OPITOPE – PHYSIS (CD by Spekk) *
HIDEYUKI HASHIMOTO – HOME (CD by Nlart) *
ADVANCED DREAMS – ISLANDS OF MEMORY (CD by Lantern) *
MAILE COLBERT – COME KINGDOM COME (CD by Two Acorns)
SIGILLUM S – STUDS AND DIVINITY (CD by Monochrome Vision) *
UMPIO & IRR.APP. (EXT.) – OBSERVATION AFFECTS THE OUTCOME (CD by Monochrome Vision) *
THE ART OF NOISE – 100 YEARS ANNIVERSARY 34TH LUIGI RUSSOLO CONTEST (CD by Monochrome Vision)
S.E.T.I. – FINAL TRAJECTORY (CD by Loki Found) *
CHRISTOPHER CAMPBELL – THINGS YOU ALREADY NOW (CD by Innova) *
CHRISTOPHER TIGNOR – THUNDER LAY DOWN IN THE HEART (CD by Western Vinyl) *
FRANCK VIGROUX & REINHOLD FRIEDL – TOBEL (CD by Alamuse) *
CHRISTINE WODRASCKA – LINEAIRE (CD by Mr. Morezon) *
2E ETAGE – GREY MATTER (CD by No Business Records) *
PUIN + HOOP – ER ZIT EEN GAT IN DE SOEP (CD by Narrominded) *
WOZZECK – ACT 5 (Audio DVD by Intonema)
LOST TRAIL – BLACKED OUT PASSAGES (CDR by Visceral Media Records) *
KURT LIEDWART/MWTON (cassette by Spina Records)
ALL BLACKS/GLINA (cassette by Spina Records)
COAXIL/SASHASH ULZ (cassette by Spina Records)
OPITOPE – PHYSIS (CD by Spekk)
HIDEYUKI HASHIMOTO – HOME (CD by Nlart)
ADVANCED DREAMS – ISLANDS OF MEMORY (CD by Lantern)
A trio of releases from Japan, diverse as it seems, but also linked together. Maybe just the fact they were in one envelope, or promoted by the same company. Hard to decide where to start, but I started with the duo Opitope, being Chihei Hatakeyama and Tomoyoshi Date (who is a member of Illuha). Their first album was ‘Hau’, also released by Spekk, and still one of the best selling titles on the label. For ‘Physis’ the label is re-activated, following a two year silence, with a slightly new cover design (170×145 mm large and wide custom made cardboard sleeve). It’s Opitope’s third album (see also Vital Weekly 586 and 887) and again they use a variety of drone techniques, instruments such as the guitar, electronics and field recordings. The ‘concept’ behind this album, but I think we should see it quite loosely, is the earthquake in the Northeast of Japan in 2011 and depicts a desolate world. At least, that’s what Spekk says, but I beg to differ. This is quite warm music, with nicely sustaining sounds and equally warm field recordings. More like a summer’s day, with musicians sitting in a field, strumming a guitar, rattling with small bell instruments, and the sea side in the background. But, alright, it has a bit of a bite too, here and there. The sounds which open up ‘The Dawn Of Memories’ for instance are glacial and slowly move over into something more gentle, and yes, maybe I could agree on the fact that there is something melancholic about this music. Maybe paradise is lost, but we can still see it somewhere? Maybe a shadow is cast over the meadow and the sun sets, evening is looming and we must leave this place? The poetic metaphors are vast, I think. But on such a lovely, utterly sunny, winter’s day, these metaphors might come easily. I should get my walkman, and take a walk, while listening to this.
When I would return from such a walk, I would turn up the heater a bit more and maybe pour a drink (thinking about smoking but decide not to do that), and start thinking about dinner. But first I would need some chamber music, for which I can turn to ‘Home’ – aptly titled – by Hideyuki Hashimoto, his third album on the piano (see also Vital Weekly 843 and 855), and not ‘Sea’, as you may have expected from previous titles as ‘Earth’ and ‘Air’. Hashimoto is a young piano player, a sensation of ‘Setouchi Triennale 2013’, and here he goes to an untuned piano (for more than ten years) left in a school on the small island in the Setouchi sea, and Hashimoto plays this piano with the windows open, thus letting in the outside sounds and add a fine breeze to these recordings. Now, while winter isn’t overtly harsh right now, in The Netherlands, I wouldn’t mind opening my windows for a while and let fresh in. But it’s cold (& sunny). Hashimoto continues to play his Erik Satie/Claude Debussy inspired music, but there is something odd about this music. The piano which sounds a bit weird, from being detuned, but we also hear the foot pedal, some outside field recording and all of this with the gentle tones from Hashimoto. Excellent mood music indeed for an early evening. What to do next?
This is a weekday, so going out and dancing is an option, but not one to do easily. A fine alternative is dancing at home, to the music of Advanced Dreams. A duo of Alexander Shirokov and Dmitry Bodunov from Russia. They have had digital releases on Dewtone Recordings and Kahvi Collective, but this is their first real CD. Clocking in at almost eighty minutes, but with only (!) six pieces. Lots and lots heavy beat material is being used in this music. It made my place ready to rumble. Expertly mastered of course, but perhaps not really for home entertainment(or perhaps not for old houses used to by reviewers of Vital Weekly, with very thin walls). Minimal techno, with lots and lots of icescape drone synth, drenched in reverb to create a massive atmosphere. A bit of heavy pop ambient (less pop, more ambient) from the corners of Kompakt, mixed with the dubby textures of Basic Channel/Chain Reaction. Sometimes the beat disappears and we stick in the ice fields and that’s it. I didn’t dance actually to this music, but I quite enjoyed it. There wasn’t a single moment when I was thinking “oh that’s something new”, “ah, that’s an interesting new perspective”, but who cares? After a day of mood music, something uplifting. That’s nice too. (FdW)
Address: http://www.spekk.net
Address: http://nlart.jp
Address: http://www.naturebliss.jp
MAILE COLBERT – COME KINGDOM COME (CD by Two Acorns)
The album Come Kingdom Come of Maile Colbert is the third release of Two Acorns, a label run by Will Long of Celer. Everyone who knows the music of Will Long will know that this release will stand for a high standard of quality, lot of attention to artwork and spherical music. The album “Come Kingdom Come” suits well into this concept. The album is an opera based on “The Book of Revelations” and poetry of Ian Colbert. The Book of Revelations is the last book of the bible. The words have been sung by the classically trained soprano Gabriela Crowe and the music is composed an played by Maile Colbert. Maile Colbert is an artist who is working in the fields of sound-art and video. She works in Lisboa – Portugal and New York – USA. The music of the album is a beautiful mix of drones, electronic music, classical music, hymns, minimal music and field-recordings. The album is dedicated to Dani, the woman of Will Long who sadly died a few years ago. For me this album is a complete musical surprise. I have been grown up in a traditional Christian family and for me The Book of Revelations was a book full of anger, despair, anxiety and also hope for a new world. The atmosphere of Come Kingdom Come is more meditative, melancholic and modest. Maile Colbert creates a quiet intense sphere and combines the classical voice of Gabriela Crowe into her electronic world. Sometimes her voice has a major role, at other moments the voice is like a repeating sample who takes floods together with some tones like an church-organ or other wind-instruments. The last track is based on the poem Song for the End of Time of Ian Colbert. The voice is somewhere far away and filtered and integrated with abstract electronic sounds. This album is a beautiful interpretation of the last days of the earth. Most of the interpretations about this theme are full of drama. Maile Colbert creates are worthy good-bye of the end of times and a global consolation for all who lost people they loved. (JKH)
Address: http://www.thesingularwe.org/
SIGILLUM S – STUDS AND DIVINITY (CD by Monochrome Vision)
UMPIO & IRR.APP. (EXT.) – OBSERVATION AFFECTS THE OUTCOME (CD by Monochrome Vision)
THE ART OF NOISE – 100 YEARS ANNIVERSARY 34TH LUIGI RUSSOLO CONTEST (CD by Monochrome Vision)
Alright. I will easily admit I was never a fan of Sigillum S. That has to do with a few things. One is that I was never really interested in the background of the music, the magick, ov power and all those references which seemed to me light years away from what I was interested in. Then I saw them live, shouting, industrial noise and a rather bad cover version of Kraftwerk’s ‘Radio Activity’ and the final nail was a 12″ which used the ‘dog’ sound, pre-programmed in the casio SK5. I am pretty sure I didn’t hear any Sigillum S afterwards. The band continued to release music, up until 2007 and Eraldo Bernocchi, along with P. NG5361.B Bandera and Luca Di Giorgi, the two other members, had a solo career after that which brought him quite some success. Monochrome Vision is Russia’s home for finding bands like Sigillum S, from yesteryear’s industrial music scene, and re-issue some obscure work by them, in this case a 1989 cassette released by Minus Habens. I guess this must be the first time I hear their music in maybe twenty years. I must admit – perhaps not as easily – that I am pleasantly surprised by this. Time heals all? It’s industrial music for sure, noisy at times, rhythmic at other times, but without any vocals or shitty samples from pre-set early samplers. I don’t think I will get used to titles like ‘Chewing A Just Used Condom In Her After Coming Bliss… Ageing And Death Of Masses’ or ‘A Violin Is Kissing A Decomposed Listz’, which sound plain silly to me, but I actually enjoyed this. Very old fashioned, very serious, much reverb to add much tension, but also charming naive and occasionally being improvised, so it’s has a rather loose feeling here and there such as in ‘Two Miniskirted Scorpions Digitally Mating On A Platform’. Surely nice enough stuff, and I played it with interest. But did it win me over as a newly converted fan to the
The other new release by Monochrome Vision is not by likewise old geezers, but Matt Waldron’s Irr.App.(ext.) has been around since the early 90s and here he teams up with Pentti Dassum, also known as Umpio. He build some primitive contact microphones to amplify his junk percussion in such bands as Astro Can Caravan and Kroko, but then later used to explore his own roads in music. The music here was all created in 2011 and 2012. It’s not easy to classify this music as anything other than the more general ‘experimental’. In the past Irr.App.(ext.) showed some linkage to the ‘studio as instrument’ approach of Nurse With Wound, with whom he also played live, but that’s perhaps less the case here on this album. It’s all a bit more ‘ongoing’, ‘sustaining’ or ‘drone’ based, all stemming from processing the junk percussion processing. I’s also possible to make some sort of connection with the world noise, with it’s scraping of metal and addition of shortwave sounds. It’s however never really loud or distorted. It’s pleasantly present music. Maybe in old terms one could say this is ‘ambient industrial’? I don’t know. This is sturdy fine disc of something that is not entirely surprising, but well-crafted.
Monochrome Vision’s director is also part of the jury that handles the Russolo competition, named after the ‘founding father’ of noise music, Luigi Russolo, who wrote his ‘Art Of Noises’ manifest in 1913. Part of the competition is the compilation CD which is published with the winning ‘Grand Prize, two more awards, two mentions by jury members and a special jury mention and a seventh piece with no award or mention at all. It’s a fine compilation. I am not sure if I think Lee Fraser is the right full winner of the Grand Prize. In terms of the ‘art of noise’, Theo Martelet could be one as well. His piece is both noisy and poetic, at times reminding me of Lt. Caramel. Not noise pour noise’s sake, but much more than that. John Nicolas, who gets a ‘jury special mention’, is also quite brut (to stick with these French words), but it’s more along the lines of traditional musique concrete, be it, quite loud and heavily chopped up, in a fine collage style. Those two were for me the outstanding pieces, whereas the others were not bad at all, but maybe I am too corrupt/bored/old fashioned/decadent/snobbish to hear why they are winners? I have no idea what the competition is. Is there a website with all the contributions, I wondered? (FdW)
Address: http://www.monochromevision.ru
S.E.T.I. – FINAL TRAJECTORY (CD by Loki Found)
It seems Andrew Lagowski is back at his SETI for good, and let’s hope the title of his latest work is not something of farewell. Perhaps its his fate, but I can never seem not to mention that great album of his, ‘Knowledge’, one of the best works in the mid 90s ambient house revolution. But of course beyond that, he released more fine work, not in the least place the dark work ‘False Dawn’. Lagowksi, either under his christian name or as SETI, is a force to reckon with. The name refers to the Search For Extra Terrestrial life forms, but it also sounds like a space ship. Or at least like a soundtrack for a journey to great unknown, or, but that’s because I recently started to watch the new series of Doctor Who, life inside the Tardis; why doesn’t the BBC ask Lagowksi to program some sounds and/or music to this great sci-fi/humor show? The odd thing is that this one piece, which lasts 58 minutes (why not put in some marker points, I wondered), sounds like a spacious journey. Lagowski uses his digital and analogue synths, with galactic beeps showing lifeforms being present, and you never have the idea that this work was created for the course of thirty years. But apparently, according to the cover it was. It starts out dark, and somewhat louder, like the engine needs an injection, but once we have set off, we are floating freely in space. The vocoder voices find a place in here, less prominent than in those iconic opening moments of ‘Knowledge’ and it’s one hell of nice trip inside this spaceship. Everything vibrates, moves and, at the same time, is gently audible. Perhaps Lagowski doesn’t change his tune a lot, and to some that’s probably not good – change is good – but instead Lagowski carves out his niche deeper and deeper and gets better all the time. (FdW)
Address: http://loki-found.de
CHRISTOPHER CAMPBELL – THINGS YOU ALREADY NOW (CD by Innova)
The word ‘strange’ should be used with caution. So much music here is ‘strange’, especially if you never heard anything that we write about. But even to the more trained ears, things can seem a bit strange. For instance the release here by Christopher Campbell is a bit odd. “It’s less a recording than a place: a place where musicians come together from disparate traditions and find a music common to us all” and there are references to Brian Eno, Jon Hassell, Mike Oldfield and Olivier Messiaen. There is a whole list of musicians playing on this record but I can’t help thinking that the music has a sometimes random character? Maybe that’s modern classical music for you, I was thinking. Who knows. It’s hard to say if these musicians are performing a score here, or improvise along some guidelines from the composer. Hard to tell, and I am not sure if I really like this. I played the whole thing twice in succession, and then still had no clue what to make of this. But I thought it had something captivating for sure. I just couldn’t pin it down and say: ‘that’s what I really about this’. It has some fine modern classical music, some fine sense of experiment, and is recorded very well. Otherwise I appear to be clueless. Which I guess is not a bad thing either. Certainly something to explore further. (FdW)
Address: http://www.innova.mu
CHRISTOPHER TIGNOR – THUNDER LAY DOWN IN THE HEART (CD by Western Vinyl)
Before this, we knew Christopher Tignor as Wires Under Tension (see Vital Weekly 853 and 7587), but before that, in Vital Weekly 674, we already saw a release from him under his own name. I am not exactly sure why this is. Tignor is a composer of modern classical music. In the past I compared him with Arvo Pärt, but perhaps these days that is less obvious. ‘Thunder Lay Down In The Heart’ opens with a poem by John Ashbery, a Pulitzer Prize winning poet, and he reads ‘A Boy’ himself, while tignor provides strings. It’s the only piece here which has spoken word. One line from the poem provided the title for this CD, and which is a twenty minute work. To that, three more pieces are added. It’s all quite melancholic, this music. Minimal and melancholic, with in the first part of the title piece also something of a romantic nature. Here the music is performed by A Far Cry, a ensemble from Boston, along with extra violin and drums. Those drums make an odd appearance, a rock like sensibility slips into the music, which in ‘The Listening Machines’ goes into something of a symphonic rock drama, I think. I was reminding of Mike Oldfield, but I am not sure if this is a positive thing. It’s certainly a not a piece that goes by without noting. But that’s an exception. I very much enjoyed the more moody textures of the second part of the title piece, which it’s subtle added electronics, as that is also one the tricks up Tignor’s sleeve. Think Steve Reich, Arvo Pärt and Philip Glass in a meeting with Godspeed You Black Emperor, and some of the laptop dudes and you know where to find this. Very nice; most of the time. (FdW)
Address: http://www.westernvinyl.com
FRANCK VIGROUX & REINHOLD FRIEDL – TOBEL (CD by Alamuse)
More modern classical music (following Tignor and Campbell) here, or at least partly, with this meeting of opposites. In the left corner we find Franck Vigroux, France answer to Mika Vainio, with analog synthesizers and tape recorders and in the right corner classically trained piano player Reinhold Friedl, best known for his work with Zeitkratzer Orchestra. They played together in concert in Paris, which was a starting point for this piece, ‘Tobel’, recorded in the studios of La Muse En Circuit. The first seven and the last ten, more or less, they are in a very quiet mood. You need to put up the volume quite a bit to hear what they are doing. Very distilled music of piano and soft spoken drones from the synthesizers. In between, say from minute seven to twenty-three, they go much louder, and you probably need to turn down the volume a bit. Here all the sounds are played loud, with lots of room for scraping the surface of the piano, objects on strings and bows on the edges of the piano. Vigroux adds a furious blend of electronics, but he knows how to play a more soft tune also, when needed. Both of them proof to think out of the box, and do that what is not expected from them. Play loud, play soft, play melodic, play abstract: all of these and probably more are used in this recording. A powerful recording, a very imaginative piece of music, a meeting of great, playful minds. Excellent stuff. (FdW)
Address: http://www.alamuse.com
CHRISTINE WODRASCKA – LINEAIRE (CD by Mr. Morezon)
2E ETAGE – GREY MATTER (CD by No Business Records)
More and more classical music, especially on the solo disc of Christine Wodraschka, who is the link between these two releases. I must admit I never heard of her, but I quite enjoy her presence on the cross road of improvisation and modern classical music. it’s of course something I can easily admit I have not a lot of knowledge of. I have been playing this release quite a bit today, as not much showed up and think it’s a great release. But I have no idea why, actually. It’s very serious music, which is of course no problem, but there is also a certain playfulness in these pieces, such as in the very short ‘Lady Sarah B’, which has a very percussive character. Wodraschka doesn’t shy away from playing the inside of the piano to get these percussive sounds, in a fine Cageian tradition. Sometimes, such as in ‘Leste Serie d’Horloges (1)]’, it seems she does both, inside strings, outside keys, and I was wondering how many hands she might have. In ‘Luci Polari’ she plays a very delightful minimal tune and in ‘Loup, Belette, amis-amis? (1)’ she brings out some acoustic noise. As you can see this is quite a varied disc of various interests towards the 88 keys of the instruments and what you can do with it. A fine showcase of what she can do, and it’s no surprise to see what she is doing on the next disc.
On the second disc she has a recording from 2012, in concert from Poitiers, France, with the also for me unknown Jean Luc Cappozzo on trumpet and bugle and Gerry Hemingway on percussion. Together they play as 2e Etage – the second floor. Here we cut off any ties with modern classic music and enter the world of free improvisation. Perhaps free improvisation from the more traditional perspective? And perhaps, come to think of it, at various times in these fifty minutes very much like jazz. Having said that, one could easily assume this would not be my ‘kind’ of music, and perhaps, when things get too jazzy for my taste, you might be right, but throughout here I thought there was a lot to be enjoyed. Especially when it gets a bit more noise based, when instruments are used in a less traditional way. Throughout there is great tension between the players, experience is all around here and this trio knows exactly the (no) rules of the game. Intense but wholly gratifying. Excellent. (FdW)
Address: http://www.freddymorezon.org
Address: http://www.nobusinessrecords.com
PUIN + HOOP – ER ZIT EEN GAT IN DE SOEP (CD by Narrominded)
Ages ago I stole a bit of sound from a compilation. A voice that said: ‘such as, waiter, my food is still alive’, and created my own bit of music with this. I was reminded of that when I saw this new title by Dutch trio Puin + Hoop, which translates as ‘there is a hole in the soup’. When Puin + Hoop had to play a concert in Amersfoort they experimented with a new set-up. Like so many, these boys (Roald van Dillewijn, Remco Verhoef and Erik Uittenbogaard) are avid recorders of anything they do, so all rehearsals and concerts are being taped. Unfortunately the recording of their new set up in concert in Amersfoort failed, but there is still the rehearsal tape for that. In the opening piece ‘Er Zit’ it sounds like it has been recorded to cassette, especially in the way the piece ends. Puin + Hoop tap their music out of wide spectrum of musical interests, of which anything that has to do with ‘atmospheric’ is especially important, more so than on their earlier releases. Armed with guitar(s), keyboards and lots and lots of electronics playing three, lengthy spacious tunes. Think Fennesz, Zoviet*France, Troum and Emeralds combined into one band. That could be the sound of Puin + Hoop. It’s not the kind of ambient that lulls you to sleep, but an energy shot in the head, to keep the brain alive and at the same time transport that brain to another spheres. Head trip music for the open minded. It seems to be disappearing in deep space in the final piece ‘In De Soep’ (no prizes to win if you can guess what the second piece is called), towards an all consuming black hole. And to stick with Zoviet*France: Puin + Hoop love crafting packages. This (highly limited) CD comes in rather simple paper sleeve, but that is attached to a piece of nicely hand painted metal. Now that is very Z*F too, I’d say. The only thing that is slightly negative: there could have been another lengthy slice of music on this release, me thinks. Music for long winter evenings. (FdW)
Address: http://www.narrominded.com
WOZZECK – ACT 5 (Audio DVD by Intonema)
Some caveats first: This will probably be a long review. It is long awaited, I’ve had this Audio DVD/MP3/MP4 release for some months, and finally I do not claim to understand it. Prologue: Wozzeck is the first opera by the Austrian composer Alban Berg based on a play, which in turn is loosely based on the life of Johann Christian Woyzeck, a Leipzig wigmaker who later became a soldier. In 1821, Woyzeck, in a fit of jealousy, murdered Christiane Woost, a widow with whom he had been living. He was later publicly beheaded. Act 5 is a 5 part piece of highly rhythmically structured music by the Russian trio of Ilia Belorukov, Mikhail Ershov and Alexey Zabelin, which was created between 2010 and 2013 and documented in considerable detail, including scores, in an accompanying 32 page book. My first ‘non understanding’ is the relevance or not of the groups title to the opera, play or actuality described above. Next is that the work is obviously akin to what was called ‘systems art’, the structures, definitive structures can be heard and seen, and probably more detailed sub-structures by a keen musicologist, which I am not. The anchor is the drumming (kick, snare, hi-hat of Alexey Zabelin, beats which trigger Ilia Belorukov electronics which play synth sounds and samples of ‘found’ speech. Other synchronization is provided by computer as metronome clicks to the drummer and bass player, Mikhail Ershov. The book documents, as I said in detail the systems used, but not why they were used or to what ends, so in the case of no other information and the variation of sounds within the tight blocked structures one assumes – I have – it’s a pure work of abstract composition. I’m therefore in no position to judge the musicology of this work, I might add as far as I can see and hear the structures seem remarkably simple, but then I remain unqualified. The work Act 5 is itself in 5 parts. 5.1 a noisy work with found sound… based on a fragment in 11/8 time… (Here I’m quoting from the book!) 120 BPM of 40 snippets of 40 minutes.. other fragments 12/8, 15/8 time signatures…’mirroring at varying degrees taken from King Crimson
and Aton Webern. The found sound being of Al Pacino. Reference is also made to John Zorn. Why these sounds were chosen and placed in such a rigorous structure I do not know. Act 5.2 – which I would describe as ‘noisy drumming’… uses a sequence of patterns based on the first 40 digits of PI. Also references to Metal Machine Music and Merzbow. Only this must be superficial as here we have a fine structure of patterns and transitions- for instance at 32 minutes because the 32nd digit of PI is zero. 5.3 is Beats with echo in 30 second chunks with 30 seconds of silence. (That’s me). The text refers to this as “Black Metal”, 40 fragments for 40 minutes, using a countdown timer of 2,000 seconds. 5.4 is more drone like, a BPM of 30.Notes, chords last 5 minutes… etc. again the book goes into the elaborate structuring. 5.5 uses ipad, Korg , pitch shifter and is again segments of synths sequenced to a given beat of unprocessed drumming, interspaced with
more done like notes. If I could say anymore I would, I’ve already said IMO too much. (Jliat)
Address: http://www.intonema.org/
LOST TRAIL – BLACKED OUT PASSAGES (CDR by Visceral Media Records)
Just today the national newspaper had an article on William Basinski, whose music I hadn’t been spinning for a while. As not a lot of other things happened, I spend some two hours with his music. I think I still like it, but must admit I don’t see the hype in there. So many others on a similar (great) level of ‘process’ music. I had to clear space, so I could return to work and play Lost Trail. This is a duo of Zachary Corsa and Denny Wilkerson Corsa, from Burlington, North Carolina. Husband and wife duo, armed with ‘obsolete’ (who decides what is obsolete, I wondered. If it works, it works, and you can use it) lo-fi recording technology and have damaged cassette loops, field recordings, primitive percussion, layers of ethereal (not my word) guitar drones, wailing feedback and static, and ‘skeletal traces of antique piano and organ’, and the have crafted four lengthy pieces of music, of which the final one ‘Rooftops/Spires/Valleys’ is the loudest one. Here we find them in a ‘heavy’ mood, with all on distortion on the guitar strings. It breaks with the mood set out by the earlier three pieces. Here the drone like structures are singing, ringing and sustaining, topped off with a nice bit of field recordings, such as in the opening of ‘Nothing Is Real Until You Put It In The VCR’, in which the guitar gentle weeps, a rusty piano man wheels in and when the windows are open, kids chant in the street. In ‘Parking lot Gloaming’ it concentrates more on field recordings, the crackling of leaves, fed through a bunch of effects. ‘Inserting Loss/Noise Barrier’ works heavily with the looper pedal and is a nice song, but perhaps also the most simple one in approach. It’s however a song that fits the album of four varied and moody textured pieces. It’s open, tinkling sound is the perfect anti-theses of what is to come after that, the loud piece. We’ve been through a variety of moods and textures. More varied than some others in this field, I’d say, and this haunted house music is a perfect soundtrack for cold winter’s day. (FdW)
Address: http://www.visceralmediarecords.com
KURT LIEDWART/MWTON (cassette by Spina Records)
ALL BLACKS/GLINA (cassette by Spina Records)
COAXIL/SASHASH ULZ (cassette by Spina Records)
Here’s a bunch of split releases by Spina Records, a new label from St. Petersburg. Here we find on the first tape music by Kurt Liedwart, who himself is the owner of Mikroton, and who recently had two CDs in collaboration with Ilya Belorukov, who is the boss of Spina Records. These two pieces here are actually his first solo recordings to be released. He uses ppooll (a bit of software), electronics and turntables. It’s all rather ‘vague’ what Kurt Liedwart does here. It seems to me improvised with his tools, but at the basis, it seems to me there is something lacking here. It’s all a bit too loosely improvised, and without much head or tail. On the other side we have Mwton, or Moweton, whom we already had on guitaroid in a likewise obscure release by Intomena (see Vital Weekly 889), but his glitchy noise here makes up nicely for Liedwart. It’s loud, it’s glitchy, it’s drone, like Tim Hecker on speed. Apparently with a guitar, who can tell these days? Effective ‘processing’, me thinks.
This sort of loud and dirty drones, perhaps less glitchy, is the music of All Blacks, also known as Nikita Voyakin). It sounds as if recorded without looking at the VU controls, all in the red, but without sounding too noisy. As someone recently said, there is so much more ‘space’ on a tape to do really great noise, and if I hear this music by All Blacks I do agree. It’s not too long, not too loud, but a nice menace anyway. On the other side we find a band, Glina, playing guitar, drums, saxophone and which sound a bit slow and lo-fi. The recording that is. Music from the early stages of a band and maybe that is something of interest to someone, but that someone might not be me.
The final split is Coaxil and Sashash Ulz (who are from Petrozavodsk, as the website indicates, but I don’t know why there is no city for the other band). Coaxil uses loops from analogue synthesizers, a bunch of sound effects and have a slightly distorted sound The music is rather minimal but the element of rhythm reminds me of the good ol’ Pan Sonic, without the groove actually. On the other side we find Sashash Ulz, which also operates electronic machinery, but of these six ‘bands’ they (?) the most quiet ones, the much needed touch of ambient around here. Quite gentle music here, and marks a nice gentle end to these six sides of Russia’s finest experiments. (FdW)
Address: http://www.spinarec.net/