STARS OF THE LID – MANEUVERING THE NOCTURNAL HUM (LP by Earworm)
Of course you may wonder if I am the right person to review this record…
I have been a dedicated follower of Stars Of The Lid since their first CD,
so I can only cheer hallelujah about this record. One side is a soundtrack
to a film, which as usual with these things, I haven’t seen. But playng the
record, I wouldn’t be surprised that the film contains one shot of Texan
desert in which the shade moves slowly. There is a sad, desolate feeling
springing to mind. Organs celebrate the mass but they are disguised as
guitars, and very very controlled feedback hum. The other side is live, and
apart from some talking and taking out the plug of the guitar at the end,
you could have fooled me. Again ultimate remoteness being present here. We
must hope and pray that this will be on CD one day… (FdW)
Address: <domearworm@coynet.com>
DAS ERDWERK – LEBEN IM WARTESAAL (7″ by Drone Records)
Das Erdwerk has one CD out, and in all obscurity they worked on this 7″,
the third new by Drone this month. The packaging is beautiful: not the
standard painted white sleeve, but a big brown, silk-screened poster. The
CD reminded me at times of Lustmord, circa ‘Heresy’, but this is surely
altogether something different. The three short tracks on side A are based
on sampling crackles, intercepted by highly reverbed, but short lived cuts.
The last is the most of the three. The b-side continues on this trail, of
partly sampled or tape-spliced sounds. A truely strange record that
certainly not fits the drony atmospheres of inhabited by Drone Records, but
it is one that is warmy recommended by me. (FdW)
Address: <DroneTroum@aol.com>
REZNICEK & SITTING MOON/TBC (splitLP by Wachsender Prozess)
A sort of music concept split one this is. Both sides deal with the sound
of water. The Reznicek & Sitting Moon side comes from some installation
thing and is the most sophistacted side. I may step on somebody’s toes
here, but Reznicek sounds very much like a good student of Asmus Tietchens
– not a surprise knowing Reznicek also lives in Hamburg. He takes the
watery sounds beyond recognition, with tons and tons of studio
manipulation. Only at sparse moments we recognize the source material.
Although the label mentions various tracks, I can only see this as one long
piece.
The man behind TBC is also the man from the label. Apperently his side was
recorded in 1993. Unlike the other side, TBC’s music is more raw and
primitive, taking a few sounds, feed it through the usual effects and leave
them as they are. Not cruel noisy, but the kind of ambient-industriliazed
soundscapes most people are well aware of. Not so much of my liking, but
who knows? Maybe I liked it better when it was released when it was it was
recorded five years ago? (FdW)
Address: Thomas Beck – Langenfelderstr. 56 – 22769 Hamburg – Germany
R. CHARTIER – DIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL (CD by Intransitive)
Intransitive’s second CD release is a trademark for the label: handmade
digipacks, each with the own coloured paper and sticker with info. This
label concept is developed by one R. Chartier, a designer who makes music
too.
If I was a rude boy, which I am not, I could eaily describe this as ‘Ikeda
on acid’: harsh bleeps, utter deep bass, but luckily more is happening.
Chartier moves with several minutes into more passages then the average
Ikeda (so it is less minimal), the average Guenter (so it is more audible),
or the average Meelkop (so it may be less composed), or the average Rehberg
(so it is less beat oriented noise). You may get the picture. Chartier
takes inspiration from these people, but adds his own voice, one that is at
times more industrial, and certainly throughout more varied in the sounds
and compositions used here. A nice cross-over between anything on Trente
Oiseaux and Mego, so the hypy boys ‘n girls know where to be. (FdW)
Address: <intransitive@visionload.com>
PAN AMERICAN (CD by Kranky)
Pan American is a solo project of one of the Labradford guys and this is
his first main solo outing. I have played this a couple of times, and I am
not sure what to think. It’s certainly not bad, but is it good? There is a
lot of rhythms to be found, tablas, bongos, tinkling nicely your way. And
of course, this is a Kranky release, a lot of guitars. The offered
atmopsheres maybe dark, but at the same time it is also kinda sweet,
harmless. It’s nice music, one that goes well while working or starring out
of the window. Not much demanding music going on here, but nevertheless a
well enjoyable release. (FdW)
Address: Kranky – PO Box 578743 – Chicago, IL 60657 – USA
RHOMB – HIDDEN TOPOGRAPHIES (CD by The Foundry)
Another CD by The Foundry label (who released the excellent eM CD a while
ago, aswell as two CD’s that didn’t make it to these pages). Rhomb is
somebody on whom I have no information at all. His CD contains 10 tracks
with the average pop length: 4 to 6 minutes, but that’s all there is to
popmusic. He (she?) fools around with samples dark drums, playing one
steady beat and sounds (either synthetic or found) are free to travel in
the mix. The atmopshere which it tries to evoke are nice, but maybe no more
then just nice. The synthetic sounds start to irritate after a while, like
you are waiting for some howling guitar, or silly voice to come, but it
never happens. To sit through all 10 pieces in a row, I thought was a bit
too much, but in small doses this wasn’t bad either. It’s one of those,
‘yeah ok CD’s’. (FdW)
Address: <m@foundrysite.com>
ROBERTO MUSCI – DEBRIS OF A LOA
VISNA MAHEDI ENSEMBLE – UNINTENTIONAL BEAUTY
(Both of the above CDs by Lowlands)
Plumber of the uncharted depths and supreme editor-in-chief of this
screensheet, Franky de Weird pressed these two releases into my palms last
week, spurred on by his knowledge of my curiosity in all things Voudoun.
My interest in this religion was sparked after I read the book ‘The Serpent
And The Rainbow’ by eminent researcher Wade Davies, who had been sent to
Haiti (on the recommendation of R. Gordon Wasson) by an American
pharmaceutical company interested in discovering the truth behind (and the
ingredients of) the famous Zombi powders apparently used by houngan
(Voudoun priests) in their social rituals. Unfortunately his book was
adapted into a typically embarrassing Hollywood film, complete with bad
acting, pitiful special effects and such unforgivable deviations from the
original story, that Davies withdrew his support for the project.
A short while later I went to America and spent a great deal of my time at
the University Of San Diego conducting research into musical phenomena –
not surprisingly, I ended up scouring the archives for recordings of
authentic Voudoun ritual music and associated literature. What I found
particularly amazing was that the music performed at these ceremonies was
the trigger for their ecstasy – in Voudoun worshippers usually do not
mediate with their (large pantheon) of gods through a priest, rather he, or
she, guides them through a tightly structured ritual which, if successful,
ends with the possession of the individual or group. In Voudon, worshippers
have a direct relationship with the loa (as their gods are called), and
when possessed are said to be ‘divine horses’, ridden by these extremely
ancient deities. Something else I found particulary cheering was that the
complicated drum rhythms had the power to bring about possession in white
girls too (Now, if there’s one thing I really like…). even though they
have no cultural links to the religion whatsoever. White boys, it seems,
are on the whole too culture bound and thick-skinned to submit to anything
as undignified as possession by an African god.
The misunderstandings about this religion and culture, perpetrated by films
like ‘The Serpent And The Rainbow’ have deep historical roots. It is very
sad that the success of the rebellions (waged with poison, fire and the
desperate determination of a monstrously tortured and surpressed nation)
which began in 1791 and ended in 1804 have never truely been forgotten by
El Honky. Loads of films and books were produced which created an
impression that Haiti was (and still is !) a land of cannibals and the
living dead.
The last attempt at ‘civilisation’ was conducted by the Americans from 1915
to 1934 who pillaged the temples, crushed the icons and massacred thousands
in their crusade to ‘pacify’ them.
Over the years, more and more authentic musical material has become
availible through companies like Folkways and The Smithsonian Institute
(check out their websites). Harry Courlander was one of the first
researcher to actually record parts of ceremonies (as early as 1939). Many
of the hundreds of pieces he recorded have been musically notated in an
amazing book published by the Center for Afro American Studies at the
University Of California. (Unfortunately I cannot recall the title of this
publication – once again, check out their website.) Courlander was soon
followed by artist, author and experimental filmmaker, Maya Deren, whose
book ‘The Divine Horsemen’, which contains her observations about the
religion which she studied in situ on three separate visits from 1947 –
1951, remains an important reference work to this day.
Now, to the music on ‘Debris Of A Loa’ – from the above, it may be clear
that I had high expectation s of this CD. What is not clear is whether any
of the material used by Robert Musci and Claudio Gabbiani was sourced from
any original recordings made in Haiti. It’s a dark, moody collection of
tracks, which start with a ringing call to worship and end with someone
threatening to kill us all. There’s a track graced with gorgeous female
vocals and stuttering acoustic guitar. The fifth track ‘The Sneerer” is
excellently mad, a recording of someone who seems to be so amused by the
tale he is relating that he cannot spew forth his words without shrieking
with laughter. The music takes on a Indian flavour from Track 6 – sitars
lurk in every track and there’s even some Indian vocals. All of this seems
to detract from the concept of the CD which promises ‘a loa in each song’ .
I’m not convinced.
The Visna Mahedi Ensemble is a group effort by both of the above plus some.
It’s a far more interesting CD, with echoes of Ghedelia Tazartes and
‘Comala’, the first release by Jorge Reyes. There are some familiar beats
(Hector Zazou – ‘I’ll Strangle You’ ?), and some suitably scary sections
which describe weird sonic topographies. Words of Chinese wisdom are
sneezed out on ‘Kioki’s Deck’, and Track 8 sounds like a violent hatchet
carving a space so that a bubble of sound can take shape, pressing outwards
against the atmosphere, finally floating off on finespun guitar. All in
all, some artful combinations of sounds into whirlpools of articulate
noise. Worth checking this one out. (MP)
Address: <lowlands@innet.be>