Week 30

ZAHGURIM – I CAN FEEL THE FUN (CD by Klang Galerie)
BLAINE L. REININGER – NINE TIMES (CD by Klang Galerie)
DECODER (compilation CD by Cold Spring Records)
BACILLUS – FREEDOM SORES (CD by Patient Records)
ANDREW M. JARVIS & DIURNAL BURDENS – PRECEDES (CD by Krim Kram)
DAI KOELAKANTH – DON’T LET ME BE A BURDEN (CD by Krim Kram)
CREEP OF PARIS – VIRGIN BROOD (LP by Krim Kram)
SOPHIE AGNEL – SONG (CD by Relative Pitch Records)
EVAN PARKER – THE HERACLITEAN TWO-STEP, ETC. (4CD by False Walls)
WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE (2LP by Fourth Dimension Records)
VERTONEN – PHOTHUUM (3CDR by Ballast)
CRÍA CUERVOS – TO SEPTISKE MEMBRANER (CDR by Philatelie)
+DOG+ – X11 (CDR by Love Earth Music)
HELLO SPIRAL – DETACHED OBJECTS (cassette by Moonside Tapes)
GOLGOTHA COMMUNICATIONS LTD. – CARNE CRESCENDO (cassette by Moonside Tapes)
CLINTON GREEN & ALLANAH STEWART – YARROW (cassette by Shame File Music)
BLOOD RAVEN – BLOOD RAVEN (cassette by Lust Tapes)
ABDUCTED ORGAN – SADISTIC OBLATIONS (cassette by Lust Tapes)
SATANIC RITE – DARK OMEN (cassette by Lust Tapes)
MUSIC FOR ASSASSINATIONS (compilation cassette by Lust Tapes)

ZAHGURIM – I CAN FEEL THE FUN (CD by Klang Galerie)
BLAINE L. REININGER – NINE TIMES (CD by Klang Galerie)

Here’s a name I remember well from the 1980s, but never heard music from. I think I saw their record in various shops, but at the time, I was only buying cassettes, not records. I never knew anything about them either. From Klang Galerie’s website, I understand they started in 1983, associated with the Temple Ov Psychick Youth, and they did a record for Konnex Records, produced at Julian Gilbert and Simon Crab’s studio of Bourbonese Qualk fame. In the mid-80s, Zahgurim members Paul Ackerley and William Vince co-founded the percussion group Left Hand Right Hand, which was another band I hardly ever knew about until a recent release by Staalplaat. In 2018, they “played their first live show in 32 years in Vienna” (unsure if that means their first show ever in Vienna, or following a hiatus of 32 years. Klang Galerie released their 1980s record and this concert, and a song ended up on the ‘Interstellar Funk compilation Artificial Dancers – Waves of Synth’, so there’s some renewed interest.
‘I Can Feel The Fun’ was released by Tristan Koreya’s Nostalgia De La Boue netlabel (look for it; there’s a lot of interesting stuff and all ‘pay-as-you-want’ download, because he asked the group for some ‘shrapnel’ audio, the kind of music they recorded but never did anything with, jam sessions, live stuff and whatever else. The material here is from 2013 to 2023. As I said, I have never heard their music before, and I have no frame of reference. Some of these tracks may sound a bit sketch-like indeed, like something unfinished, and some tracks seem to be a collage from various pieces, but throughout, I like what I hear. The music is primarily electronic, from a more dance-based part of the music world. The drum ‘n bass-inspired bits were perhaps less to my liking, but the more atmospheric, down-tempo beats, post-punk guitars, and 1980s vocals with sufficient reverb are quite good, such as ‘Moonlight Club’. It is, altogether, quite a mixed bag of music, and sounds like tuning into an alternative radio station, spinning all sorts of post-punk dance music and mixing it with atmospheric tones.
In my previous review of Blaine L. Reininger’s music (Vital Weekly 1434), I mentioned I knew the name Tuxedomoon early on, but it took me until around my 40th birthday to hear their music. I liked what I heard, even listened to various records multiple times, but still can’t hum along – not in the way I can with records I heard when I was 18. I knew Reininger was one of the more active members of the group in terms of a solo career, but ‘Ghost Festival’ was the first album I correctly heard. The new one is ‘Nine Times’ and according to the label, “it is a mix of classic Reininger songs and pieces of a more experimental nature”. That’s always music to my ears. You’d expect me to like only hardcore experimental music, but then you may not have paid enough attention to my words in the last 30 years. No doubt, words as ‘experimental’ should be used with caution, as what is experimental for someone might be mainstream for another. In the world of Reininger, the instrumental pieces may count as experimental ones. I have been playing this CD a lot in the past week. I stick it on, intending to write this damn review, but I get distracted and have to return to it later. That may sound like a chore, but it isn’t. Reininger’s music is very accessible and pleasantly sounding. His combination of rhythms, synthesisers, vocals, guitar and violin sounds in a few instances as Edward Ka-spel but with the expanded sound of The Legendary Pink Dots – if you get my drift. Reininger’s voice is more flexible, with the same drama as Ka-spel, but also crooning like being in a nightclub, up front, or folk-like (mainly when he uses his violin in the foreground), or sounding like a 1950s cabaret singer (weren’t that the combinations that worked so well with Tuxedomoon?), always supported by a range of synthesisers, sequencers (lots of those!) and rhythm machines. There’s even a disco rhythm track with disco violins in ‘Messidor Lobjan’. The production is impeccable, with lots of care for detail and with 65 minutes of music, this is quite a lengthy album, but one that never disappoints. (FdW)
––– Address: https://klanggalerie.com/

DECODER (compilation CD by Cold Spring Records)

Talk about bad timing! I recently read film-maker Klaus Maeck’s autobiography, in German, with the idea of publishing an English translation. His managerial role with Einsturzende Neubauten, his ‘Decoder’ movie and connections with William Burroughs all tick on the positive side, but his texts about the many journeys are not for him or my series of books about music. However, I translated the chapter about ‘Decoder’ to be included in ‘The Third Annual’, my magazine/yearbook, which I will publish when Vital Weekly is gone and buried. It’s a pity that Cold Spring reissues the soundtrack of ‘Decoder’ before that happens; it would be great publicity (oh wait… But will you remember when you see me announcing ‘The Third Annual’?).
The movie is about a young man who takes his lessons from Burroughs’ ‘The Electronic Revolution’, and manipulates muzak recordings from shops and fast food joints (the fictitious fast-food chain H-Burger) and feeds them back into the ‘system’. The leading roles are played by Christiane F (herself subject of the book ‘Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo’ about her life as a junkie) and FM Einheit from Neubauten, and also features Genesis P-Orridge (as a priest of the Black Noise faith), William S. Burroughs (an insurrectionist salesman) and American cult actor Bill Rice plays a detective.
I saw the movie in the late 1980s, and possibly again later when I downloaded it (though I’d rather not mention that), but it got lost over time. The same goes for the soundtrack, which I may or may not have heard. Now I am playing the reissue, I believe this may be the first time I heard it. I recognise Soft Cell’s ‘Seedy Films’, but I must have picked that up somewhere else; it’s a fine piece. I realise I don’t hear as much Soft Cell as I’d like. Other pieces are by FM Einheit, Einstürzende Neubauten, FM Einheit & John Caffey & Alexander von Borsig and The The, all delivering one piece. At the same time, P-Orridge and Dave Ball (of Soft Cell) have five pieces, and P-Orridge a short solo one. While The The and Soft Cell are rooted in the world of pop music, plus the seedy ‘Sex and The Married Frog (Ball & Genesis), the other pieces are definitely ‘avant-garde’, ‘electronic’ and turning music against muzak. This is best exemplified by the Caffey/Einheit/Von Borsig piece, the longest on this album, with what sounds like heavily treated field recordings, maybe from H-Burger, transformed into a firm piece of anti-muzak. Unlike many other soundtracks I review, this one is more song-based and not sketches of atmospheric music. Maybe this is the classic form of a soundtrack album? (FdW)
––– Address: https://coldspring.bandcamp.com

BACILLUS – FREEDOM SORES (CD by Patient Records)

Peter Keller is the man behind Patient Records and the music project Bacillus. He may have forgotten by now, but a previous release, ‘Anthracis’, was reviewed by Jliat in Vital Weekly 754. These days, much of Jliat’s love for harsh noise is covered by BW, but he has enough on his plate, and a weekly dose of harsh noise doesn’t hurt me either. Keller is a busy bee, already active since 1993, and with a previous label, Clotted Meat Portioning. He has other aliases, such as Condo Horro, Dirac Sea, Geißt, Kōan-Din, PTRKLLR, Scholl, and Unser Verhängnis, and according to Discogs, part of “dark improvised electronic synth duo Dosenöffner, dark noise duo Jodie, the HNW group The Climate Refugees, the label/organiser 3:15 AM, and the label UNEQUAL.” ‘Freedom Sores’ marks my first introduction to his music and Keller’s first release under this name in four years. Within 42 minutes, he presents 13 pieces of harsh noise, experimenting with “glue records, found and degraded tape, destroyed and deconstructed vinyl records, battered turntables, abused handmade electronics, dying mixers, hospital field recordings, and an overdriven amplified mic’ed patient”, all designed to overload and distort.
Keller is no stranger to harsh noise wall, but Bacillus is something else. There’s more chaos here, with sounds overlaying and changing on a very regular basis. I understand that everything is recorded live, without overdubs. What’s there to overdub if there’s already so much noise flying about? Do a lot of people make a lot of noise and do a lot of overdubs? I doubt that, as I see this kind of music very much in the moment, the spontaneity of the action is captured on tape. There’s an underlying theme, and that’s “the current socio-political situation here in the US; public health programs are being cut or eliminated, disease research is being defunded, misinformation is propagated and spread, all of which will have far-reaching global consequences.” I don’t think we’ve seen the end of this misery yet, but let’s hope for the best and see a sudden demise of RFK Jr. and his ‘medical knowledge’. It’s great to see power electronics with message that isn’t about the usual death and depravation. There are bits and pieces of spoken word about vaccinations and such, which give the album the overall thematic approach. At forty-two minutes, this is the perfect length for such a sonic overkill, and my ears are cleansed for a while. Excellent stuff! (FdW)
––– Address: https://patientrecords.bandcamp.com/

ANDREW M. JARVIS & DIURNAL BURDENS – PRECEDES (CD by Krim Kram)
DAI KOELAKANTH – DON’T LET ME BE A BURDEN (CD by Krim Kram)
CREEP OF PARIS – VIRGIN BROOD (LP by Krim Kram)

I always assumed, maybe wrongly, that Vital Weekly is read by musicians mostly, and perhaps a lot of what I write is categorised as “we already know this”. If I, for instance, write about cassettes, reels, and how they lose information, how they can be spliced together and that this is among the lowest of lo-fi, you may nod in agreement. Well, maybe not, and the world of plug-ins, hardware, and software is your language. ‘Precedes’, the latest CD by Ross Scott-Buccleuch, who works under the name of Diurnal Burdens and Andy Jarvis, is from the world of broken cassettes and reels. Ross runs the Steep Gloss label, and released various volumes of a compilation with the theme of blank tape’. Andy Jarvis loved the idea, of stripping everything away, and what is left? Following the compilation tapes, the two set to work using blank tapes, “in numerous ways, be it dictaphone, cassette, reel to reel and magnetic sheets, etc., all commingled, spliced, folded, hacked, jolted and smeared”. The instruments read as follows: “Diurnal Burdens: blank tapes, homemade twin walkman looper, APH tape recorder, dictaphone, reel to reel, dictaphone ultravox, vactrol lpg, effects, editing. Andrew M. Jarvis: blank tapes, AKAI 4000DS reel to reel, various cassette players, editing.” Don’t confuse this with Reynols’ ‘Blank Tapes’ release (I believe it was not reviewed in Vital Weekly), as whatever Diurnal Burdens and Andy Jarvis found on their tapes, this is quite something else. If you expect some heavily hissy drones from multiple magnetic sources, then you will be disappointed. This is quite the noisy album, which adds to the notion, ‘What is a blank tape?’. Did they erase tapes and fail badly at it? Are we hearing some spliced-up collage of barely erased tape, sometimes not touching the playback heads? At times, there’s a microphone recording of hand-manipulated cassette playback, and most of the time, taken directly from the output. Next to being noisy, the music also has a distinct improvised feeling, all electro-acoustic, rough and tumbling, falling apart, but also with various stretches of amplified blank magnetic hiss. At close to 40 minutes, this isn’t an easy ride, but a truly fascinating one for sure. It’s noisy and chaotic, it’s conceptual and fun, it’s composed and improvised: everything happens all at once.
I was thinking: Dai Koelakanth, I know that name. In Vital Weekly 1380, I wrote a slightly chaotic review, entirely in the spirit of the music, of music by Ida K, ‘Pterodactyl Graveyard, and wrote that it’s sometimes Dai Coelacanth Ida Coelacanth Ida Koelacanth Ida K. It’s concrete poetry time again, or as Krim Kram says “Concrete trash poetry, sound collages, dictaphone slurs and other absurdities from the Burselm Crypt family”, the latter being something I may not have heard of—two pieces, 30 minutes each, and an endless flow of spliced together spoken word madness. I’m not sure what this is about, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the idea. Chaos all around, with stereo channels often presenting very different things, this is something that can either drive you crazy or captivate you. It does the latter for me, as it still has that not-so-fast tape cutting I recognised from Mixed Band Philanthropist, from a long time ago. It just goes on and on, and that’s the beauty of it. Much like harsh noise wall, there’s no change, no structure, no meaning, but now applied to crushing waves of spoken word. Like the Diural Burdens & Jarvis release, this isn’t quiet, but now staying on the same level throughout. I love it, but it’s not something I’d want to hear daily. And, perhaps, because there isn’t much change, also not something I can devote a lot of words to.
Back in Vital Weekly 1404, I reviewed a bunch of releases by a label called Research Laboratories, and the label boss’ release on a label called Drowning By Locals. Thomas LaRoche, for it is he, also works as Eudocimus Ruber and Creep Of Paris, and has had other releases on Index Clean, Chocolate Monk, and Beartown Records, and he “moonlights as an insect breeder and secondhand book seller”. His influences are “Peugeot 306 2001, The Beach Boys, and Science Fiction Farming” – I am sure we have to take some of this information with a pinch of salt. LaRoche works with field recordings, electronics and his voice. If you care to see it, the music here takes the sound poetry of Dai Koelakanth with some of the tape manipulation by Diural Burdens & Jarvis, subtracts the noise aspect of the music, uses the collage form and creates something beautiful and intensity. There was some intense music on the other two releases in this Krim Kram batch, but on this LP, it works on a different level. It might seem odd to release this on vinyl, given the fact that various segments are quiet and the music is delicate. As usual with anything spoken word, I have no idea what this is about. Still, much like the Dai Koelakanth, I like to see this as personal poetry, maybe a bit outsider-like (you could call Dai Koelakanth also an outsider), but firmly embedded in electronic music, which adds a creepy element to the music. Maybe that’s why he calls this project Creep Of Paris. There’s an unsettling feeling here, with whispering, obscured field recordings, minimal electronics and odd endings, and carefully placed silent bits. With both sides having continuous pieces of music, but clearly as individual segments, the music has both very much the feeling of an album and a radio play (again, of which I am not entirely sure of its meaning), and with the various gaps of silence as borders between segments, but also enforcing the intensity between the parts—an excellently, disturbing record. (FdW)
––– Address: https://krimkram.bandcamp.com/

SOPHIE AGNEL – SONG (CD by Relative Pitch Records)

A few editions back, we had a review of Sophie Agnel and Joke Lanz, and before that, there was a review of them with Michael Vatcher. Here we have just Sophie Agnel, and what a release it is. In the ongoing series of solo releases, this is an excellent addition to the repertoire of solo piano releases. What she does is use the innards of the piano to create a magnificent whole sound world that covers the entire spectrum of the piano. She tugs on strings, prepares the piano by adding stuff on and in between, a John Cage 2.0 if you will. Song 1 starts with an actual song in the background. Something French, something Renaissance or medieval-sounding song. Agnel adds heavy piano sounds, pounding away with syncopating accents and adding higher notes to the dronelike music. To me, this sounds like music in my ear. All the songs are named Song with a number. Some are shorter and almost vignette-like. Brief and to the point. A few are quite a bit longer with a bit more development. This one was in heavy rotation during work hours and always drew my attention to the moody music. All in all, another bull’s eye release on Relative Pitch Records, based in New York. (MDS)
––– Address: https://relativepitchrecords.bandcamp.com/

EVAN PARKER – THE HERACLITEAN TWO-STEP, ETC. (4CD by False Walls)

Evan Parker turned 80, and in celebration of that, he recorded nearly four hours of music. It’s monumental in size and scope. There’s a podcast with him explaining his philosophy on music and how this box set came about. You can find the link on the Bandcamp page of this release on the False Walls label. For me, it was too much to take in at once. It’s a culmination of his idea of using circular breathing, split tonguing, overblowing, multiphonics and cross-pattern fingering to create pseudopolyphonic music on a solo instrument (soprano and tenor saxophone) and ultimately create a kind of trance-state. For himself, but also the listener, I might add. This isn’t music for everyone. But in the free improv world, Evan is one of the great innovators. Comparable to Han Bennink, Willem Breuker or Peter Brötzmann, all born around the same time, give or take a few years.
I can tell you many more interesting facts about Evan, but I’ll save that for another time. Take it from me that this is a mandatory release for everyone interested in the work of one of the pioneers in free improvisation. (MDS)
––– Address: https://falsewalls1.bandcamp.com/music

WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE (2LP by Fourth Dimension Records)

When Third Mind Records began, they released a five-compilation cassette, ‘Rising From The Red Sand’, which remains a landmark of early industrial music (reissued by Vinyl On Demand on five LPs some time ago). Third Mind became a powerhouse with a subsidiary, Fourth Dimension Records, which, after one release, changed hands, and Richard (Richo for friends) Johnson took over. Ever since, it has been his label for over 40 years. Occasionally, he releases compilations, showcasing the various musicians on his label, or to promote label evenings, such as ‘Presently Untitled’ (Vital Weekly 1153) or ‘Low Expectations’ (Vital Weekly 1214). These were respectively on a double 7″ and a cassette. The latest compilation is presented as a double LP. We find the usual suspects, even when some may not have had a recent release on this album, such as Band Of Pain (consisting here of Steve Pittis and Steven Stapleton). Still, most have, and not present are Reverse Image and Richard Youngs (see elsewhere!), who recently had some releases and could fit right in—a broad roster and limited space on two sides of an LP.
Fourth Dimension Records isn’t a label with one strict musical interest, as proven here. In one corner, there’s Edward Ka-Spel with what we call a song, vocals, and rhythms, and in another corner, a piece (with subtle differences) of subaqueous tones and drones by Bass Communion. If you view it as the scale by which the rest operates, you’ll see one moving to the first. Ashtray Navigations has a lovely rhythmic piece, all instrumental, very psychedelic, and Final’s subtle drones are heading toward similar ground as Bass Communion. Atmospheric is perhaps a word that ties the majority of these pieces together, even though they are rhythmic (like Senestra and Splintered) or noisy (the short outburst by Kleiswahr). I thought this to be an excellent compilation, all great pieces of music and a brilliant showcase for this label. (FdW)
––– Address: https://fourthdimensionrecords.bigcartel.com/

VERTONEN – PHOTHUUM (3CDR by Ballast)

In a note accompanying this release, Blake Edward informs me that it’s been over 25 years since I first reviewed his music, ‘Trigger Field’, in Vital Weekly 194 (ignore the date it says for that entry; it’s more likely from 1999). By the looks of it, I wasn’t blown away by it, but 25 years later, I can say I very much enjoy his music, which I (conservative estimate) must have reviewed at least 45 different releases. As Vertonen, I am less enamoured by his noisier and conceptual side, which is only a small part of it. Many years of honing his drone chops have resulted in a massive body of perfect drone music, which he manages to sound a bit different, yet forms a coherent body of work. ‘Phothuum’ is the follow-up to ‘crevasse’, as it says on the label’s website (or as Edwards calls it in the info ‘crevasse’, and which I copied/pasted as ‘Craversse’ from the information with my review in Vital Weekly 1472. As for instruments, there is no change: “embellished field recordings, electroacoustics, damaged and repurposed electronics, tape, turntable, and shortwave.” I liked the opening shot, whatever you call it, and this new trilogy is no different. There’s some massive droning going, some very careful droning and even noise (in ‘White Stones I’, at 33 minutes by far the longest piece on this set) and rhythm, such as the Pan Sonic-like ‘Irregular Playback Configuration 2’. Field recordings are heavily processed and quite obscured, which adds to the mystery of the music. I know Edwards draws inspiration from Eliane Radigue and The Hafler Trio, but zoviet*france also seems to be a significant source. The first two discs contain shorter pieces, between five and ten minutes, while the last one has two very long pieces, from the noisy first part of ‘White Stones I’ to the very delicate sine-wave-like minimalism of the third part of that title. Sometimes the field recordings take the lead, while on other occasions the electronics are the sole presence in a track, and more than once, these shifts take place within a track. From delicate analogue processing to firmly digital variations, and seamlessly going from one to the next. I am a fan, so maybe this isn’t the most objective review. (FdW)
––– Address: https://ballastnvp.blogspot.com/

CRÍA CUERVOS – TO SEPTISKE MEMBRANER (CDR by Philatelie)

Here we have a follow-up to ‘Bovarism’ (see Vital Weekly 1332), which came after a long period of silence. That release was quite noisy and differed significantly from the music on ‘To Septiske Membraner’, which might be Danish for ‘Two Septic Membranes’. Cuervos says there’s no press text, only that his music is made with field recordings, tape loops and electronics. Two lengthy tracks with more Nurse With Wound-esque titles; ‘Blomster Råtnet av Menstruasjonsskyggen’, meaning ‘Flowers Rotten by Menstruation The Shadow’ and ‘Obsidian Spyttvasking’ meaning ‘Obsidian Saliva washing’. The first one, clocking at 32 minutes, opens with dripping water sounds, and not much else. When that disappears, halfway through the piece, things become even quieter, until we hear someone sobbing, which lasts until the piece is over, but ends with something sounding more like coughing. The second track features a different type of water dripping or a different processing of the same drops, which slowly evolves. However, I notice that the music is not very outspoken. That might be a deliberate choice by Cuervos, but I think some mastering could work wonders here, perhaps getting some more definition in the music. The music on this piece is also very minimal, slowly changing during its 24 minutes. I admit, I heard it all before, and better, and I feel a bit lost in this, even when it ticks a lot of boxes, such as minimalism and lo-fi sound treatments. I don’t know about this. (FdW)
––– Address: https://philatelie.bandcamp.com/

+DOG+ – X11 (CDR by Love Earth Music)

The X-series by +DOG+ (about whom I really gonna tell nothing this time) is an ongoing series, and each time one of those hits the office floor, I’m getting all happy. And why? I haven’t got the faintest of clues. Or, well, I do have a clue, but I don’t know if that’s the clue that is supposed to make me happy.
This is the 11th in the series, and I do miss a few of the early ones. Each time +DOG+ comes up with a few titles, and those titles don’t have anything to do with the tracks. Yet each time I think about possible connections that aren’t there. Why? Because I’m always looking for the underlying concept, my conceptual thinking is part of my release. So, the last X’s were always filled with some fantasy, and this time I’m drawing a blank. Steve named the tracks “Hello”, “Hola”, “Hallo”, “Salam” and “Namaste”—five tracks with a total playing time of almost exactly an hour.
And the music is this time more coherent than what I’m used to in these series. It sounds like experiments based on a reasonable similar setup. The harsh feedback sound is a recurrent theme but this whole release is very held back. It’s as if Steve wants to say ‘Hello’ and it’s the tension of the waiting, how the other side reacts. There is no immediate response, fight, hug, kiss, or intercourse, but there is tension. No sudden extreme noises, no complete silences, but this whole release is kind of a waiting game. +DOG+ introduces himself, and how do you react?
So all and all, I like this album because of the mentioned tension. It’s not the most accessible one I’ve heard from him, but that is not what this type of music is meant to be. A favourite track I can’t tell you, but we’ll include “Hallo” (#3) in the podcast. Great one, Steve! (BW)
––– Address: http://www.loveearthmusic.com/

HELLO SPIRAL – DETACHED OBJECTS (cassette by Moonside Tapes)
GOLGOTHA COMMUNICATIONS LTD. – CARNE CRESCENDO (cassette by Moonside Tapes)

As a bit of background research, I read the text by Fred McGriff on the cover of the Hello Spiral cassette, which wasn’t helpful; a sort of poetic description of the tracks. I accessed Hello Spiral’s website, then went on Instagram and found a few clips of people performing music with objects and a laptop. Not something that I could match up with the music I was hearing on ‘Detached Objects’. So, my best guess is that there’s an initial stage where they (assuming there’s more than one person) gather source material, followed by a secondary stage where they apply heavy digital treatments to the music, resulting in the five pieces on this cassette. While there is a drone-edge to these results, the music isn’t all too ambient, but rather strongly suppressed noise-based, glitchy and somewhat cold at times, certainly in the longest piece, ‘Welcome To The Error Dome’ (maybe taking cues from Frankie Goes To Hollywood?), but in ‘Detached Objects – 03 Weightless & Minuscule (Pleiades)’, neatly obscured warm glitchy drones. I admit I’m a bit in/out, yin/yang, up/down about this tape. I played it a few times, and every time I felt different about it, liking or disliking one or the other, with ‘Weightless & Minuscule (Pleiades)’ being the only one I enjoyed throughout. Maybe I am feeling slightly detached about the whole thing?
From Golgotha Communications Ltd. I reviewed a previous cassette, ‘Evidentiary Hearing’ (Vital Weekly 1407), which was my introduction to J. Karpinović’s music. Apparently, ‘Carne Bescendo’ is his first album, from 2000, which was recorded straight onto cassette, then digitised and now reissued on cassette. I don’t think it was available in 2000, as the first releases from Golgotha Communications Ltd. are from about seven years later. Much like the first cassette I heard, the music here is loop-based. I leave it up to the reader to decide if this is a good or bad thing (whether 25 years are enough to change an approach, or if loops are inherently good or bad). I also believe these samples are made with some low-resolution equipment, resulting in muddy sound with not a lot of definition, but that’s the beauty of it. Ever since we started combining the words ‘ambient’ and ‘industrial’ (briefly called ‘isolationism’ in the early 1990s), I’ve become a big fan of lo-fi experiments. With this kind of music being released on cassette, it added another layer of hiss and noise, making it full circle. Golgotha Communications Ltd. isn’t strictly a drone project as some of these pieces also use shorter sounds, as in: rhythmic sounds, such as ‘CC V’, which also works well, but I rather enjoyed the more stylistically tied together drone scapes, which, luckily, make up the majority of the nine tracks here. This cassette offers a fascinating glimpse into the earliest days of this musical project, which I definitely should hear more of. (FdW)
––– Address: https://moonsidetapes.bandcamp.com/

CLINTON GREEN & ALLANAH STEWART – YARROW (cassette by Shame File Music)

Go to Bandcamp, take a look at this album’s cover, and then listen to the music. I thought about how the music was made using these instruments. I know Clinton Green because I’ve reviewed his works before, which often feature turntables with objects, creating a fantastic, random feeling. I had not heard of Allanah Stewart, “a keen quilter/music goblin/sound maker from NZ currently based in Naarm/Melbourne. Her sounds are created via handmade and collected objects with a focus on the under looked and forgotten.” The first side contains a studio recording and the second side one in concert. Even when I find it hard to relate the cover photo to the music, I can imagine a strong tactile presence here, of four hands rubbing surfaces with some kind of amplification. Other electronics, such as sound effects, are kept to a minimum, if there is a need for them at all. The first eight or so minutes of the music have a somewhat improvised feel, and maybe the whole cassette has, but from that moment on, the music gains a fine density, with multiple sounds rolling over and about, adding more bottom end to the music. This continues on the live recording, which I think is even stronger, mainly because here the two stay on a course they started, right until the finish. The music has something very mysterious with all this low-end rumbling, almost like a horror movie. There is excellent interaction between the two players on this cassette, particularly in concert, so maybe that’s the setting they should aim for; perhaps the presence of other people adds a bit of tension. (FdW)
––– Address: https://shamefilemusic.bandcamp.com/

BLOOD RAVEN – BLOOD RAVEN (cassette by Lust Tapes)
ABDUCTED ORGAN – SADISTIC OBLATIONS (cassette by Lust Tapes)
SATANIC RITE – DARK OMEN (cassette by Lust Tapes)
MUSIC FOR ASSASSINATIONS (compilation cassette by Lust Tapes)

Twenty-three Vitals ago, #1479, I had the pleasure of reviewing the first four releases of the new Dutch tape label LUST Tapes. Run by Egbert van der Vliet and it is as if Egbert gets a lot of satisfaction out of this project. Here we have four new releases to review, and in the meantime, we also missed a batch of four! So it’s high productivity there at the LUST headquarters. I mean …. A LOT of LUST!
The first one of this batch is Blood Raven with his self-titled debut. Behind this project is Max, a primary school educator, and this release marks his first steps into the beautiful world of noise. That’s all we know. But it’s not the first noise project I’ve written about that contained these exact words. Granted, they’re not all named Max and that educator part only fits Howard, but well, you know what I mean.
This C60 has four untitled tracks, two per side. The first track should be considered an exercise in HNW territory. There’s not much happening, but modulation patterns and interaction between fully saturated sounds are all over the place. The second one is much more subtle and has a nice build-up where Max is searching for the sweet spots, which he does find by the way. The reverse side opens with a track which has a constant tendency to scrape the moment of feedback in the system, but it never gets to that point, resulting in a nice tension. The modulation is done by, I think, voices, so there’s a lot of activity in this wall. The final one is again almost 20 minutes, and this is an HNW where there is quite a lot happening. I just don’t know what the squealing sound is. Is it a field recording? Is it some random trigger? Who knows. But in the end, that is the beauty of HNW and harsh noise. It doesn’t matter what generates the sound, as long as you use it in a track; everything is allowed. Very nice debut! Favourite track? “Untitled”!
One of my favourite horror movies ever is Cannibal Holocaust, and that is where the cover picture comes from. We’re starting properly with Abducted Organ’s “Sadistic Oblations”. I can’t remember if the impaled girl in the movie was an actual oblation, or if it was the result of just a bit of sadism. I’ll have to rewatch the movie sometime, even if it was just to see if it makes the same impact it did 45 years ago. One thing is sure: one of the terms in “Sadistic Oblations” covers it.
This one is short—twenty minutes, ten per side, two untitled tracks. The first one is as if the left and right channels had completely different treatments during mastering. It results in a lot of stereo activity with bursts all over the place and shooting through your head. Impaled by sound. Very nicely done, though, and hypnotising to say the least. And it all continues on the reverse side. I mean, I know I’ve heard the track, I know I liked it, I know paying special attention to those left-right sounds … But I couldn’t tell you sh1t. Great.
Third in the batch is another project by Egbert himself, and it’s one with actual titles! Total playing time is 90 minutes (OMfG), and let’s just dive into it. I mean, I’ve written about this project earlier because the first batch contained two releases by Satanic Rite. I’m curious how this one relates to the previous ones, as well as how Egbert differentiates between projects so close to each other.
The first track is the 30-minute “Pugilistic Stance”, and it’s here where things go completely wrong for me. Not music-wise, hell no. Music-wise wise I’m seeing why Egbert chose different project names for his releases. The differences are very obviously there, even though they might be subtle for the unpracticed ear. Where Abducted Organ was a massive HNW with loads of saturated basses and a clear production, there was not a lot happening in the composition itself. It was the sound itself which was elevated to art. Satanic Rite has a different approach, and there is much more movement in the compositions—changes in sounds, structures, and sometimes even unexpected. The composition is much more alive, and instead of HNW – although it can be labelled as such also – these four tracks have more characteristics of ‘just’ harsh noise. And it’s because of these constant small changes you have to listen careful and so … That’s where it went wrong for me. I was listening to it while getting some stuff done, and I got into a trance. I got everything done I needed to, but I forgot to make notes and write this review. So I had to listen again. I’m writing this paragraph to explain why I’m not writing anything else about the content, but this is so far my favourite release of this batch. I only hope that “Necrophilic Gerontophile” isn’t a link to the origin of the field recordings.
The final one is a label sampler, and here we have a few more names you might know. “Music for assassinations” is a C90 featuring a couple of tracks taken from other LUST releases, along with a few exclusive tracks. Or maybe they are a preview of what is to come; we’ll find that out soon enough.
The A side has two long tracks. Abrasion Addict & Sloughed opens with “Mental Retardation”. No idea if this is politically correct, but that’s what it’s called. It can also be found on LUST Tapes #10, but we haven’t reviewed that one. Abrasion Addict I have heard of before from releases on Love Earth Music, Sloughed … No clue. This track comes to live when you play it at a bit higher volume. I think it’s so compressed that you need some extra volume to reveal those hidden layers. What you get is a massive track with lots and lots of things happening. The second track is “Study of body fluids” by Abducted Organ. This track is also new, but I think that in the previous text, I kinda captured what it’s all about. The massiveness is audible in both channels, but numerous differences make it very lively and active in your head. A little less HNW and a bit more harsh than the two 10-minute tracks on “Sadistic Oblations”, but this one is over twice as long, so that’s not a bad thing.
The B-side opens with Uncle Peter a.k.a Dr. Bibber a.k.a ODAL. The longest running noise project in the Netherlands, I think, delivered 15 minutes of a depiction of the “Hiervoormaals”. I could explain the play on words, but I won’t. It fits the ODAL style perfectly, and what we get is a great noise track without boundaries. Sometimes so over the top that you can feel the recording equipment choke. I can see Peter’s smile while doing it. The third track is by none other than Modelbau. Modelbau? On a harsh noise label? On a sampler? Yes, and even when it’s the least harsh track of the release, everything is there. The Modelbau loopy style features saturated basses and movement in all layers. It fits and forms a welcome moment of rest. Sort of. The final two tracks I’ve written about already as it’s the third and fourth tracks of the Blood Raven release that opened this review. He deserves two tracks on this album for his grand debut. So yeah. Wanna know what’s happening on LUST Tapes? Listen to “Music for Assassinations”. (BW)
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