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VITAL WEEKLY
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number 745
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week 35
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Vital Weekly, the webcast: we offering
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with excerpts of just some of the CDs (no vinyl or MP3) reviewed.
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SEAWORTHY & MATT ROSNER - TWO LAKES (CD by 12K) *
MURRALIN LANE - OUR HOUSE IS ON THE WALL (CD by 12K) *
YANN NOVAK - RELOCATION.RECONSTRUCTION (CD by Line) *
SUB LUNA - AWAKE! (CD by Cyclic Law)
FIRE IN THE HEAD - CONFESSIONS OF A NARCISSIST (CD by Cold Spring)
MACHINEFABRIEK - DAAS (CD by Cold Spring)
TENHORNEDBEAST - HUNTS & WARS (CD by Cold Spring)
VON THRONSTAHL - CONSCRIPTUM (CD by Cold Spring)
PHILIPPE PETIT - OFF TO TITAN (CD by Karl Records) *
GARETH HARDWICK - OF THE SEA AND SHORE (CD by Low Point) *
KASSEL JAEGER - LIGNES D'ERRE & RANDONS (CD by Unfathomless) *
NICO HUIJBREGTS - FALSCHE TANGO (CD by Vindu)
ARTURAS BUMSTEINAS - STORIES FROM ORGAN SAFARI (CD by New Music Communication Center) *
HARUKA NAKAMURA - TWILIGHT (CD by Kitchen) *
PHILIP JECK - AN ARK FOR THE LISTENER (CD by Touch) *
HILDUR GUDNADOTTIR - MOUNT A (CD by Touch) *
CINDYTALK - UP HERE IN THE CLOUDS (CD by Editions Mego) *
ANTONY/FENNESZ - RETURNAL (7" by Editions Mego)
TEHO TEARDO - SOUNDTRACK WORK 2004-2008 (CD by Expanding Records) *
BOY DIRT CAR - FAMILIA (LP by Aftermusic Records)
THE DEAD MAURIACS - LES IMAGINATIONS (CDR by NPH) *
DRONAEMENT - DEAD ORGAN MUSIC/THE COSMIC TAPES (CDR by Dying For Bad Music) *
HARUKI - SNOWED IN FOOD SHELTER (CDR by Klanggold) *
FUN WITH NUNS - UNTITLED (3"CDR by Moremars)
SEAWORTHY & MATT ROSNER - TWO LAKES (CD by 12K)
MURRALIN LANE - OUR HOUSE IS ON THE WALL (CD by 12K)
YANN NOVAK - RELOCATION.RECONSTRUCTION (CD by Line)
It seems almost like a romantic notion: Seaworthy (being Cameron Webbs)
and Matt Rosner traveling to the south coast of New South Wales to
record sounds at two lakes, Lake Meroo and Termeil. They carry various
sorts of microphones (hydrophone, shotgun and stereo microphones) to
record beaches, streams and forest sounds, while at night they retreat
to a small cabin where they set up a small studio, with guitars
(acoustic and electric), a ukelele and some electronics, digesting the
day's work in nocturnal, pastoral tones. All improvised on the spot,
while the tapes are running the water/bird/wind sounds, later to be
edited by Matt Rosner in his home studio. Some of these pieces are
merely a collage of field recordings, while others are focus more on
the music, yet all together these nine pieces make a great set of
music. Slow, peaceful music, with endless sustaining notes played with
an e-bow on the guitar, harmonious tinkling and watery soundscapes.
Very microsound (although hardly computer based) one might say, and as
such not the newest drift around in that scene, but its all done in a
great way. Intimate music, in a way that Tape also plays. Very refined.
Despite his releases as Library Tapes for Kning Disk and Home Normal, I
don't think I heard the music of David Wenngren. Apparently he plays
piano on them.In 2009 he formed a duo, Murralin Lane, with his partner
Ylva Wiklund, in which she sings and he provides the music. Together
they recorded seven tracks which are presented in their debut CD 'Our
House Is On The Wall'. Lo-fi is their approach to all of this. Wiklund
sometimes uses a mobile phone to generate that effect. I am not sure if
the music benefits from that. Her voice is far away in the mix, with
indeed a strange effect, and the words may mean something, we just
don't know what it is. The music fares not much better, I think. Mainly
time stretched sounds on the computer, mainly mid range and sounding
rather crude - although not noise based (this is 12K after all), but it
seems all created with too much ease. You stretch out a few seconds of
sound, layer a few of those and have the spouse adding some words.
Probably its all meant to be intimate and heavenly, but somehow I fail
to see the beauty of it all. Probably the worst 12K release since…
well, I don't know. 12K has a great reputation, but this doesn't add up.
On 12K sub-division Line we come across Yann Novak, whom we mainly know
from his releases on his own label Dragon's Eye Recordings (which is
effectively started by his father but re-launched by Yann). Primarily
his work deals with installations, whereas the releases are the
documents thereof. 'Relocation.Reconstruction' is 'derived from the
sound elements of the three installations in Yann Novak's solo
exhibition Relocation at Lawrimore Project'. Its impossible to say what
Novak uses sound wise here. It might be anything from field recordings,
computer software to heavily treated instruments, but these forty-two
minutes don't give a clue. Its an one piece work that slowly moves -
relocates, perhaps - from the dark opening ground of the first thirteen
minutes, but in which slowly dark, hidden melodies seem to slip in and
then, ever on the move, it arrives in a much lighter territory, which
forms the last eleven minutes. One could think of a transition from
night to day, dark to light, from a crowded city into an empty field,
earth and moon - well, you get my drift here? Its an absolutely fine
piece of some of the more darker drone music around, entirely crafted
through digital means (I guess), but with a great warmth to it. Very
nice. (FdW)
Address: http://www.12k.com
SUB LUNA - AWAKE! (CD by Cyclic Law)
A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of reviewing some new albums from
Cyclic Law, a Canadian record label dedicated to promoting
international acts working in the fields of ambient, electroacoustic,
industrial, neo classical and neo folk. Present album is the first in
label¥s so-called Eclipse-series, that takes exclusive focus on folk
noir. First trip in the Eclipse Series goes to Sweden to meet the duo
Sub Luna consisting of Mikael Lindblom and Fredrik Sooberg. The first
album "I" from Sub Luna was released in 2004 meanwhile a follow-up
titled "In the shade of time" came out in 2006. Since then it has been
four years of silence until this album titled "Awake!" came out. On
this third album Sub Luna has combined more traditional elements of the
dark folk genre with influences of authentic rock and singer
song-writer, resulting in a quite pleasant alternative listen
experience. Sometimes the expression reminds of a folk-oriented version
of Canadian country/rock-band Cowboy Junkies. Excellent vocals first of
all from Mikael Lindblom but also with great appearances from female
vocalist by Ann-Mari Thim (Arcana). Very nice first album in the
Eclipse Series. Let¥s hope for more in the same level. (NM)
Address: http://www.cycliclaw.com
FIRE IN THE HEAD - CONFESSIONS OF A NARCISSIST (CD by Cold Spring)
MACHINEFABRIEK - DAAS (CD by Cold Spring)
TENHORNEDBEAST - HUNTS & WARS (CD by Cold Spring)
VON THRONSTAHL - CONSCRIPTUM (CD by Cold Spring)
Six years after its birth, the time has come for Fire In The Head to
release its swan song. However do not expect a pretty swan on this one,
more rather a very ugly duckling. The "Fire In The Head"-project was
formed in early 2004 by Michael Page. After performing live several
times as a guest member of a friend's power electronics unit Michael
got inspired to begin work on his own harsh electronic project
combining aspects of noise, death industrial, drone, dark ambient and
power electronics. As said present album titled "Confessions Of A
Narcissist" marks the final full-length release by Fire In The Head and
contains materials produced in 2007-2008. Expressively, the listener
are thrown into hordes of symphonic aggressions that first of all pays
attention towards crushing power electronics, sounding like the
speakers are burning from the inside. The harsh expression are put to
further extremes by some horrific vocals, penetrating momentarily. What
makes this ugly work, somehow a piece of beauty is the integration of
warm and sometimes even subtly melodic soundscapes into the land of
harsh noise and crushing extremity. Pure sonic holocaust par excellence.
Next album comes from a project that also saw the daylight in 2004 just
like aforementioned from Fire In The Head, though this is one of the
few things in common between those two projects. Expressively we move
right to the opposite side of the sound spectre here. Machinefabriek is
a Dutch project from the Rotterdam-based sound artist Rutger
Zuydervelt. The composer began his sonic explorations as a young boy
taking lessons in piano and guitar but after that he went to the Art
Academy of Arnhem, probably giving him the artistic and abstract
approach to composing. Machinefabriek's music combines elements of
ambient, modern classical, drone, noise and field recordings. His
latest album titled "Daas" is an excellent piece of experimental
ambient. There is a trend in the ambient world to combine the sound of
ambience with modern classical, but in many cases the two styles do not
melt and therefore doesn't float as one whole. Machinefabriek manage to
integrate the acoustic elements into the digital spheres with a
hauntingly beautiful end-result. Everyone interested in ambient music
should keep an eye on this one.
With the third launch from Cold Spring reviewed here, we stay in the
ambient-side of expressions. Still there is a great difference between
the gentle and melodic "Daas"-album of Machinefabriek and the utter
darkness on next launch being "Hunts & wars" from Tenhornedbeast.
Located in the Northern territories of England, British composer
Christopher Walton alias Tenhornedbeast has since 2004 launched one
album of apocalyptic dark ambient after the other. As I three years
back reviewed the previous album of Tenhornedbeast titled "The sacred
truth", I described the music as being death industrial with comparison
to Swedish genre-legend Brighter Death Now. On this new album recorded
in the period between 2006-09 the harshness has been decreased. What is
left behind is seven pieces of black ambience and the result is great
and even better than previous album. The expressions on the pieces are
repetitive and slowly moving in-between drones of buzzing darkness.
Last track is the lengthy 20 minutes title track "Hunts & wars". A
great work that opens in pure darkness but halfway through turns into
semi-melodic ambient-spheres thus adding some warmth to the otherwise
cold and cynic world of the beast.
Last album reviewed here comes from a true legend. Von Thronstahl is a
German project established by Josef Maria Klumb back in the mid-90's.
Stylistically Von Thronstahl operates in spheres far away from
aforementioned three albums. Having released a number of albums
from beginning, Von Thronstahl first of all works in the fields of
Martial, Industrial, Neoclassical and Neofolk. If you haven't heard
materials from the project, present double disc-compilation is a good
beginners
guide with early materials plus various mixes and remixes. (NM)
Address: http://www.coldspring.co.uk
PHILIPPE PETIT - OFF TO TITAN (CD by Karl Records)
Ah classical music - not the ground I happily walk upon when it comes
to reviewing music that has connections to that world. I simply don't
know enough about it. So I learned that Gustav Mahler reworked in his
first Symphony into a Tondichtung (which somehow sounds better than
'tone poem) and called it Titan and according to Philippe Petit created
in 'search of a work that echoed industrialism and society in the
nineteenth century'. Ideal stuff to re-work, in the hands of Petit. His
starts with the classical music as written, but then slowly starts the
expand on the music, through re-edits, distortion, time stretching and
recontextualsation. He receives help from one Jono Podmore (also known
as Kumo) who added theremin and electronics. References are made to the
soundtracks of 'Forbidden Planet', '2001 - A Space Odyssey',
incorporating classical music into electronic music. For that's what is
happening here. The classical music never disappears from the
score, in fact it stays almost on equal par with the electronic
sounds that are added by Petit and Jono. This makes a rather odd
record. As said, I am not particular strong when it comes to loving
pure classical music and to me this work remains a pure classical work,
albeit with the addition of electronic sounds. Its not that I don't
like this particular release, but its oddity doesn't make it easy for
me like it. Its more a curious work with a strange character, that
doesn't keep up, at least not for me, its entire length, I must say.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.karlrecords.net
GARETH HARDWICK - OF THE SEA AND SHORE (CD by Low Point)
The man from Low Point label, Gareth Hardwick is also a musician, and
'Of The Sea And Shore' is his third album ('and the first full length
consisting of entirely new material since his debut release in 2006').
The title refers to various visits to the coast and Hardwick takes is
inspiration from nature and its cycles. To that end he uses the guitar
as his driving force, along with harmonium, cymbals, chimes, dictaphone
and radio. Two pieces, surprisingly enough of almost equal length
(18:15 and 18:24 minutes), of music that hold absolutely no surprise
for me. Drone like, mediative, slow, minimal. Both of them. Now you may
think I don't like this, but then you are mistaken. I look outside,
rain is pouring down (is this august, is this summer?), and inside I
sit back, relaxed, coffee within reach, smoking and watching the rain.
And of course I hear the music of Hardwick. Especially the second part
of 'Of The Sea And Shore' comes in tidal waves, broken up into various
section, each with its own character, but altogether fitting together
quite well, something that starts to happen towards the end of the
first part actually. I am a bit surprised why he didn't put those
pieces into separate pieces or created one thirty-seven minute work. I
can merely speculate about that. That aside, this is a great,
melancholiac work of shimmering beauty. Twilight music, autumn music,
scenic music and all such references apply to this release. Nothing
new, yet absolutely beautiful. (FdW)
Address: http://www.low-point.com
KASSEL JAEGER - LIGNES D'ERRE & RANDONS (CD by Unfathomless)
Apart from his release on Mystery Sea called 'EE[ND] (see Vital Weekly
611), I never heard Kassel Jaeger again, and now he's appearing on the
Mystery Sea subdivision Unfathomless, thus granted a 'real' CD. Jaeger
recorded 'rivers shores un Berlin and Koln, wind & pipelines in
Paris, air and nocturnal insects in some remote places in France,
algae, mudflat and harbor in I'lle de Re, ultralight aircraft in
Pinarello (Corsica) and other sounds in some other hidden places, as
written on the cover. On the label's website we find his own comment:
"What originated these "lignes d'erre & randons" were sounds
collected in different and special spaces which have been important to
me. These sounds, trapped into my remembrances, had no other choice
than mutate and evolve, drawing subterranean flows and creating a
genuine underworld of recollections", which perhaps as an artist'
statement is a bit poor. Why, if these places were so important, mutate
and evolve those sounds, I wondered. Jaeger, at day time a sound
engineer at GRM in Paris, however has a fine ear when it comes to
recording these sounds and treating them with computer aims. The seven
pieces he put together with these sound sources are great, just like
'EE[ND]'. His works has more to do the world of electro-acoustic sound
treatments inhabited by the world of INA/GRM than that of microsound.
For Jaeger its apparently important not to stretch out a limited set of
sounds with some computer plug ins, but to create a piece that is
multi-layered, put together in a collage form. His works reminds me of
that of Christopher McFall or Jos Smolders, both of whom stretch out
the possibilities of working with field recordings. A rare thing in
that particular world, and as such Jaeger does some more than excellent
work. (FdW)
Address: http://unfathomless.net/
NICO HUIJBREGTS - FALSCHE TANGO (CD by Vindu)
Multitalent Nico Huijbregts is active as a writer, painter, composer
and improvisor (piano). All disciplines are interrelated in the
perception of Huijbregts. His output however can easily divided along
these disciplines. 'Falsche Tango' is a collection of several of his
compositions, supplemented by one short piano improvisation. It is the
first cd with compositions by Huijbregts, if I'm not mistaken. Earlier
he released cd's with improvised piano music, that received good
reviews. 'Falsche Tango' contains four compositions for different line
ups. The title piece is performed by Duo Mares, being Esra Pehlivani
(viola) and Marko Kassl (accordeon). This composition is deeply rooted
in the tango idiom, avoiding superficial stylistic quotations or tiring
ironic comments. It sounds 'wie gegossen', with a strong nucleus. The
opening track 'Herbie rides again' is for a trio of Ned McGowan (flute,
contrabass), Naomi Sato (alto sax) and Ere Lievonen (piano). Nicely
arranged, giving room to the players and the their instruments. The
shortest piece 'Dancing the night away' is a solo piece on piano played
by Huijbregts himself. Here one can identify some of the stylistic
qualities that are typical for Huijbregts and that can also be found in
the other pieces: quickly accelerating short runs, followed by slower
and quieter passages. A certain elegance is present in his music
throughout. 'Sisyphos' is an impressive work for harmonium, played by
Dirk Luijmes on a harmonium that was built more then a century ago. I
enjoyed it most for the sound qualities of this instrument. With this
release Huijbregts proves himself being a composer with a clear
handwriting and disciplined style. With 'Falsche Tango' delivers a cd
of engaging works of chamber music. (DM)
Address: http://www.nicohuijbregts.nl
ARTURAS BUMSTEINAS - STORIES FROM ORGAN SAFARI (CD by New Music Communication Center)
Before today I had read about this work, in my daily newspaper. This
work (and thus this recording of it) was played in Amsterdam in June at
the prestigious Holland Festival. The reviewer didn't like (granting it
one out of five stars) it (see, if you know how to read Dutch:
www.volkskrant.nl/archief_gratis/article1394064.ece/Een_brij_van_gesamplede_orgels),
but it made me all he more curious - like so often is the case when I
read something in the overground media slagging things of from my
world. To that reviewer, the music was a 'soup of samples from
organs', with not much happening for the total of two hours. 'Each new
generation has to invent his 'soundsoup' but not in this festival'. I
wish I was there to see it. Two hours seems a bit long for my taste,
but the five edits on this release sound quite good. The primary stage
is for the collection of organ sounds that Bumsteinas recorded and
collected over the years and form the basis of the piece. Bumsteinas is
the director of this, while he has players to improvise on organ in the
venue in Amsterdam, cello, kankles, laptop, flugelhorn and additional
samples. I agree with the reviewer: this is a soundsoup. I don't agree
with him that its something boring. The work is a dense thing indeed
with lots of activity happening everywhere, sometimes reducing to just
one or two instruments playing. The combination of samples,
electronics, field recordings and improvisations make an absolutely
fine work. No, indeed, its not something that we haven't heard before,
and yes, perhaps each new generation tries to invite their own
'soundsoup'. But aren't there are a zillion young composers trying
their hands at say a string quartet? And just how many times has that
been done? So that seems to me an invalid argument. Bumsteinas created
an absolutely fine work that moves in between modern classical music,
electronic music and improvisation. It stretches beyond either of them,
and as such its probably to difficult for the average reviewer of
classical music, present at prestigious festivals. (FdW)
Address: http://www.nmkc.lt
HARUKA NAKAMURA - TWILIGHT (CD by Kitchen)
Sunday morning is not like any other morning of the week, even when I
would like to pose as a well disciplined man. Saturday night is the
night to meet friends, drink beer, go out and such thing like a real
social network (as opposed to a virtual one, mind you), so on sunday
morning you tend to sleep a bit longer, no newspaper has arrived (also
in that respect an old fashioned man), and then there is music. I try
not to start the day with any music that Vital related - but in stead I
prefer something nice and mellow, easy, quiet. This morning, honest, it
was something by Wim Mertens. Then I looked at the pile on my desk and
decided to start the Vital part of the day with Haruka Nakamura and
returned to my book. After about fifteen minutes of hearing the
gentlest tones, a bit laidback jazzy piano and saxophones, field
recordings, violins and I went back to my computer to check if it was
played Nakamura and not Wim Mertens still. For some reason, this was
not necessary. Mertens never used, as far as I know field recordings of
dripping rain, and this music was perhaps repetitive. Nakamura is the
composer of the music which he writes and plays on the piano, whereas
the other instruments are played by others. Not at all Vital Weekly
music, but then when did I speak about Wim Mertens? Nakamura's music is
very spacious, with lots of sustain beyond the decay of the
instruments, jazzy but in such a way that even I like this. The perfect
record to transit from listening something nice to wake up and start
the work on Vital Weekly. Topped with an absolute great packaging (book
bound book with great moody landscape photos), this is an absolutely
unique item, a rarity in a world of easy releases and cheap packaging.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.kitchen-label.com
PHILIP JECK - AN ARK FOR THE LISTENER (CD by Touch)
HILDUR GUDNADOTTIR - MOUNT A (CD by Touch)
Its been a while since I last heard music by Philip Jeck, 'Sand' to be
precise (see Vital Weekly 626). 'An Ark For The Listener' is his sixth
Touch release and sees him using pretty much the same equipment as
before: Fidelity record players, Casio SK1 keyboards, minidiscs, bass
guitar and effects. A rather 'lo-fi' approach still. 'An Ark' is a
seven part work based on a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins about the
drowning on December 7th 1875 of five Franciscan nuns exiled from
Germany. The piece was first performed in February of this year, but
its not the version on the CD, which was recorded at home, using
extracts of live performances from the last year. I don't know the poem
(or perhaps its the one that is printed on the cover?), but its not
easy to relate the music to that poem. The music is very much that of
Philip Jeck. Heavily based around the use of loops, from the record
players and the cheap sampling keyboards, multi layered and quite
dense. Lots of times its eerie and distant, with outbursts of a more
noise based character. Quite good actually, even not really a big
surprise. A fine Jeck release, but not an entirely new perspective for
him and also not his best release to date. But with such a small
catalogue, with hardly any weaker brothers, this is pretty decent one.
The album 'Mount A' by Hildur Gudnadottir was previously released on
12Tonar under the name of Lost In Hildurness. That was in 2006. Since
then Gudnadottir has made name for herself by playing cello with Nix
Noltes band and alongside with Mum, Pan Sonic, Angel, Stillusteypa and
BJ NIlsen. Her previous album, 'Without Sinking' (see Vital Weekly 672)
was released by Touch, who now take the opportunity to re-release her
2006 album, using a new master, courtesy of Denis Blackham. While the
cello is the main instrument here, she also uses gamba, zither, khuur
and the gamelan. No doubt with the aid of electronics that put things
into a loop, which can be used as a basis for the composition - or of
course a multitude of such loops. Her previous album was received with
some consideration, but this album is pretty good. Its more joyous,
free and perhaps also naive. Atmospheric, of course (how can it not be
when there is a cello involved), spacious and intimate. But all played
with a sense of naivety, which greatly serves the music. Modern
classical with a smile, even when all of these pieces seem highly
personal. Its hard to explain, but I think Gudnadottir likes to play
with these classical notions and pull a joke, but in a serious way. I
don't think this makes much sense, right? Find out for yourself. I
thought this was a most pleasing album. (FdW)
Address: http://www.touchmusic.org.uk
CINDYTALK - UP HERE IN THE CLOUDS (CD by Editions Mego)
ANTONY/FENNESZ - RETURNAL (7" by Editions Mego)
When Cindytalk first appeared in Vital Weekly I was pleasantly
surprised to see such an 'old' name from an entirely different musical
field appearing here, with music that was entirely up to the Vital
alley. That was in Vital Weekly 702, when we reviewed 'The Crackle Of
My Soul', which saw Gordon Sharp doing Cindytalk solo with the aid of a
computer. I had some reservations about the work, but the split 10"
(see Vital Weekly 727) was a group thing again, and produced some great
delicate mood music. Now there is a new release, which has recordings
from 2003 to 2010, and is perhaps the contrasting album to 'The Crackle
Of My Soul'. Whereas that album was gritty, perhaps even a bit noisy,
without too much refined (then said 'a rather early millennium version
of microsound'), this album, while having some noise based outing, such
as in 'Hollow Stare', the overall mood is much more mellow. Dark,
obviously, and mellow, more sustained. Sharp uses small blocks of
rhythm here and there, which add a somewhat 'pop' like texture to the
music. There is the obvious set of drones, bits of contact microphone
stuff and such like and overall I think this album is better than the
previous. More variation in approach, more subtleness and better worked
out. But still, would Mego have released it if it was mister Nobody's
demo? That's something I am still not entirely convinced off. Sharp's
computer music is absolutely fine and should indeed find its way to
compact disc, yet it doesn't walk any new paths.
Oneohtrix Point Never album 'Returnal' did not make it into these pages
- sadly enough, as the releases on No Fun were greatly appreciated.
That leaves me a bit in the 'dark' as to this 7" with two remixes of
the title track. Antony (from Antony and the Johnsons) fame strips the
lyrics and sings them in his characteristic voice, with Daniel OPN on
piano, and makes this into a great ballad. A haunting piece, or should
that be a haunted piece? Ghostly. On the other side we find Fennesz,
the true master of digital music, the absolute top class of his kind,
and he takes the analogue world of Oneohtrix Point Never into the world
of bits and bytes, effectively yet minimally stretching the song of the
original into a likewise haunting digital ballad. Haunting, not
haunted, I'd say, which makes a small difference. This too is a great
piece. Now I would have wished to hear the original. This 7" of two
great remixes made me all the more curious. (FdW)
Address: http://www.editionsmego.com
TEHO TEARDO - SOUNDTRACK WORK 2004-2008 (CD by Expanding Records)
Modern Institute, a duo from Italy, surprised me with their 'Excellent
Swimmer' release (see Vital Weekly 518): a fine combination of cello,
piano, synthesizers in an almost modern classical manner. Modern
Institute is Martina Bertoni on cello and Teho Teardo on everything
else. Teho Teardo, whom we know since the 80s when he played with Nurse
With Wound, Scorn and Lydia Lunch is very active, beyond Modern
Institute. In Italy he works on soundtracks for films. Films, I readily
admit, I haven't see, like 'Le Ragazza Del Lago', 'Il Passato E Una
Terra Straniera', 'Il Divo' (which won the David di Nonatello prize,
handed to him by Ennio Morricone), 'L'Amico Di Famielia' and 'Lavorare
Con Lentezza'. Pieces from these films appear on this disc, filled with
twenty-five short, sketch like pieces. Still Teardo plays everything
else, except for a whole list of people contributing violin, viola,
cello and bass. Its indeed great soundtrack music, although it reveals
very little about the actual films, I think. By and large this is
modern classical music, with a few bits of modern day electronics in
it, gentle and light mostly, and dark and atmospheric on a smaller
number of occasions. Like the Nakamura disc a great one, be it, a
little less jazz, but perhaps also out of place in Vital Weekly. A
piece like 'Miss Agropontino', with its metronome like clicking rhythm,
comes close to what is covered here, but its a rarity. But like with
Nakamura disc, again, its still lazy sunday afternoon, and these
beautiful, meandering violins form a suitable soundtrack for such lazy,
rainy sunday afternoons. A great work for occasions like this. (FdW)
Address: http://www.expandingrecordings.com
BOY DIRT CAR - FAMILIA (LP by Aftermusic Records)
After Music Records announce Boy Dirt Car to be one of 'America's
premier noise bands', from the 80s, which is of course media talk, and
after a long disappearance they already did a comeback CD 'Spoken
Answer To A Silent Question' (see Vital Weekly 605) and now come back,
again, with a LP with the classic line up, albeit still without Eric
Lunde. But Darren Brown is still there, along with compadre's as Dave
Szolwinski, Dan Kubinski, Keith Brammer, Steve Whalen and Jeff Hamilton
plus a couple of guests. We have here a record that is more noise based
than their previous CD, using lots of guitar, bass and metal percussion
and a crazy set up of cut up vocals and voices. Much more unsettling
than the rock drones offered on 'Spoken Answer To A Silent Question',
with a large role played by the vocals of Darren Brown (we remember his
industrial music poetry project Impact Test very well). No careful
constructed ambient industrial patterns this time but two sides of
mayhem. Hardly composed as such, but instead it seems thrown on the
magnetic tape, splicing unrelated parts together. While the cover lists
individual tracks, the whole thing comes across as a long track, for
some convenience (?) sake given a bunch of titles. The mayhem doesn't
constitute of just pure noise, or pure feedback, but, on the other hand
its a great collage of sound snippets, instrument abuse and
electro-acoustic rumble taking to an extreme. Excellent noise stuff.
Two different approaches - the previous CD and this LP - but both with
a great quality. (FdW)
Address: http://www.aftermusicrecordings.com
THE DEAD MAURIACS - LES IMAGINATIONS (CDR by NPH)
In Vital Weekly 730 we were first introduced to The Dead Mauriacs, a
trio Vincent Dommeyne (guitar, computer), Helene Prieur (who plays the
Darquies, which is a home made string instrument made of a wooden box
of red wine, the Chateau Darquies) and Olivier Prieur (computer and
small amplified objects) with their second release 'Un Apres-Midi
Suisse'. They are not intended to be a live group of any kind, but on
June 25 2010 they played a rare concert, this time as a duo of Prieur
and Domeyne, with the voice of Didier Guilliomet on tape. Whereas the
previous release showed an interest in Fennesz or Stephan Mathieu, the
material captured live is of a slightly more noise oriented nature. A
big role is reserved for the guitar of Prieur and the computer of
Domeyne. As much I was taken by the charm of the previous release, the
less I like this somewhat raw and primitive doodling. Improvisation is
what they like and that's what they do, but whereas the studio version
thereof can be edited down, the live version - and clocking in at an
hour of music - doesn't seem to have those edits. Only in the final
piece (all seven cuts are untitled) there is something going that is
worth exploring more, but its a long road getting there. (FdW)
Address: <olivier_prieur@club-internet.fr>
DRONAEMENT - DEAD ORGAN MUSIC/THE COSMIC TAPES (CDR by Dying For Bad Music)
What precisely was the reason to call some music 'cosmic music'? I no
longer remember, even while I am using the same reference too. Its to
point that kind of music that is entirely made using a string of
analogue synthesizers and some sound effects. Dating back to the golden
years, the early seventies, Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Ash Ra
Temple or Vangelis, there is currently a revival of that kind of music
- with Emeralds being on top of the scene. Dronaement, also known as
Marcus Obst, has of course the best artist name to present such music
and delved up some shelved music from 2007. Four parts of 'Organ' music
and two parts of 'Cosmic Tape'. This is textbook stuff of what this
cosmic music is. Slowly changing, with slow arpeggio's on a bunch of
synths, with minimal moves, of which the intentions are to bring the
listener into some altered state. Its not easy to say wether this works
really well. As a reviewer I can't take drugs whenever the music
demands so (although donations in hard cash to do that are of course
most welcome), but the darker cosmos explored by Dronaement is
certainly a great place. The four 'organ' pieces as the more minimalist
outings here, whereas the 'Cosmic Tape' pieces are even more classic in
approach and which can easily be ranked as the best Dronaement stuff I
heard so far. Maybe because of the positive buzz around the somehow old
fashioned cosmic music clouds my judgement a bit, but this is surely
great stuff. (FdW)
Address: http://dyingforbadmusic.com
HARUKI - SNOWED IN FOOD SHELTER (CDR by Klanggold)
The motto of the Klanggold label is 'we like calm listeners' and that
certainly applies to the music of Boris Snauwaert, better known as
Haruki. Like I remarked with his previous release 'The Land That Lies
Behind Us' (see Vital Weekly 726), his music is now slowly maturing.
Forgotten are the days of 'Haphazardly, While Sitting' (see Vital
Weekly 652). The opening piece 'Animals All Over The Table' is a bit
grainy with mildly distortion on guitar sounds, but the four pieces to
follow show a great love and affection for acoustic sounds (piano and
guitar I assume) treated with the usual digital means. The sharp edges
are gone and in its place we find some great textured music. Coherent
playing, which is what his music needs, I think, not wander about in
various styles that he sometimes tend to do. Here its all along similar
lines. If anything, his music comes now close to the Machinefabriek
sound: spacious music, with a bit of post rock like guitar playing, a
sparse note on the piano and some loop station repeating the sustain on
end. Excellent release, his best so far. (FdW)
Address: http://www.klanggold.net
FUN WITH NUNS - UNTITLED (3"CDR by Moremars)
Fun With Nuns is a very extended collective: Alaina (xylophones,
guitar), Panos (tenor sax, vocals), Aki Po (bass, vocals, guitar,
drums, tenor sax, various objects), B.d.l (tenor sax, various wind
instruments), Thana.sys (electronics, guitars), Elen (drums), Kleo
(guitars), Xari (guitar, sax), Santo Petroleo (drums), Pablo (trumpets,
vocals), Emdy (piano, electronics, effects), Vinylias (tenor sax, bass,
drums, various objects), Nigga (bass, drums), Thazastabo (various
recorders/flutes), Socrates (xaphoon, extreme japanese vocals, tenor
sax). All take part in the scene of Thessaloniki, Greece where the
collective plays in constantly different line ups. Their music is best
described as freeform psychedelic music in the tradition of Can. They
create intense waves of rock without much happening in them. They do
this in a convincing and enthusiastic way. From time to time the music
reaches freaky climaxes, and all is condensed well on this 3 inch CDR.
(DM)
Address: http://www.moremars.org/
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