Week 37

VITAL WEEKLY ENDS WITH NUMBER 1500 – SEPTEMBER 2025

FALLEN SUN – PARALLEL DISALIGNMENT (CD by Fourth Dimension Records)
ILLUSION OF SAFETY – THE SCHMETTERLING VARIATIONS (CD by Klanggalerie)
CAPRICORNI PNEUMATICI – IX TAB (CD by Eighth Tower Records)
DANNY MCCARTHY – HAUNTED BY SILENCE (CD by Far Point Recordings)
EL INFIERNO MUSICAL – II (CD by Klanggalerie)
STRUPPIG 9.3.2024 (compilation CD by Licht-ung)
KERN UND FRAGE (compilation CDR by Licht-ung)
BMB CON – PRICK UP YOUR EARS (LP, private)
HIROSHIMABEND – DOWNLAND (LP by Opiumdenpluto)
TREPANERINGSRITUALEN – DIADEM OF FIRE (7″/3″CD by Ant-Zen/Rabbau)
GINTAS K – ATMOSFERA (CDR by Fusion Audio, cassette, private)
ANDREAS RÖNNQUIST – THE FOURTH STATE (CDR by Fusion Audio Recordings)
RSN – DEVIATION #1 (CDR by Fusion Audio Recordings)
NNJA RIOT & PARADOX ENCOUNTER GROUP – DISSENT PARTICLES (CDR by Fusion Audio Recordings)
MARC BENNER – REJECTION SENSITIVE (CDR by Fusion Audio Recordings)
MEADOW ARGUS – ZOOM (cassette by Tynan Tapes)
MEADOW ARGUS – SOMEWHERE NEAR MEDINA (cassette by Tynan Tapes)
SIR TAD – GENERATION JOINT (cassette by DNT Records)

FALLEN SUN – PARALLEL DISALIGNMENT (CD by Fourth Dimension Records)

How can something be parallel and yet not be aligned? What is the function of the parallel aspect? If two or more objects are disaligned, then they simply can not be parallel. And to make it worse, the editor I use to write my reviews doesn’t even know the word disalignment and wants to change it into misalignment the whole time. Why would you combine these two words that are sort of in juxtaposition with each other, but still manage to explain the paradox of a situation? It’s a tricky situation for some, but for Y’ng-Yin Siew from Malaysia, about whom I’ve written just two weeks ago and Richard Johnson of Fourth Dimension Records, it’s the title of a new release. The second release of Fallen Sun on this exact label, and looking at the other names on the roster, I think a fitting choice for both.
The seven tracks on this album are titles “Session 41” to “Session 47” and all except the last have a maximum playtime of around 5 minutes. “Session 46” has additional field recordings by Peter Wullen (of whom I’ve never heard before), and “Session 47” was a live recording from the event Negative Frequencies Vol . 1 in Kuala Lumpur in April of this year. Having written about Y’ng-Yin Siew so recently, it feels weird to recapture it so soon again. She had one track on a four-way split, and my exact words were: ‘The fourth and final act is Fallen Sun from Malaysia. Behind this project is Y’ng-Yin Siew, who is also active under the names Hexagon Forest and Reverse Image. According to Discogs, she has been musically active for only a few years, but she has been interested in noise music and labels for a long time. Her track “GEOGLYPH 1” is my favourite of this release. Massive noise constructions with a contemplating end. Will have to look into her work a bit more. And as that is the goal of this series, win!’
Now, with this release, I have a speedy opportunity to dive into her work a bit more, and as suspected, she does not disappoint. The seven tracks are noise from the hardest kind. Layers of what people once used to call Jap(a)noise, a word that I don’t think can be used anymore in this day and age, harsh noise, and cut-up techniques create a massive yet well-thought-out surrealistic reality in which you can only grasp for the last straw of hope and a bit of oxygen. It’s fun to hear how she really focuses on the different sessions and, in each session, finds some sound to make a specific modulation, the main thing in the session. In “Session 42”, for example, the silence in between the pulses of noise really brings out the use of the delay, whereas in other tracks – should she use the same delay – it’s more of a part of the sound, instead of a basis for the composition.
Sound-wise wise my favourite was “Session 45” because of everything that is happening in there. It’s the one that, when I played it in the background, I kept on asking, ‘Which number is this?’. The fade at the ending is a bit sad, though; it could have used a little bit more of a ‘story’ altogether. “Session 46” is the only session where there are non-noise sounds added, and it might be me, but the combination of the birds and the noise didn’t do it for me. And finally, that 13-minute live track is just gorgeous in its hectic cut-up noisiness. (BW)
––– Address: https://fourthdimensionrecords.bigcartel.com/

ILLUSION OF SAFETY – THE SCHMETTERLING VARIATIONS (CD by Klanggalerie)

For a minute, I hoped this would be a reissue of the ‘Schmetterling’ picture disc 7″, released by Syntactic, the forerunner of Klanggalerie, plus a bunch of reworked versions. ‘Schmetterling’ means ‘butterfly’ in German, and the 7″ came in a rather dull black/white cover, but showed beautiful butterflies on the disc itself, so I think I got that. But it’s not. Although it says Illusion Of Safety on the spine, I rather think of this as a split CD. First we hear Illusion Of Safety, live at the Rhiz on 12 November 2024, while the second piece is a live recording from a day later, with IOS’ Dan Burke on the piano, Eric Arn on guitar, Michael Masen on sax and Michi Prehofer on drums. Burke plays with others all the time, and that’s not as IOS either. The results are very different.
First Illusion Of Safety, which I saw many times in my life, and many times have been great. I remember a concert in VW’s hometown, which, in memory, lasted two hours; following their (back then Burke and Kurt Greisch) usual set of 40 minutes, they did some more sets, all quiet and intense. I wish I had a recording of that. In 2023 and 2024, Burke toured Europe solo, with a set-up including an iPad, some modular setup and small gadgets, creating on stage the kind of music he does best. His music is an intense blend of quiet and intense electronic music, which can suddenly become brutally loud, followed by cuts, and then continued with a few subtle sounds, only to build to another crescendo. This recording is (I think) a mix of a microphone and a line recording, which adds a roughness to the sounds that is not always present on a studio recording. A pretty solid, and it made me wonder: why this recording on a CD? Why not more live recordings? It for sure made me curious to hear more from both tours.
If I were to hazard a guess here, I’d say it’s because of the recording from the following evening, the improvisational quartet. This is free jazz or free improvisation; I never know what the proper words are. There’s one thing this recording shared with Illusion Of Safety, and that’s the dynamic between quiet and loud. In the loud moments, all hell breaks loose, and especially the saxophone takes a domineering role. I am no expert, but the dominant saxophone is a common thing with this kind of music. I prefer the more introspective moments of the music, in which the four players explore their instruments (which are all recognised as such; there are no extended techniques), and there is more of a dialogue between the players. Much like Illusion Of Safety’s improvisation techniques with electronics, this too is about freedom in music. My preference goes to the first; the second I heard with interest, but unlikely to play it very often. (FdW)
––– Address: https://klanggalerie.com/

CAPRICORNI PNEUMATICI – IX TAB (CD by Eighth Tower Records)

This label brought various reissues from the Italian underground; stuff I hadn’t heard before. Capricorni Pneumatici is one such project from the 1980s that I first became aware of when I reviewed ‘The Erivar’, a recent recording (2015) on the sadly missed Monochrome Vision label. Aside from the Aleister Crowley-inspired name and all those ritualistik elements, I enjoyed the music all the same. Eighth Tower Records already reissued ‘Witchcraft’, a 1989 cassette for SSS Productions; now it’s time for ‘IX TAB’, released in 1988 on cassette by 666 Productions. The title is derived from “the mysterious Mayan deity, goddess of ropes and snares, and patroness of those who hang themselves”, but also inspired by “Western and medieval esotericism (I.A.O., The Inquisition, etc.) and vampirism (Akhkharu)”. Pazuzu plays the Yamaha DX7, percussion, vocals, and tapes, and Soda Caustica is responsible for vocals and tapes. I know the inspiration side of this release is all-important to those who created the music, but we, at the receiving end, might be less into all of that. Also the whole ‘mystery’ of the cassette being “distributed through underground channels and in a well-known esoteric bookstore in Milan, where, following the interest generated by CP I, Al-Azif, and the Zos-Kia zine, rumors began to circulate, though it’s unclear who started them, that Capricorni Pneumatici was a mysterious secret Californian group devoted to unspeakable cults and somehow connected to Anton LaVey’s Church”, I like to take with more than a pinch of salt. It’s very much a thing of the time to create mysterious acts and dubious backgrounds. Without the internet, even to try to verify the veracity, we bought into this kind of wholesale until we realised that maybe we shouldn’t care (‘we’ can be substituted for ‘I’).
The music, man, get to the music. This is their first release using the Yamaha DX7 synthesiser, which is a beast to tame. A task I never managed, and I quickly sold mine. Even with this sophisticated machine, the music sounds very much of its time, a bit lo-fi, a bit crumbled and with mumbling voices and tape manipulations of “glass bottles as wind instruments and a 50Hz sine wave captured by moving a cardioid microphone within the space between two speakers emitting the frequency”, this is a fine crossroad of esoteric music and sturdy experimentalism. Sure, the voices might intone some kind of ritualistik thing, but I admit that did go unnoted here. I enjoyed the dark ambient textures, the home-brew character of the music. There’s make-up, no fancy, shiny production, but a reminder of the good old 1980s. Of course, I am a sentimental old sod, but this is precisely the sort of thing I remember from the past. I admit I would have dismissed this at the time, but I learned to appreciate the musical side more as time went by. Check my review of the ‘Nekrophile Records’ boxset in Vital Weekly 1337, rambling along similar lines. Great CD, to keep it short and straightforward. (FdW)
––– Address: https://eighthtowerrecords.bandcamp.com/

DANNY MCCARTHY – HAUNTED BY SILENCE (CD by Far Point Recordings)

This release contains two bits of liner notes. One is by David Toop, about silence and a bit about the installation piece that is at the core of ‘Haunted By Silence’, and the other is by Sr Eleanor Campion, of St Mary Abbey in Glencairn, about the Bible, and the use of the word of God. I don’t understand what the relation is with the music, which had “its basis in a sound installation show in June 2024 in the Vauts at the Lavit Gallery, Cork”. From Toop’s text, I understand the installation consists of various speakers, “sounding out spare volleys of shot volume, unpredictable i their place of speaking, their moment”. However, from the press text, I understand that these are the sounds of the Abbey when the wood contracts with the cooling air, “leading to a sequence of incredible sounds randomly occurring from various locations throughout”. Maybe they were recorded and in some way used as a playback in an installation. The spatial character of the piece is a bit lost in the stereo field at home. What I heard are individual short-attack sounds, partly bell-like and partly like a dry whack of wood. The dynamics of these sounds change, and in between, there are seconds of silence. I don’t know what to take from this other than a piece of meditative music, going for a Zen-like approach. You know me and my love for ambient music, and you may conclude I am heavily into meditation, but I am not. I like my ambient music to support whatever I am doing, active listening and all that. With this kind of silent music, I have to listen differently, oddly enough, one of more concentration, which is not always easy for me – maybe post-Vital Weekly there’s more time and space to do that. I will hold off my final judgment about this one until it’s too late to know what that judgment is. For now, the preliminary judgement is: pretty good, and I wish it were a surround sound thing. (FdW)
––– Address: https://farpoint.bandcamp.com/

EL INFIERNO MUSICAL – II (CD by Klanggalerie)

This is the second release of this group and, like the first one, was released in 2011 on the now defunct Swiss label Mikroton. From that group, only two members appear again: Christof Kurzmann and Ken Vandermark. They’ve known each other from various groups. From a duo to a bigger ensemble called Entr’acte. Both releases are dedicated to the poetry of Alejandra Pizarnik, an Argentinian poet who, in her short life (she was 36 when she took her own life with an overdose of barbiturates), made a name for herself in Latin-American literature. She translated poems by Antonin Artaud, and like him, she suffered from mental illness. Kurzmann lives in Vienna but also in Buenos Aires, where he bought a poetry book by Pizarnik. That led to the first release in 2011, and now the world can hear the second one. The group on this release gave a concert at OPTION in 2022, which marked the fiftieth anniversary of her death. You can watch the concert on the YouTube channel of the Experimental Sound Studio. The same group reconvened in 2023 in a studio in Vienna. The results of that recording session or sessions and the subsequent remix by Kurzmann can be heard on II. Incidentally: the group is named after her last published poetry book before Pizarnik’s suicide: Il infierno musical, a musical hell. And what a beautiful hell it is. We have Kurzmann on vocals and laptop, Vandermark on clarinet and tenor saxophone, Katinka Kleijn and Lia Kohl on cello, Dave Rempis on baritone and alto saxophone and a kind of flute, and last but not least Lily Finnegan on drums. Finnegan also plays in Vandermark’s current big ensemble, Edition Redux. Kurzmann has a soft, spoken voice that really suits the poetry he reads and sings. Sometimes the original Spanish and sometimes in an English translation. The first song The Cage sounds like something the Lounge Lizards or John Lurie could have composed for a soundtrack. An ostinato in both cellos, a theremin for added ethereal effects, played from a laptop, although Kurzmann can also play the instrument. Here are the lyrics :

THE CAGE

It’s sunny outside.
It’s no more than a sun
but the men watch it
and then sing.

I don’t know the sun.
I know the melody of an angel
and the last wind’s
warm sermon.
I know how to wail until dawn,
when death poses naked
in my shadow.

I weep beneath my name.
I wave handkerchiefs in the night
and ships thirsty for reality
dance with me.
I conceal nails
to mock my sick dreams.

It’s sunny outside.
I dress myself in ashes.

Kurzmann adds some other lines after the solo in the alto saxophone, not from the original poem. In the rest of the nearly 45 minutes, we have music that covers a lot of ground. Free impro, restrained and disciplined, ostinatos galore in a minimal music style, altissimo pyrotechnics by Vandermark on clarinet. And many more. But it would be a Kurzmann release without a bit of noise. Winter Story features some noise in the mix that really suits the lyrics and the piece as a whole. And Last Poem features a heavy synth that provides the beat. In short: this is a damn fine release from a damn fine group on a damn fine label. (MDS)
––– Address: https://klanggalerie.com/

STRUPPIG 9.3.2024 (compilation CD by Licht-ung)
KERN UND FRAGE (compilation CDR by Licht-ung)

The German word ‘struppig’ means something along the lines of ‘raw’, ‘unkempt’ and ‘shaggy’. It’s also an adjective used by Licht-ung for a series of irregular events in Leverkusen, and the word is usually followed by another word, ‘tanzen’ or ‘droehnen’. Not for the night they held on March 9, 2024, perhaps to underscore the minimalism of the composers present that evening. I’m not sure if the CD represents the order of the evening. Still, we start with Polish musician Calineczka, of whom I haven’t heard much new music in recent years, which is a shame, as I very much like his ultra-minimal, modular synthesiser drone pieces. The excerpt of his piece is what he does best, and exactly what I just wrote. During these 20 minutes, the music changes only minimally, but he does so with a very steady hand. Licht-ung is, besides a label, also a music project from the boss himself, and that evening, he teamed up with Chemiesfaserwerk. That’s also a name that doesn’t appear very often in recent years, and yet it’s someone whose music I enjoy. There is a similar approach to minimalism here, modular as well, but also from a slightly more lo-fi end – at least in my perception. Licht-ung’s music is more atmospheric in nature and features traces of improvised music, best exemplified here by the use of a violin. This is a rather introspective meeting, resulting in a thoughtful piece of music. Roel Meelkop should be no stranger to the readers of the Weekly, even when there are streyches without any releases. Once at the forefront of laptop music, he turned modular (too!) a few years ago, and uses similar approaches: creating collage-like pieces of music, of field recordings and processed versions thereof, in a musique concrète-like manner, whilst also incorporating acoustic sounds, played on the spot; part of what he does within the Kapotte Muziek trio. Here too, there’s something quite careful about the music, with some nice deep-end rumbling. Cedric Fermont concludes this CD with two tracks, which are half the length of the other pieces (10 minutes versus 20 minutes for each of the others). For me, he’s the odd one out: I never heard of him. His two pieces are sound-wise the most ‘present ones’, a combination of aleatoric electronic melody and modular abstraction, and maybe it’s because it’s cut in two, but there’s a song-like narrative here.
On the same label, and also a document from an evening of concerts in Abraxas, Augsburg, September 20, 2024. Two lengthy collaborations here. The first is by Castrup and Emerge. Of course, you recognise the name Emerge, also known as Sascha Satdlmeier (proprietor of the Atennuation Circuit label), and the first is Hans Castrup, who had a lot fewer releases reviewed. Their piece is called ‘Covalent Radii Extended’, and maybe you think, “hold on, I know that title. Wasn’t there a review in Vital Weekly 1453?” True, but without the word extended but ‘Covalent Radii Revisited’. I assume that the previous release was primarily about a re-investigation of the live recording now featured on this new release, as I recognise elements such as the drones and the violin plucking. They play their piece not as an ongoing drone, but as various shortish elements, coming together in alternating figures. It has a slightly modern, classic feeling, maybe a bit too pretentious. Twice as long, 50 minutes, is the piece by N(127) and Licht-ung, combining the icy guitar drones of N and the drones of Licht-ung. Maybe he used a guitar as well on this piece, but it’s perhaps the trusted violin that keeps him company, just as the many effects of both musicians to arrive at such lovely glacial drones. It’s a long piece, and at one point, about 3/4 in, the music changes quite a bit, so the last section is a sort of coda, but maybe something we could do without. But, all in all, a lovely piece of music. (FdW)
––– Address: https://licht-ung.bandcamp.com/

BMB CON – PRICK UP YOUR EARS (LP, private)

It’s quite a surprise to receive this LP by BMB con, because an LP might be an odd choice of format, due to the delicate nature of their music, which might be better off on a CD. This erstwhile trio is now a duo, Roelf Toxopeus and Justin Bennett (who was quite active with solo releases many years ago, but a lot less in recent years), and their work is best described as exploring spaces and how they sound. Their music is very visual, like using bowling balls in a long tunnel, but it can be enjoyed all the same on whatever sound carrier they choose. It’s somewhere along the line of musique concrète and electro-acoustic music. I am hesitant to use the word improvisation, as it’s all carefully planned (at least, to be best of my knowledge). There are four guest players on this LP: Joel Ryan, Wikke ‘t Hooft (who was the original third member), Joost Rekveld and Paul Devens. Three of them are musicians and composers in their own right, while Rekveld is best known as a filmmaker. The cover of this album is relatively sparse; ‘no titles and no sources’, ‘we forgot could be you’ and ‘four pieces each side, no A or B’.
True enough for most of that, but of course, there are sources, but unlike many other releases by BMB con, they care not to tell us. Or, for that matter, which piece has a guest player (or more)? All of this, I assume, is done so as not to distract you from listening to this music. And what it is is a true delight. Their work may be recorded in situ, using natural elements (skating on ice). However, they also intervene with their surroundings, using objects upon surfaces, objects upon objects and maybe even electronic sounds reflecting in space (tunnels, below bridges, confined spaces, and all of this results in some intense sound art, which on this LP can be brutally loud and very direct. It can also be brutally quiet, which on vinyl may have its consequences. Knowing BMB con a bit, I am sure the adding of static crackles is something they would applaud. And, come to think of it, maybe they even offer us the music on vinyl, so we have the option to use various speeds for playback. Or is that taking things too far?
Either way, I found this to be a more than excellent record. If I were the sort of person to draw up a top 10 list at the end of the year, this would be part of it. Plus, soon I’ll have time to play their complete works as I purchased their complete Bandcamp content, and I will finally have the opportunity to hear it all again. (FdW)
––– Address: https://bmbcon.bandcamp.com/

HIROSHIMABEND – DOWNLAND (LP by Opiumdenpluto)

Only four weeks ago, I reviewed a CD by hiroshimabend, the first full-length release I had heard from this musical project, and now another production arrives: a four-track LP. As before, I know very little about this project and how the music was made. Drone music is undoubtedly one of the main interests, but how these were made, I don’t know. Maybe guitars or synthesisers, but unlike the recent CD, there are more sound sources on this CD. There might be some kind of percussion, a clattering of metallic objects in ‘Nature In Downland’ or a very digitised processing of maybe similar objects in ‘The Shepherd Of The Downland’. Digital glitches form the melodic part of ‘Winter In West Downland’, which leaves ‘Charm Of The Downland’ as the purest of drone pieces, with some sparse piano notes hovering beneath. There’s some mileage from the word ‘downland’ here, which suggests a recurring theme, but I don’t know which it was, in all honesty. The music is very dark, which is always up my alley. However, the amount of overt digital sounds is something that I thought was less attractive. Not that I am an analogue purist, far from it, but the bending and pitching here stayed too much in the clear, digital area, which is, personal taste and all that, not something I always enjoyed. Some of this LP I thought was great, and some less appealing – so these things sometimes go. (FdW)
––– Address: https://www.opiumdenpluto.com/

TREPANERINGSRITUALEN – DIADEM OF FIRE (7″/3″CD by Ant-Zen/Rabbau)

So, I had already placed my order for this one because I’m a BIG fan of TRP, but our esteemed chief editor sourced me an advance digital copy. Hurrah, in time before the end of the Weekly. I ordered the 7″ specifically because it comes with an art book, while the 3″ CD comes with postcards; indeed, the latter is cool, but not as cool as the book. It would’ve been better perhaps to flog the book with the CD and the 7″ with the cards, as that vinyl is gonna sell anyway, and fans would want to acquire both. But then I don’t run a label, so what do I know?
Be that as it may, I also learnt that the two ambient pieces in this issue differ from the 3″ CD version, and then all Bandcamp versions are different as well, so in principle you’d have to get them all to get the complete 19-or-so-minute piece. All versions contain two ambient pieces, which bookend the two songs, one per side. Devious.
The art book contains “xerography collages”, which are precisely what you’d expect: Xeroxes of pagan sigils, statues, and fertility symbols, and all have that crude texture of ancient xeroxes from even older books. I guess it’s genuinely made that way, and not some dorky Photoshop job. But I trust Thomas Ekelund not to let us down. Anyway, I can’t wait to get the real thing.
In the end, it’s the music that counts. TRP has never been for the faint of heart, though a recent string of ambient releases seemed to extend an olive branch to all the fainties out there. The ambient pieces on this EP are short and, well, more or less a quiet introduction and epilogue to the titular song: yes, a proper stomper of a death industrial track, which also means a real return to form by the duo.. or perhaps now trio? Clearly, there’s Ekelund on vocals and Nÿland hammering away on the drums. Still, joining them on this release is a violin player (visible in the video), and the credits also mention more names than usual (though these are, of course, annoying aliases in weird symbols that I’m not bothered to look up). It could be that this is just a guest musician, though.
Whilst I have no idea what the lyrics are about, it sounds like a lovely dark smack on the head. It is, however, not without its melodic merit and the odd turn here and there. A proper song it is.
‘With Hand and Heart’ is a more straightforward tune with a break-less, folk-like structure. It sounds like it’s driven mainly by the steamroller rhythms. Always good to hear actual percussion on industrial releases, but then that is one of the things that sets TRP apart from the rest. The vocals seem to emanate from beyond the grave, and we hear a seismic bass guitar, or so it seems. In that respect, again a classic Trepaneringsritualen song. Obviously, a pity it’s this brief, but I had it on repeat for quite some time. (LW)
––– Address: https://ant-zen.bandcamp.com/ or https://raubbau.bandcamp.com

GINTAS K – ATMOSFERA (CDR by Fusion Audio, cassette, private)

Listening is akin to watching grass grow. In the best of ways. In a way, that is what Modus member and Vital Weekly-frequent flyer Gintas K from Lithuania starts his new cassette/CDR Atmosfera with—loads of timbres, dashes and flashes of light, texture and shades, hue, sfumatos.
For this exquisitely designed release, Gintas K layered his array of field recordings, ambient electronics, and microtonal piano melodies live, without overdubbing. And this first-time right premise makes for exciting listening. There’s nothing too planned about Atmosfera, nothing too refined or rarified. There’s a rough and ready punchiness to the sound, even as if it were played through a live PA.
Atmosfera reminds me a lot of the Interzone Ambient Festival, which used to take place in the city of Utrecht, in the Netherlands, where they had tremendous line-ups of artists perform their often very zoned out wares live. Most of the time, this meant watching a guy at a table stare at a laptop screen, with some woozy non-descript visuals on a large screen behind. Oh well: the sounds were epic, though they could have been pre-recorded. Or whatever.
Gintas K here, though on release without the visual live presence, conjures an in vivo state within his quite ambience-like sounds that would have really stood out at the Interzone Ambient Festival. There’s something at stake here. The noise is forcefully trying to creep in and force itself upon the rest of the material as if Gintas K is constantly fighting modulars or faders to keep it at bay, for it only to pop up now and again, in indeterminate places or pitches or timings.
There’s a build-up, Aufstieg, and deconstruction, Fall, to Atmosfera. An ascent. A descent. And a slow, systematic decline, a non-linear granular entropy. A fading memory of all that could have been, perhaps. (SSK)
––– Address: https://gintask.bandcamp.com/

ANDREAS RÖNNQUIST – THE FOURTH STATE (CDR by Fusion Audio Recordings)
RSN – DEVIATION #1 (CDR by Fusion Audio Recordings)
NNJA RIOT & PARADOX ENCOUNTER GROUP – DISSENT PARTICLES (CDR by Fusion Audio Recordings)
MARC BENNER – REJECTION SENSITIVE (CDR by Fusion Audio Recordings)

The USA-based Fusion Audio Recordings label is music-wise all over the experimental range, as I learned from reviewing these releases. There’s no particular order I choose to review these. I started with Andreas Rönnquist, of whom we had previously reviewed a cassette (Vital Weekly 1471), marking the first time his name appeared in these pages. I didn’t review that one, but I heard it and enjoyed the sheer minimalism of his work—very ambient and very drone-based works, based on heavily processed field recordings. I’m not sure if he does something similar on ‘The Fourth State’; the press text and cover remain silent on the subject. There are five-minute bookend parts of this 52-minute work, but after that, it slips into the massive drone piece it is. It has something of a massively organ piece quality, of wind blowing down pipes and maybe some church organ influences, but all of this is obscured by dark electronic clouds. This is, however, not a work as one mighty drone, as it keeps moving and changing and going from very present in your space, to a bit quieter, but never entirely silent. Rönnquist adds and subtracts sounds, going from a mid-high frequency to a more mid to low end one, and the music sounds as if the listener is drawn into the underworld. This is an excellent piece of music, very much suited for the darker days and nights ahead in autumn.
Quite prolific these days is Thoms Rosen (who incidentally released the first Rönnquist work that we reviewed, on his momentarily records), who is a member of [ B O L T ] and as rsn (he’s not someone who likes capitals), he creates his own brand of drone music. Coming from a more ‘rock’ (for the lack of a better word) background, I like to consider the guitar to be his primary instrument, along with effects and amplification. I am in contact with him, maybe he even met him, but I never asked. My estimation is based on what I hear. His music consists of drawn-out, spacious clouds of dark drones that slowly move and change. Perhaps, as others do, but I think Rosen adds his personal touch to the music, which makes it rsn music. It’s a challenge to say what this touch is, but I’d say it’s the abstract use of the guitar and the amplification, in combination with the effects. On ‘Deviation’, this results in four pieces with a particular dark and slightly industrial undercurrent. This time, his guitar sings like a machine, going relatively low at times, with the floor resonating, if you care to turn up the volume quite a bit. Quite the soundtrack for a disturbing afternoon – don’t play in the dark.
I had not heard of Nnja Riot and Paradox Encounter Group. Behind the first name is Lisa McKendrick, also known as Isn’tses and Paul Harrison, whom I do know from his Expose Your Eyes project. It’s been a while since I last heard music from him, and Expose Your Eyes was quite a noise project. I don’t know how he came to be the Paradox Encounter Group, nor what his input is here, or McKendrick’s, for that matter. There’s a noise element to the music, but not your typical industrial music, power electronics or such. Fusio Audio calls this “electronic avant-pop collides with noise manipulation”, which I can agree with. Sampling and rhythm play an important role, chopping whatever noise is used into finer bits and bytes. There is, of course, nothing even remotely pop about this, but with the rhythm being all important and the noise in smaller bits, which results in a finer rhythm and noise fest. Sometimes there’s even some kind of melodic touch to the material, which adds nice touches to the music. None of these tracks is overtly long, and there is some significant variation in approaches and sounds used. All in all, a neat, fresh take on noise music.
I saved the loudest until the end. You may know Marc Benner for his works as Attestation, Dead Shall Not Have Died In Vain and m-arcanum, or his label Oxidation. He’s been active since the early part of this century. He works with “decayed media and processed field recordings”, which can take many directions, such as lo-fi ambient or a more noisy approach, and that’s what Benner opted for. That’s not to say this is all brutally distorted music, far from it. It’s mostly the direct, in-your-face quality of the music, of electrical currents and very upfront acoustic sounds that he’s using, and his music reminds me of Rudolf Eb.er or TAC, who use a similar tactile approach to sound treatments. It’s almost as if Benner uses a microphone to scan surfaces and does a collage of these recordings. Sound effects are something that he doesn’t use, so it seems. It’s either that direct microphone abuse or recordings of faulty and near-dead devices, but nothing towards computerised processing or stomp boxes. Interestingly enough, there’s also room for silence and tranquil moments here; it’s not all loud music. This means this is an album of noise music, not for the sake of noise but for the love of noise sound, put into a compositional frame with some considerable thought. At 31 minutes, this album is a bit too short for my taste. I loved what I heard, and I would have loved to listen to some more. (FdW)
––– Address: https://fusionaudio.bandcamp.com/

MEADOW ARGUS – ZOOM (cassette by Tynan Tapes)
MEADOW ARGUS – SOMEWHERE NEAR MEDINA (cassette by Tynan Tapes)
SIR TAD – GENERATION JOINT (cassette by DNT Records)

Back in Vital Weekly 1446, I was pleasantly surprised by the release by Meadow Argus, the music project of Tynan Krakoff, using “tape loops & other tape manipulation, organ, keyboard, autoharp, old personal recording and other mysteries”. I have three new releases by him in front of me, two as Meadow Argus and one as Sir Tad. The two cassettes by Meadow Argus quite quite different. ‘Zoom’ takes off where I left ‘Arboreal Frippery’, in terms of lo-fi ambient music, and maybe even takes a bit further. A central position is for “various cheap organs”, recorded to a tape player with a built-in microphone. Then maybe onto a four-track with “the usual tape loops and other tape manipulation”. These loops are a bit unsteady and wobbly, but the drones prevail, also a bit shaky, but with a beautiful direct presence. Once more, I am reminded of the zoviet*france, and everybody that owes to them (it’s a long list). Four long pieces, lasting almost 73 minutes, and they are very minimal, but not without change. Slowly, these pieces morph into new shapes, which continue to morph and change. It’s very ambient, but it has a rough feeling, especially since the recording style brings a surprising element to the music. It’s hazy music, but it’s very audible haziness. Lovely bliss.
‘Somewhere Near Medina’ is also a recent work and takes something from ‘Arboreal Frippery’, the use of voices, into a new field. This album feels more like the successor to that album, while ‘Zoom’ is the oddball. The previous contained recordings from his road trip with his brother Max, and his voice is also the primary element in the four pieces of this new cassette. It is a personal document as his brother passed away. The recordings were made in November 2000 at the house of family friends, the Schmidts’ family, so the other voices belong to that household. Krakoff built some kind of music box, has some basic pedals (mainly delay) and creates quite the minimalist soundscapes. Unlike the massive approach of ‘Zoom’, the music is very open and spacious. Perhaps it sounds rather simplistic, but it’s pretty compelling stuff, which holds somewhere in the middle of ambient and radiophonic drama. With the household nature of the music and the use of voices, it’s easy to be reminded of Dominique Petitgand, with the difference that we now can understand what these voices say. If the voices are a bit much, the download contains instrumental versions of these songs.
As Sir Tad, Tynan Krakoff, does something completely different. He calls ‘Generation Joint’ a double album “of lofi dubby bubbly-keyboard four-track tape haze psych pop”. It’s 69 minutes long and given the nature of the music, I’d say this is indeed a double album; or, in other words, it’s a bit much. To create the music, Sir Tad uses “heaps of keyboards/organs, tape players, tape loops, melodica, autoharp, mandolin, drum machines”, and he went through 20 years of jam sessions, splicing tapes and reusing old tape loops. It has a wacky pop sensibility without being actual pop music. A bit of plunderphonics (I am reminded once again of that excellent record by DJ T-1-11, a long forgotten gem), with loads of found voices, a bit of singing, some quirky rhythms and bouncy synthesisers. But at 70 minutes long, this is all a bit too much. After a while, you get the idea, and I was thinking, well, okay, I get it, and it’s lovely stuff, but ultimately lots of variations of the same spiel. It’s a double album, crammed on a single cassette, and no one says I have to play to both sides in one session. I am aware of all that, but for a reviewer, that’s not how things work. Don’t get me wrong: I heard some lovely stuff, tacky, wacky and quirky as it was, and a good time can be had. A lot of it! (FdW)
––– Address: https://meadowargus47.bandcamp.com/
––– Address: https://sirtad.bandcamp.com/album/generation-joint