Humble A Nest’ are here again. Haruki plays drone like music, but from within a musical context. The melodies are a bit angular and at times even a bit piercing, especially when using a bow on the saw. But the addition of say a piano takes off the sharp edge and adds a great texture to the music. Quite a nice release, short and to the point. Haruki is maturing and this new release is quite a step forward. (FdW)
Address: http://hibernate-recs.co.uk
SUNSLIDE – FIELD PIANO (3″CDR by Field Muzick)
Nigel Simpson is the man behind Sunslide, and as such he has been experimenting with acoustic and electric sounds. Most curious thing mentioned on his CV is a meeting with Phil Manzanera in a coffeeshop which resulted in playing on two of his solo records. He lived in London but has moved to Suffolk, where he can finally play the piano again. He set up the 88 keys outside and played these improvisations, keeping in mind the music of Chopin, Schumann, Bill Evans, Arve Henriksen and also Brian Eno’s ‘Discreet Music’. Long sustaining sounds, carefully playing and of course country-side sounds. Its where the label name truly lives I’d say. There is some sparse electronic processing, but what it does is not exactly clear – that kind of sparseness. In the third piece there is something of mild distortion going on and a lot on the seventh and final piece, which I also didn’t like: it broke up the gentleness of the previous six. Quite hissy at times. I was reminded the old great Harold Budd track on ‘From Brussels With Love’, but then played outside. Apart from that seventh track a lovely moody little item. (FdW)
Address: http://fieldmuzick.net
ANDREW MARINO – REVISITING (cassette by Full Spectrum Records)
A man who creates music, design and who is into photography, beekeeping and homebrewing of beer is surely a man of many interests. He also plays guitar and that’s what he does on this twenty minute cassette. The press text talks about various homes and studios where this was recorded, but it surely doesn’t sound like a work of many layers, but two improvised pieces on the guitar, with lots of sound effects being used to create an eerie ambient-like texture of atmospheric music. Working fine in the world of long sustaining sounds and overtones, its hard to recognize a guitar at all. In that respect he sounds a bit like the older Oren Ambarchi, especially on some of the pieces on his early LP releases. Quite a nice cassette which I think should have been a CDR with a somewhat better sound quality. (FdW)
Address: http://www.fullspectrumrecords.com
STIRNER – VRIJE GELUIDEN (cassette by Skum Rex)
This is yet another example of how harsh noise marries well to the cassette medium in that it can interact with the medium’s “defects” to create a new synthesis of “affect” by which Dolby (S) et. al. is rendered musicologically as opposed to technologically pointless. I.e. one labours electronics in with a fog of tape residue, including vocals in places, a long work. by which the difference between materials, thought and production disappear, and so much like the name suggests, rejects all political, economic, philosophic, psychological, thought & production, from religiosity through radicalism at its most atheistic and nihilistic. “Look at Stirner, look at him, the peaceful enemy of all constraint. For the moment, he is still drinking beer, Soon he will be drinking blood as though it were water.” (jliat)
Address: c/o Tony Mulder Hoornbladstraat 194 7601 SR, Almelo The Netherlands
SMUT / RIGHT NOW SPLIT (cassette by Friends and Relatives Records)
This is another of a few examples of being honest to the medium of the audio cassette in its thrown togetherness – its accidentally which is quite Heideggerean throwness of Dasein – to be overly pretentious in an ontological way, but this kind of thing is more ontic than ontological- “what da ya mean?” Ontic in that it represents a particular thing, i.e. this tape with its actuality, makes it a science of music, or subject of scientific investigation of things, i.e. “this!” one listens to a *particular* performance, which is not the same as the ontological idea of being “at all”, the philosophical ramifications that was once high art but now can be found in HN / HNW. This Ontic stance which has become general through the “performances” of work across the music cultural plane, partly I suspect via Frank Zappa, but now even in the gesturing of Simon Rattle, as opposed to the expositions of the ontological nature of sound as noise. There is much on this tape which some might think similar to that I critiqued elsewhere, but here it only serves to underline the nature of its factivity, there is no aesthetic to intervene. (Jliat)
Address: www.freindsandrelativesrecords.com
RUST WORSHIP – INFORMALITIES (cassette by Obsolete Units)
NONHORSE – NOXON (cassette by Obsolete Units)
Informalities is supposedly three live recordings, however the extreme stereo panning and lo-vol scraping and feedback hums- the kind of thing you hear amateur rock bands going through when setting up, gives the work a studio feel as its here all beautifully presented and controlled. What springs to mind is a show by some art lecturer of slides, those that you get marking the end of the film, with colored bands where light has got in on the last un-rewound bit of 35mm. He – the lecturer, enthused about these but the general feeling was – “Well.. And…” I wont quote all the blurb but it describes this in almost an apologetic way – “An apt representation of Rust Worship’s current state-of-affairs.” Well yes – i.e. “lost” as it says “flow between something like”.” forgotten miscellany” – why the cassette format here when its low fi quality is ignored and by using commercial tape gives inappropriate lengths for the live works- i.e. many minutes of unused silent tape? Nonhorse – Noxon, I read with a falling heart “Noxon is an unending hour-and-a-half plus expression of Crane’s particular mastery of his art, a sonic canvas of half-remembered daydreams, ambiguous episodes of astral projection, and floating remnants of lost AM radio transmissions. A future classic of fever-dreamed ambiance.” Well yes, it’s the kind of thing bored kids (and me) do in ethic shops where there is that machine which plays excerpts from the ethnic whale/American Indian/pan pipes and meditation music stuff. Some might like this music. We get these (machines) in garden centers in the UK these days, but I prefer to wander over and watch the fish. Being serious and trying to be constructive, there are too many ingredients here both sonic and not, effects and illusions to nonsense, insufficient contemplation of the silence which is the perfect chora, one does not “master” this, (or subject it to electronics), but listens to it, even in its banality. (And) the reason things are “lost”, “ambiguous”, “half-remembered” is either that they were/are unimportant or represent the conscious tip of a very very unpleasant repressed reality “It is the dark, inaccessible part of our personality, what little we know of it we have learnt from our study of the dream-work and of the construction of neurotic symptoms, and most of this is of a negative character and can be described only as a contrast to the ego. We all approach the id with analogies: we call it a chaos, a cauldron full of seething excitations… It is filled with energy reaching it from the instincts, but it has no organization, produces no collective will, but only a striving to bring about the satisfaction of the instinctual needs subject to the observance of the pleasure principle.” [Freud, New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis (1933)] (Jliat)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/obsoleteunits
FILTHY SMEAR – CONSTIPATED ALBION (cassette by Total Vermin)
“traffic noise, trumpet noise, bashing and crooning. Artwork by Ms Susan Fitzpatrick” Lofi production – Voice noise which sounds like vomiting, short snippets layered with noise, movie clips, ambient noise and discernible vocals ranting on about shit. rhythmic noise bursts, this fits more into the industrial/fluxus category than noise as in HN and HNW where such thematic devices are abandoned, or Obfuscated. The second side opens with a semi tune like thing – before entering another vocal mish mash. Some may like the texture of this work, as it weaves its abstract bricolage like a walk along the shoreline at low tide, ultimately romantic which is the problem with all such work which postures the idea of creativity and comment. A piquant Gilbert and George kind of piece of work. (Jliat)
Address: http://totalvermin.blogspot.com/
FILTHY TURD – DEATH EJACULATIONS (cassette by Knife in the Toaster)
There has been in noise quite a loud group (ha ha) of proponents of the cassette as THE medium of choice, it being cheap and noisy, having almost the aesthetic of a packet of cigarettes. As a non smoking pro smoker who misses the other worldly atmospheres of the great British pub now like the French café in sad decline since our elders and betters told us off and stopped us smoking in public. I digress from my digression, there is something about the packet of cigarettes, is it size, the wrapper, the flip lid or the softer America or Gauloises packet – paquet – which is shared by The Compact Cassette (correct term) which has now perhaps via its cult status in noise become a more general indie phenomenon- marketing ploy – see http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/mar/29/audio-cassette-comeback – regardless (insert musings on comodification/exploitation referencing Marx et al.) and finally getting round to this tape – sorry Compact Cassette- this – is harsh noise – continuous in its saturation of the tape certainly harsh noise – a harsh Wall in its continuum of Cantoresque infinities. For the sake of a quote to help the label- “This tape represents one of the many apogees, capstones, climaxes, culminations, heights, high points, highest points, meridians, optimums, peaks, summits, tops, ultimatums, vertexes, zeniths of Harsh Noise Wall, highly recommended” – to anyone – especially those who smoke Capstan full strength cigarettes. i.e. NFP (not for pussies) “The brand became less popular when the health effects of Tobacco became more widely known, few shops now sell them. In 1971 the UK government published a table of the tar and nicotine contents of cigarettes available in the UK market, and Capstan Full Strength contained, by some margin, the highest tar and nicotine contents of any brand.” On side 2 the HNW auto destructs into a mission impossible of white noise and disconnection. (Jliat – cough-)
Address: http://knifeinthetoaster.tripod.com/index.html
announcements
1. From: itah <itah@o2.pl>
:::III CoCArt Music Festival:::
April 16-17, Centre of Contemporary Art in Torun, Poland
16.04 (Friday), 8.00 PM:
Antoine Chessex (CH)
ZE BIF (D)
Jens Brand (D)
Marcelo Aguirre/SPASTIC DEMENTIA (D)
LUXATED TRIO (PL)
17.04 (Saturday), 7.00 PM:
Asmus Tietchens (D)
Raymond Salvatore Harmon (USA) & Philippe Petit (F)
Dave Phillips (CH)
PAS (USA)
WEREJU (IRL)
CoCArt Music Festival is organized by the Centre of Contemporary Art “Znaki Czasu” in Torun, Poland, in cooperation with members of group HATI – Rafal Iwanski & Rafal Kolacki. The main idea of the Festival is presentation of new trends in contemporary music.
CoCArt Music Festival on internet:
http://www.csw.torun.pl/cocart
http://www.myspace.com/cocartmusicfestival
2. From: Lee Kwang Goh <goh.leekwang@gmail.com>
i will visit Europe by end of this month and playing some concerts there:
30 Apr (Fri) Dock18, Zürich, Switzerland. (Presentation, concert & video)
1 May (Sat) Miss Hecker, Berlin, Germany. (as PM, with Olaf Hochherz)
2 May (Sun) Raum18, Berlin, Germany.
4 May (Tue) Antje Oeklesund, Berlin, Germany. (as PM, with Olaf
Hochherz, Laptop)
7 May (Fri) Kulturzentrum am EuroBahnhof e.V., Saarbrücken, Germany.
8 May (Sat) Kulturzentrum am EuroBahnhof e.V., Saarbrücken, Germany.
12 May (Wed) Hörbar, Hamburg, Germany.
13 May (Thu) H7, Hamburg, Germany. With Christoph Schiller – spinet,
Gregory Büttner – electr., objects, Birgit Ulher – tp, radio mutes,
speaker, Heiner Metzger – soundtable
14 May (Fri) Subterrarium, Vienna, Austria. (Concert & video)
15 May (Sat) Amann Studio, Vienna, Austria.
16 May (Sun) CÖKXPôN CafÉ Theather, Budapest, Hungary.
18 May (Tue) Ljubljana, Slovenia.
21 May (Fri) Instants Chavires, Montreuil, France. With Jason Kahn,
Analog Synthesizer
23 May (Sun) Cave 12, Geneva, Switzerland. With Jason Kahn, Analog Synthesizer
25 May (Tue) Werkstatt Improvisierte Musik (WIM), Zürich, Switzerland.
With Jason Kahn, Analog Synthesizer
* and a sound installation at the Staalplaat Records store in Berlin
from 4th May onward.
3. From: informatie@le-souffleur.nl
Dekorder Label Night
Asra (Raymond Dijkstra/Timo van Luijk) (nl/be)
Black To Comm (de)
Iibiis Rooge (Astral Social Club/High Wolf) (uk/fr)
Machinefabriek (nl)
Voks (dk)
Dj’s obscuriosa + klaui
@ Vrijhaven/Maakhaven
Saturday 17 april 20:30
Calandkade 157 Den Haag
http://home.wanadoo.nl/w.out/dekorder.htm
4. From: “incite@gmx.de” <incite@gmx.de>
microphonics
(Dirk Serries/ Fear Falls Burning/ Vidna Obmana)
live @ Hörbar Hamburg
Wednesday, April 21st
19:30
(showtime 20:15)
5¤ cover
http://www.myspace.com/mymicrophonics
http://www.audiounit.fragmentedmedia.org/
5. From: incite@gmx.de
incite/ live in Minsk – greyscale audiovisual electronics
InTouch Festival 2010
Saturday April 24th
Gallery of Modern Arts, Minsk, Belarus
Also performing:
Plaster
Pleq
Buben feat Nasta Labada
http://intouch-fest.h-a-z-e.org/
http://www.goethe.de/ins/ru/lp/prj/kum/kpr/int/deindex.htm
—
Vital Weekly is published by Frans de Waard and submitted for free to anybody with an e-mail address. If you don’t wish to receive this, then let us know. Any feedback is welcome <vital@vitalweekly.net>. Forward to your allies.
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All written by Frans de Waard (FdW), Dolf Mulder (DM) <dolf.mulder@hetnet.nl>, Robert Meijer (RM), Niels Mark (NM), Jeff Surak (JS), Craig N (CN), Jliat (Jliat), Freek Kinkelaar (FK), Michael Tau (MT), Jan-Kees Helms (JKH) and others on a less regular basis.
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Some people think it’s perhaps ‘cool’, ‘fun’, ‘art’ or otherwise to send something to Vital Weekly that has no information. Don’t bother doing this: anything that is too hard to decipher will be thrown away. Also we have set this new policy: Vital Weekly only concerns itself with new releases. We usually act quick, so sending us something new means probably the first review you will see. If we start reviewing older material we will not be able to maintain this. Please do not send any thing that is older than six months. Anything older will not be reviewed. In both cases: you can save your money and spend it otherwise.
Lastly we have decided to remove the announcement section of Vital Weekly that is archived on our website that is older than five weeks. Since they 95% deal with concerts that have been, it’s gentle to remove the announcement and more important the e-mail addresses coming with that.
the complete archive of Vital Weekly including search possibilities:
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