KÖÖK – IMBER, WILTSHIRE (CD by Vafongool) *
CORY O’BRIEN – DENSER MATERIALS (CD by Senufo Editions) *
UTON – KÄHE+ (CD by MoreMars)
RICHTER & SYN – SAME (CD by Poli5)
PARANEUROLOGIC – SAME (CD by Poli5)
POSTIZENA OBLAST – RUBATO (CD by Poli5)
HECQ – CONVERSIONS (CD by Ad Noiseam)
BABY FIRE – THE RED ROBE (CD by Off) *
BRYAN EUBANKS & JASON KAHN – DRUMS SAXOPHONE ELECTRONICS (CD by Intonema) *
ANDREY POPOVSKIY – ROTONDO (CD by Intonema) *
SONG FROM THE FOREST (CD by Gruenrekorder) *
ARTHUR CANTRILL – HOOTONICS (LP by Shame File Music)
GIOVANNI LAMI – MEMA VERMA (LP by Kohlhaas)
SLIM VIC – BÄRSÄRK (LP by Lemur)
TROY SCHAFER – UNTITLED NO. 1 (7″ by Signal Dreams)
TROY SCHAFER – RIGID OPPRESSION (business card CDR by Aetheric Records) *
ERIC LUNDE – DIFFERENT BELL RING THE SAME/THE SAME BELL RINGS DIFFERENT (7″ lathe cut by Amalgamated Torse And Such)
KAPOTTE MUZIEK – MADRID (CDR by Tuksio) *
SYMPLI ROMATIKO (CDR by Mathka) *
KONRAD GECA – ART OF CHOICES (CDR by Mathka) *
KONKETE ANTI WULST – UNISCHTBARE ZWILLINGE (CDR by Attenuation Circuit) *
EGG, EGGS – OFF YELLOW SOFT PILLOW (CDR by Kendra Steiner Editions)
GRZEGORZ BOJANEK – ANALOGUE (CDR by Twice Removed) *
FLORIS VANHOOF – UNSTOPABLE (cassette, private)
KARL FOUSEK – CODICIL (cassette by Adhesive Sounds)
KARL FOUSEK – RELATIVE POSITION OF FIGURES (cassette by Phinery)
ACCRUAL – CHEOPHIORI (cassette by Moving Furniture Records)
ARMOUR GROUP – LIVE ASSAULT 2013 (cassette by Trapdoor)
KÖÖK – IMBER, WILTSHIRE (CD by Vafongool)
You are supposed to write KÖök and the title refers to Imber, a city in England where the citizen’s were asked to leave so the army could use it for combat training. That was in 1943, but the citizen’s never returned. KÖök is a duo of Stian Larsen and Jørn Ahlsen, who started out in 2010 and so far released three records, including this one. They both play guitar and electronics, and guests on a few pieces are Guro Skumsnes Moe on double bass (two pieces) and Dag Erik Knedal Andersen on drums, also on two pieces. The music is all recorded live and improvised, but sound very coherent; very drone-like as well. KÖök creates sustaining structures, perhaps through the use of loop devices, and wave further, smaller parts on top. This happens especially in the first three pieces, bringing on some nice reminisce to the work of Jim O’Rourke, his earlier live collaborations. In later pieces here things seem to owe more the world of more conventional improvisation, such as ‘Bell In’, perhaps also due to the playing on Moe on this pieces, but here too these sustaining sounds are present. This adds a slightly alienating atmosphere to the music, maybe a sense of emptiness, as invoked by the idea about an abandoned city, working with the slide guitar in ‘Imber Dock’ along with feedback. I thought this was a great work of improvisation. Partly, perhaps, because it didn’t sound like an improvisation, with things being more constructed, and partly because of the introspective character, creating an excellent moody atmosphere, which also seems a bit more unusual in this musical corner. Excellent release, all around. (FdW)
Address: http://www.vafongool.com
CORY O’BRIEN – DENSER MATERIALS (CD by Senufo Editions)
In the past I may have reviewed Cory O’Brien’s music, but somehow I can’t find it right now. He’s from Washington, DC and actively involved in the Sonic Circuits festival and a performer of his own music. His main set-up is using a snare drum, amplified plexiglass and analog synthesizer. Here’s a rather short release, twenty-five minutes only (sadly!), of five pieces. Although there is no such instruction, I would recommend one plays this loud. It’s there where this release shares its beauty. O’Brien plays the surface of his acoustic objects and the resonating qualities work on many levels, low as well as high, producing a fine dynamic release. If the volume were low, this would perhaps go unnoticed. I am not sure, but I would think this is the result of layering a bunch of recordings together and then mixing them. But what do I know? Maybe these five pieces are the result of a highly concentrated live action? Sometimes it sounds like the field recordings of say rain, and sometimes like the highly amplified surface with objects rolled on top. It makes this both improvised music as well as quite a bit noisy. Sometimes reminding me of the very early New Blockaders music, the ‘pushing rusty bicycles around’ sound, but then this has better dynamic levels when it comes to recording. Quite an intense release this one and maybe as such one that gains from its more or less brief character? Nevertheless, a few more of these concentrated efforts would have been right up my alley! Great release. (FdW)
Address: http://www.senufoeditions.com/
UTON – KÄHE+ (CD by MoreMars)
The label MoreMars from Greece released a re-release of a tape of Uton. The tape Kähe+ was released on cassette by the Mexican label Dept Tapes. Uton is a project of Jani Hirvonen from Finland. Kahe+ was recorded in Chantepie in France in May and June 2013. He based 30 short pieces at 30 Finnish words which doesn?t exist. I really like this kind of concepts to create new words. New words means progression, new meanings and the idea that something new has created or born. The first 30 tracks is like a cut-up story of William Burroughs. Moments are coming and disappear. The diversity in sounds and intensity make these first 30 short tracks very interesting. Two bonus tracks are added on the CD. This compositions are much longer and are experimental. The mix of noises, loops, electronics, drones and acoustic instruments are intense. These compositions are also recorded in France, but five months later. The long tracks give another dimension to the musical world of Uton. The music has more time to develop, but it is also developed with several elements and atmospheres. The first track is more noisy and chaotic. The second track has more diversity and suits more to the first 30 tracks. For me the first 30 tracks are the most interesting, because I like the idea and musically it is surprising, because the listener jumps to the one world to another. (JKH)
Address: http://www.moremars.org
RICHTER & SYN – SAME (CD by Poli5)
PARANEUROLOGIC – SAME (CD by Poli5)
POSTIZENA OBLAST – RUBATO (CD by Poli5)
Three different Czech releases from Polí5. A Czech label that started in 2006, focusing on the underground Czech scene. Postizena Oblast is Pavel Maly (percussion), Michal Paraslicka (bassguitar), Martin Rejsek (guitar, theremin), Filip Jaks (voice, keyboards, etc.). This unit is around since 1993 and debuted in 2007 with their first record. In 2012 they started anew after several personal changes. From then on the influence of experimental poetry became prominent as their new release ‘Rubato’ shows. A project for which they invited several guest musicians. The cd includes a textbook with poems by band member Jaks, but also by Ernst Jandl, William Blake and Helmut Heißenbüttel. The music is in a serving role, functioning as a vehicle for the poems. Not that much is happening here from a pure musical point of view. Spun out repetitive patterns or soundscapes that underline the vocals of Jaks who gives everything he has in his performance of the poems. Clearly this is a rock group. In most tracks there is also full room for free improvisation, and it is at these moments – like in the closing track ‘magic Tiger’- that they deliver musically satisfying moments for someone who doesn’t understand Czech. Also Paraneurologic – a trio of Jarmo Sermila (fluegelhorn, electronics), Miroslav Posejal (violoncello, electronics)and Alex Svamberk (samples, percussion, analog synths, voice, electronics) – deal in extended spun out improvisations, although not from a rock background. Electro acoustic music is the name of the game here. A collection of tracks recorded between 1998 and 2012 (!). Most of these instrumental tracks are very freeform, and are more about creating sound textures and spacey atmospheres, than about creating musically engaging structures. They offer many enjoyable passages because of their excellent sound sculpting, but at too many moments I asked myself ‘what are heading at?’ Most expectations I had from Richter & Syn. Pavel Richter is a veteran from the alternative Czech scene, starting his career around 1975 with Elektrobus. Since 1986 he had his own Richter Band. Their album for Rachot Records in 1992 is one of my best-kept secrets in my collection. Many are also his collaborations with other Czech bands like Dunaj and MCH Band. Between 2000-2003 he worked a lot with Michel Koran producing ambient-like music. His recent work as Richter & Syn is more or less in line with these releases. This is Pavel Richter with his son Jonas in a duo format en route since 2007. Again spaced out music with Pavel Richter playing electric guitar and his son Jonas doing electronics. Now we are entering into ethno-ambient realms. In four lengthy pieces they create spacey and comfortable continuums. Especially ‘Forest Blue’, the longest trip on this album, is a successful track with a slow guitar solo by Pavel Richter. (DM)
Address: http://www.poli5.cz
HECQ – CONVERSIONS (CD by Ad Noiseam)
German label Ad Noiseam is out with a new album from the interesting German composer Ben Lukas Boysen alias Hecq. What characterizes the style of Hecq is the cinematic structures that saturates most of his albums. First of all atmospheric IDM with noisy elements sometimes interfering the textures. On this latest release by Hecq, Ben Lukas Boysen pays homage to the most important sources of inspiration. Thus the style of present album is more varied than usually since the inspirations of Hecq apparently spans pretty wide. From pure ambient music to more complexed structures of rhythms and noise patterns in-between. So many great moments on the album, however my favourite moments is the quite abstract techno-track originally produced by Anodyne and the deep ambient-piece “Final sleep” – both tracks with the excellent fingerprints of Hecq inside the compositions. “Conversions” once more confirms the fact that Hecq is a
composer to keep an eye on. Very nice! (NM)
Address: http://www.adnoiseam.net
BABY FIRE – THE RED ROBE (CD by Off)
Some weeks ago I was in Germany and saw the line-up of a small do-it-yourself festival perform twice in a row, which was nice as you compare all of these bands and hear them get better or play worse one night to the next, or act out the same thing. A four women group from Munich called Candelilla, who’s Steve Albini CD appeared on Zick Zack particularly took me. I am not sure what surprised me most in there, but no doubt the fact that Zick Zack still exists ranks high. They are a rock band, and I traded a CD with them, so yes, sometimes I must like rock music. I started to play Baby Fire’s new CD thinking “‘for fans of Siouxsie Sioux, early PJ Harvey, Evangelitsa, Chelsea Wolfe’, so who in the Vital field will like this and cares to review it”, but then I read this was recorded at the Existencial studios of Crass in Essex (didn’t know they had a studio actually), and Crass member Eve Libertine sings on a track, and Penny Rimbaud plays on another. The main singer is Diabolita who is a fan of Siouxsie, and that is not really a mystery. She sings, plays guitar and theremin, while Cha (who is also in Lady Fucked Up and Lem – hey I know that!) is on drums and keyboard (although she left in May 2014 and is replaced by Alinovsky). I quite enjoyed the post-punk sound of this CD, especially when their sound is forceful and aggressive, which seems to be more in the first half of the release than in the second half. The Banshees influence is one that is very strong in this album, but also, especially in the vocals and lyrics, a (feminine) Crass influence. Songs are pretty short, two, three minutes, and have an excellent force. It works best when speed and aggression is left in tact for a song, a bit slower it doesn’t seem to work as well. I quite enjoyed this album. Like Savages and Candelilla, another all girl group to watch out for. (FdW)
Address: http://www.off-recordlabel.blogspot.com
BRYAN EUBANKS & JASON KAHN – DRUMS SAXOPHONE ELECTRONICS (CD by Intonema)
ANDREY POPOVSKIY – ROTONDO (CD by Intonema)
It’s perhaps Bryan Eubanks here, whom I don’t seem to know very well, but in his duo recording with Jason Kahn he brings out a side of Kahn I haven’t heard in a long time. Kahn is a drummer – that we know – but we hardly ever him bang the kit. Much of his work is more subtle and sparse and hardly ever seems to be about playing the kit, even in an improvised manner. He usually takes credit for drums, analogue synthesizer but here its just drums. Eubanks plays soprano saxophone, open-circuit feedback, oscillators and radio. Five pieces recorded in September 2013 in Zurich (where Kahn lives) see him rattle and shake the drums, the cymbals, the floor toms and all of these things, while Eubanks waves together an interesting brand of sound around it. Sustaining sounds, sometimes feedback like but never really, truly noise like; it fits the sustaining drum rolls of Kahn very well. It’s not as careful as some of Kahn’s other work, or rather: not at all, but these five concentrated outbursts are very nice in itself. Louder, grittier and somehow more direct in your face. A big surprise, I’d say. At thirty-four minutes also with the right length for such a thing.
The other new release by Russia’s Intonema label is by one Andrey Popovskiy, of whom I never heard. On November 21 2013 he played lap steel guitar, electronics and objects at Rotonda Of Mayakovski Library (city unknown?). This is all much more radical than the Eubanks/Kahn release. It deals, for a start, with a lot more silence between the small sounds. Especially in the first thirty or so minutes (of the total of thirty-seven) things happen at a very low level or, when things get louder, it seems to have more silence before and after. It’s hard to say this is lap steel, as it seems to be more about the objects producing sound and less about the sound of the lap steel. Maybe it’s only used to play these objects on, and the recording suggests a lot of space in this rotunda, which works nicely as an extra resonating instrument. This is certainly not ‘easy’ music. This is one of those improvised music releases, which require your full attention in order to reveal it’s true beauty. Nothing to be heard while doing other stuff. I quite enjoyed it, although, as I sometimes feel about these things, it would seem that seeing this concert is the real thing. Popovskiy plays with great subtle care and lots of concentration. I would like to see him sweat doing this music. (FdW)
Address: http://www.intonema.org
SONG FROM THE FOREST (CD by Gruenrekorder)
One of the various releases this week that is supposed to be a soundtrack. Here no film either, but just the recordings made by Louis Sarno, made in Central Africa with Bayaka Pygmies, a tribe of hunters and collectors. Sarno is not a visitor, but he lives there as a member and married, has a son and recorded 1500 hours of music and sounds. That’s what the documentary by Michael Obst is about, about this rather unique field recordist. Sarno, who guides us through music from Bayaka and the place they live in, documents each of the fifteen pieces here in word. Flutes, tree drumming, singing, games, celebrations and such like are what we hear on this disc. Sometimes recorded from a distance, with the rainforest adding a whole additional layer of sound, which works very well. The ‘Tree Drumming’ reminded me of earlier Etant Donnes. I very much enjoy a release like this. Not because I know a lot about the subject of tribes or Non-Western music, and I am the first to admit I can’t say anything worthwhile about this, other than: I think this is a fascinating trip. Maybe it’s because I was on holiday just now, and perhaps I would like to evoke the memory of holiday a bit longer? (I doubt whether Central Africa will ever be a point of holiday for me however). Just for now I can really enjoy all of this a lot. Strangely fascinating music. A sound documentary as well as something that you can enjoy from a purely musical point of view. Very nice variation in the world of field recording. (FdW)
Address: http://gruenrekorder.de
ARTHUR CANTRILL – HOOTONICS (LP by Shame File Music)
Primarily Arthur Cantrill, along with his wife Corinne, is a film-maker and has being at it for over fifty years. To a lesser extent Cantrill also provides his own soundtracks, which are usually created using electronics, field recordings, radio and tape manipulation. This particular record contains the music for a film called ‘Hootonics’, which is about the poet/futurist/thinker Harry Hooton, who died in 1961 (but who was friends with the Cantrills) and his work was about ‘the communication of emotion to matter’ – which the Cantrills translated to directly working to film, using coloured light and hand-printing. I never heard of Hooton, so it’s hard to say if this music (or film, which I haven’t seen either) does the man any justice. The film was made in 1969, and so the soundtrack is more than forty years old. Now, while much of the music may sound like electronics, there wasn’t any use of synthesizers. Instead, Cantrill uses various reel-to-reel machines with build in reverb possibilities, and slows down sound, speeds it up and uses a bit of sound generated from early computers. Everything buzzes and beeps around here, and there is a fine sense of crudeness in these pieces. There are many pieces but it all sounds like a work that is best enjoyed in one go. That adds an extra element of collage and cut-up to the table. It has that excellent sixties sound of ringing oscillators, speed up loops of feedback and grittiness. All of which is generated using white noise. Like said, I didn’t see the actual movie, nor do I know anything about Hooton, but one can enjoy the music independently quite well. I thought it was great, but then, I am a sucker for such old primitive (?) electronic music. Excellent record of early electronics. Not to be missed by anyone who delves into the recent Mego re-issues of Ina-Grm. (FdW)
Address: http://shamefilemusic.com
GIOVANNI LAMI – MEMA VERMA (LP by Kohlhaas)
The title of this LP is translated as ‘Mema Verma’ and printed in Indian on the cover (I assume it’s Indian, actually). The music is by one Giovanni Lami, of whom I never heard before. He created three recordings with the shruti box, G (low) tuned, but in the first two pieces (both on the A-side) without actually playing it, but using samples of the breaths, whistles and noise produced by the reeds. The one piece on the other side sees the instrument being played, but also the sampled and processed sound coming from a very old-mid range speaker. That’s what this record is about, so it seems. One could easily expect, perhaps, something along the lines of M. Behrens or R. Meelkop, but that is the not entirely the case here. The manipulations employed here by Lami aren’t supposed to create a highly abstract piece of music, but to bring out the more musical elements in the sound material. He melts his recordings into a synthesizer like soundscape along with percussive rattle and perhaps some more acoustic rumbling. It may seem an odd pairing but it actually works pretty well here in these two pieces; both of them operate on a similar level that seems to make them siblings of each other. This is all more collage like, melting estranged elements together. The one piece on the B-side is a powerful drone piece, but works along similar lines as the two on the A-side, but perhaps a bit more traditionally drone. It’s a beautiful piece, haunting and shimmering, moving around like a gentle, caged beast. It seems slightly distorted in places, which I am not sure is the actual pressing or part of the music, but throughout it’s quite a nice piece too. Very nice mood music is to be found in this place. (FdW)
Address: http://www.kohlhaas.it/
SLIM VIC – BÄRSÄRK (LP by Lemur)
The follow-up to ‘Brain Mash’, a CD with the processed piano sounds from the house of Franz Schubert (see Vital Weekly 922), by one Slim Vic – that might not be his real name. This new record was not recorded at some particular place, but it’s dedicated to the berserk, ‘perhaps one of the world’s best fighters, which in Old Norse time sworn allegiance to the Norse god Odin. The cover doesn’t indicate anything with regard to instruments and judging by the music this sounds like one piece spread out over two sides of the record rather than being two different sides. It’s something I don’t like. Why not on a CD and then as a single piece? The music is all very dark, very ambient and a bit industrial. It mainly seems to be a bunch of loops with keep revolving, round and round. There is the few drone loops at the bottom of the well, and something that sounds a bit like a voice – the berserk himself obviously, breathing and sighing. I assume much of the drone material generates from the sound of the guitar and lots of electronics. Everything is a slow mode of development, and with touches of reverb to suggest more space/atmosphere/cave in which you find the berserk. I quite enjoyed the record – played it two times in a row, really – but probably that says more about my personal listening habit, than this being something entirely Fresh! New! Objectively this record doesn’t offer any new insight in the world of ambient industrial music and subjectively I quite enjoyed this. So there you go. (FdW)
Address: http://www.lamour.se
TROY SCHAFER – UNTITLED NO. 1 (7″ by Signal Dreams)
TROY SCHAFER – RIGID OPPRESSION (business card CDR by Aetheric Records)
From violinist Troy Schafer I think I may have reviewed a cassette before, see Vital Weekly 916) and I liked the idea behind more than the actual result, it seemed. Schafer, I now learn, is also playing with Kinit Her, Wreathes and Burial Hex, and for the piece on side-A here he chops down thirty-six hours of music into six minutes but it doesn’t sound like a quick cut ‘n paste job – thank god. I believe to hear electronics, violin, computer treatment and acoustic rumbling in a room and more such like and Schafer created a fine collage of sound material that works as an excellent composition. The other side seems to be working more single-minded: violin with lots of sound effects, which go on for a while and then a bit of noise at the end. It’s a nice piece for sure, if you didn’t hear the A-side first; if you heard that one first the impact of the B-side is just a little bit less, I’d say. A great side and a fine side: that makes up a nice record anyway.
Half the length of the 7″ is the business card CDR with three pieces, two minutes plus for two of them and one under a minute. Here we find Schafer in a more noise mood, especially in ‘1st Vanity Recapitulated’, but also in the other two pieces it scratches and screeches on the violin. It seems these were taped in action and judging by the nature of this, it could have been a violent performance; I might be entirely wrong of course. It sounds oke, but doesn’t beat the 7″ A-side by a long stretch. It’s however something that made me curious about his live performance. (FdW)
Address: http://signaldreams.bandcamp.com/
Address: http://soundcloud.com/aetheric-records
ERIC LUNDE – DIFFERENT BELL RING THE SAME/THE SAME BELL RINGS DIFFERENT (7″ lathe cut by Amalgamated Torse And Such)
This is the first of ten lathe cut records by Eric Lunde, which are released in an edition of twenty copies each. It comes with a hand-printed cover and a Xeroxed booklet of cut up texts. Both of the pieces on the record itself were recorded in concert about a year ago and use the ‘opycay’ audio unit. I have no idea what that is, but my best guess would be some sort of device that plays back right away any recording he does on the spot, picking up whatever else is going on in the same process. Think Alvin Lucier’s ‘I’m Sitting In A Room’, but then with a much more crude and noisy impact. I am very fond of these crude techniques. It makes the whole thing quite poetic and strange but at the same time it can also be heard as a work of noise. Choosing lathe cut – plastic rather than the stuff a ‘real’ record is made from – is an excellent choice I would think, as they wear out over time, more than a ‘normal’ record would do, so this fits perfectly the nature of the music. Nothing lasts forever, even when you would think it does. Way too short! Mister Lunde: you can do LP lathe cut too: did you know this? (FdW)
Address: http://amalgamatedtorsoandsuch.wordpress.com/
KAPOTTE MUZIEK – MADRID (CDR by Tuksio)
Two years ago Kapotte Muziek was invited to do a concert in Madrid. The trio Frans de Waard, Roel Meelkop and Peter Duimelinks never perform many concerts. In between they didn’t meet each other a lot and it seems they see each other when they play a concert. Anyhow, the concert happened in La Casa Encendida and people where sitting around the members of Kapotte Muziek. The recordings of this concert were excellent and have been edited by Roel Meelkop and mastered by Jos Smolders at Earlabs. I am not always amused by the music of Kapotte Muziek. Sometimes it is too abstract or too minimal for my ears. But this release has an open atmosphere and has some beautiful moments of explorations of analogue sounds. The mixture of clear concrete sounds and some abstract sounds at the background sounds interesting. The collage of a singing bowl, field-recordings of a voice and a blowing horn and scratching on some metal is adventurous and combines elements of several worlds. A more rhythmical piece with some basic beats surprises me and seems to be a new direction in the music of the Kapotte Muziek performances. The beat flow into a penetrating sound and some concrete sounds. The music develops into more scratching and crispy sounds in combination with some electronics and gets noisier. The performance ends with some metallic sounds in combination with a dark drone and field-recordings of seagulls. Beautiful ending of a Dutch adventure in Spain. (JKH)
Address: http://www.fransdewaard.com
SYMPLI ROMATIKO (CDR by Mathka)
KONRAD GECA – ART OF CHOICES (CDR by Mathka)
A trio from Poland, with Denis Kolokol (electronics and voice), Tomek Choloniewski (drums, percussion, voice) and Alexander Chikmakov (guitars). I think I only heard Kolokol’s solo music before. They call their music: “Pretty scientific and inhuman, but made by humans and for a humankind”, and program everything electronic in supercollider themselves. There are three pieces here, two of exactly 19 minutes and 43 seconds, and one of 12 minutes and thirty seconds. Following an atmospheric opening in the first piece, ‘Misinterpretation Of Misunderstanding’, there is a bit with vocals and I think this goes into the free-rock/improvisation side (something Dolf Mulder may understand better), but I keep listening and am surprised by the music. Music that is not easy to categorize, which I guess is a good thing. There is a certain element of free improvisation in the music and the drums may seem to be a bit rock like, but that’s as far as these things go. The electronics doodle about, but are sometimes a bit more spacious. Good, bad, I am not sure if such terms apply here. I was quite fascinated by the whole thing. It sounded minimal, captivating and sometimes it goes a bit too long for my taste, but then, perhaps I find that to be captivating too. Confusing? I believe that’s indeed what this music does.
The other release, by one Konrad Geca, is a bit more conceptual. I never heard of him before. The concept here is that every release is different. He copies whatever tracks he wants to a CDR, so no copies are alike. So whatever it is that I have to review, if you buy it, you may hear something else. I once had the idea of releasing a cassette and every copy would be a copy of the previous copy, so you have the same music, but it gradually falls apart and just static remains. Maybe this is like this too. The music here are cuts from field recordings – at least the three pieces on this copy I have in front of me – with not much else in terms of processing. I am not entirely sure what these field recordings suppose to do, or mean, or evoke, or… or? Yes, they sound nice, wherever they were recorded – mostly at home, I would think, but exactly what it is about, seems to be more difficult. It’s nice enough but perhaps also too conceptual and artful. (FdW)
Address: http://www.mathka.pl
KONKETE ANTI WULST – UNISCHTBARE ZWILLINGE (CDR by Attenuation Circuit)
Yes, it’s really Konkete and not Konkrete Anti Wulst and it is a duo of Glenn Hollstein and Holger Bischoff, who have this sort of surrealist action in their music and art. I didn’t hear from them before. Their credits go out to ‘instruments, voice’ and ‘instruments, objects, tapes, voice’. Surrealist + music and I always think of Nurse With Wound with such a combination. That is only partly true in this case, as this duo operates on a much louder, noisier level. There is one piece here, forty-five minutes, of noise that is created with all electronics, all voices and all objects being treated with a chilling amount of reverb. In a way, to make a Nurse With Wound connection, I am reminded here of the ‘150 Murderous Passions’ record, the Nurse With Wound/Whitehouse record (never properly re-issued). Maybe a bit less loud here, but with a similar approach to a wall of feedback/sound and far away voice material, as well as the rumbling of acoustic objects in the basement. It works best when the voices are a bit better to hear and it’s less muddy, towards the end more than in the early parts of this piece. A very consistent piece of music for sure, perhaps not entirely new or innovative, but actually quite enjoyable. A grey rainy summer’s day gets the perfect soundtrack! (FdW)
Address: http://www.attenuationcircuit.de
EGG, EGGS – OFF YELLOW SOFT PILLOW (CDR by Kendra Steiner Editions)
After Diaz-Infante’s ‘Wistful Entrance, Wistful Exit’ another release by Kendra Steiner Editions, a small publisher of poetry and related experimental music. Egg, Eggs is a low-fi improv collective from Western Massachusetts. They are into free abstract sound-poetry with vocalist David Russell in the centre. Musicians play toy instruments, strings, electronics, percussion and whatever is around. This release – their first cdr after numerous cassettes and lps – has Ted Lee, David Russell, Brett Robinson, and Jennifer Gelineau as core members, joined by five other musicians. They make up a friendly anarchic ensemble working from a do it yourself spirit. One could call it also free improvised music, but not have the sort that is delivered by highly skilled jazz musicians. These guys’ work from another, punk and dada-esque attitude. I’m not sure these artists see themselves as musicians. From what I can get listening to this very low-fi recording, it is more close to performance art. I guess it works better when experienced live. (DM)
Address: http://www.kendrasteinereditions.wordpress.com
GRZEGORZ BOJANEK – ANALOGUE (CDR by Twice Removed)
As ‘extra’ information there is a handwritten note that that says ‘this album was recorded without a laptop and computer (desktop) only to a 4-track Tascam tape-recorder’, which I guess is always nice to know and hence the title, I would think. By now we know Grzegorz Bojanek as someone who creates a nice ambient soundscapes using a variety of instruments: guitar, piano, flute, different kitchen objects, contact microphones, ree-to-reel loops, Chinese cymbal, guitar pedals and field recordings. All of that results here in seven pieces, spanning just less than fifty minutes. This new release doesn’t hold many surprises if you know what he’s up to. Introspective melodies, tinkling bell sounds, rusty guitar bits being looped around. Maybe a bit like Machinefabriek, but Bojanek’s music is less dark, and perhaps more musical, in a conventional sort of way. Bojanek strums a bit, loops that around, and improvises some more on top, picking up as easily another instrument. A bit drone such as in ‘Cut The Tape’, or sweet as pie in ‘Last Experience’, and probably anything in between. Bojanek is a busy man, with many releases under his belt, and if I’m not mistaken he could as easily rise to quite some fame, again on par with Machinefabriek. (FdW)
Address: http://twicerememberedtwiceremoved.bandcamp.com
FLORIS VANHOOF – UNSTOPABLE (cassette, private)
Some weeks ago I saw two concerts by Floris Vanhoof, of whom I vaguely heard before, but who took me by surprise. Basically he uses alpha waves from his brain to control an impressive set-up of four slide projectors and a modular synthesizer, creating quite a psychedelic visual and audio spectacle with quite an amount of energy. In the space of two days he played three or four concerts, depending on how you count and a printed the cover of his cassette ‘Unstopable’ using an ancient technique called ‘print gocco’, resulting in varying colour prints. The music on this cassette was already recorded, I assume (he must sleep sometimes). Both of these pieces have long titles which are perhaps more poetic. On the first side of this tape we find a nice lightweight arpeggio theme gentle bouncing around – ‘both sides of this tape are made by doubling live studio recordings in stereo. You can unplug one speaker to hear the original recordings’, which I didn’t do. The B-side seems a bit louder recorded but essentially has a similar idea: sound bouncing around, caught it what seems an endless flux, but at the very end, in the final second or two you hear it spin out of control, and you know it’s touched by a human. Quite cosmic in a way, and pleasantly light stuff. Not as dark and psychedelic as his concerts where, but it fits the spacious colouring on the cover. (FdW)
Address: http://www.endlesswebsite.tk/
KARL FOUSEK – CODICIL (cassette by Adhesive Sounds)
KARL FOUSEK – RELATIVE POSITION OF FIGURES (cassette by Phinery)
In Montreal Karl Fousek was already active for some time using field recordings and digital sound processing techniques, but he recently switched to using a small analogue modular synthesizer and tape delay. All of this he has been recording with all the overdubs done live via a tape-loop (sound on sound I think this is called) and it’s my first encounter with his music. The first tape is twenty minutes and the other is thirty minutes. The differences between both tapes are small. On ‘Codicil’ the pieces are a bit longer whereas on ‘Relative Position Of Figures’ they are shorter and more sketch like. It might (!) be that on the first side of that tape there are twelve pieces and on the other side there are six. These sketch like pieces are nice and display the various possibilities of his set-up, but perhaps they are also a bit too much alike and some variation would be nice; that, or simply work these smaller pieces into longer pieces, which is what he did on the other tape. That works quite well, and here small melodies slip in and out of the mix, arpeggio sounds bounce around and through works very pleasantly. That is, I think, the road to be explored further. You can create lots of funny sounds on a modular synth, but melting them into a real piece is more difficult. Fousek proofs, on ‘Codicil’ he knows how to do that. He should do that more. (FdW)
Address: http://adhesivesounds.bandcamp.com
Address: http://phinery.net
ACCRUAL – CHEOPHIORI (cassette by Moving Furniture Records)
A re-issue here of a CDR that was originally released in 2006 by Diesel Combustible but apparently difficult to obtain and which had mistakes on the cover. It’s now re-issued on cassette, the preferred format for Ruaridh Law, one half of Accrual and sometimes known as TVO, along with a remix by Orphax, the musical project of the label boss here. The other half of Accrual is Alasadair Satchel on guitar (Law plays playing electronics). Long pieces here and superficially you could say this is all a bit drone like – or perhaps: lot of drone like – there is at the same time also something that makes this a bit uneasy. It’s not easy to say what it is that makes this a bit different, but perhaps it lies in the time stretching of the guitar sounds. Maybe that bit of process sounds a bit too easy for the trained ear? I am not sure. I looked outside, saw the rain (the grain?), turned towards a book, gazed some more outside and liked what I heard. It wasn’t the most original in its kind – even for 2006 – and it was perhaps all a bit naive, but perhaps it was exactly that a day like this needs. Very nice! (FdW)
Address: http://www.movingfurniturerecords.com/
ARMOUR GROUP – LIVE ASSAULT 2013 (cassette by Trapdoor)
‘Live Assault 2013’ is what the Armour Group brings us, and that word; ‘live assault’ is such a strong reminder of power electronics of, come close, to thirty years ago. I don’t think I ever heard of Armour Group before and judging by the grainy Xerox on the cover they are two hooded men – how very much The Haters, industrial music and how cute – leaning over their equipment – probably a synth and some stomp boxes. The result is a cassette that is not very long but one that I thought was very nice. Nothing in terms of things being ‘new’ around here, but just for the sake of some old school power electronics at work. Grinding sounds, coming to halt, starting again, feedback but never as a block, just loud banging around of uncontrolled sounds: that kind of power electronics. It’s not a very long tape, perhaps twenty or so minutes, which I would think is exactly the right kind of length for such a thing. Seeing this in concert is probably the best thing you could do – that is my belief – but on cassette it works as well. We’ve got the power! (FdW)
Address: <trapdoortapes@hotmail.com>