FRANCISCO LOPEZ – TEMIZLEMEK (2CD by Linea Alternativa)
FRANCISCO LOPEZ – BELLE CONFUSION 969 (CD by Sonoris) – France
DEAN ROBERTS – ALL CRACKED MEDIAS (CD by Mille Plateaux)
C.O. CASPAR – THUS LONG LIGHTS LIGHT (CD by Kaon)
CHRISTOF MIGONE – VEX (CD by Avatar)
COMPOST 2 (CD by Avatar)
JOHN DUNCAN – CRUCIBLE (CD by Die Stadt)
FRANCISCO LOPEZ – TEMIZLEMEK (2CD by Linea Alternativa)
FRANCISCO LOPEZ – BELLE CONFUSION 969 (CD by Sonoris)
Lopez the new Merzbow of release overdose but in opposite volumes? Well not entirely, but in one week two new (or actually three) might be a bit too much. For those who expect to get more minus 40 db sound, I have bad news: both releases are actually audible on a normal speakers, using normal volume on your amplifier.
The double CD has one CD with ‘historical’ pieces from 1994-1996 and one CD with various pieces from 1997, which may or may not been released before. The first CD deals with a great deal of environmental recordings, such as a rain, wind and storms, aswell as animal (insects and birds) sounds. Well, at least that’s what I think, because with uninformative packages that Lopez uses you never know. Also it remains unclear what kind of sound processing he is applying, but I am pretty sure that Lopez would say that it is not necessary to know: it’s the result that counts. To compare the two discs from ‘Temizlemek’ it can be noticed that disc 2 is the more austere one, quiter and more slower in it’s evolution.
On ‘Belle Confusion 969’ (a work from 1996) there is just one long composition, dealing with environmental sounds from exotic places, such as Brazil, Argentina, Venezuala, Costa Rica, Senegal, Gambia and China. But again, much of this stays at an audible volume, or better: at times its even noisy. Slowly the sounds enroll for you and make small waves. An ambient work in the truest sense of the word: ambient as understood of ‘ambience’, but with a musical touch. Sounds are processed (maybe slowed down) and drones form a back drop in which all the events seem to happen. Close the curtains, close your eyes, and simply listen as this is beautiful. (FdW)
Address: Linea Alternative fax: + 34 91 883 6730
Address: Sonoris – 28 Rue Du Parlement Ste-Catherine – F33000 Bordeaux – France
DEAN ROBERTS – ALL CRACKED MEDIAS (CD by Mille Plateaux)
Dean is a crafty guitarist from New Zealand who played in bands like Thelia. Currentely he is travelling around the world to record his music and to play concerts. To describe his music is not an easy task: it is two-folded. There are drone like compositions for guitar in the best minimal drone tradition you can imagine. And there are compositions that are multi-tracked sounds of percussion, chairs, tables, guitars and piano’s. It seems that all of these sounds have been thrown together on the recording heads, but when it comes to mixing all of the sounds, it makes a strong and coherent work.
On this CD Dean searches for a relation between those sounds by piano’s, percussion and guitar. This results in streams of sound that flow nicely along each other, but still sound well put together. The instrumentation sounds kinda odd for a release on Mille Plateaux, but the text on the cover provides the intellectual clue, why this is released by German’s techno intellectualists. Anyway, a damm CD. (FdW)
p.s. Dean Roberts wants to tour Europe, early spring 1999, so here is a request to contact him, if you can fix him a concert: <forma@iconz.co.nz>
C.O. CASPAR – THUS LONG LIGHTS LIGHT (CD by Kaon)
Co Caspar might be one of those names you come across, but you never to seem to place right. Despite his age (born in 1936), he has released so far one CD (by Tesco) and now Kaon from France releases his second CD. I had the pleasure to see one of his concerts in 1990 in Newcastle (and of which a small portion is on this CD), and I remember a full stage of pipes and machines. Caspar in the middle doing his ‘thing’: rumbling with the machines, feedback singing/chanting and feeding sounds through pipes. Quite an impressive sound for one man.
This CD is kinda like a retrospective. The oldest piece is from 1987 up until this year. Much of the work deals with voice manipulations, either fully treated (such as the live excerpt from 1990 or ‘Spacial Lust Of Hearing’), or clearly spoken poetry by Shawn Caton. Some of these pieces have a religious undertone, like the processed gregorian choirs on “Great Is Theseus” or “Pink Machinary”. Caspar is at his best when he mixes his sound installations with live elements and electronica. This is on pieces as the aforementioned “Spacial Lust Of Hearing” or “Fra Det Skjulte” (which was recorded in a Norwegian cave/bunker). Overall this is a nice presentation of the work of someone who is sadly ignored too much until now. (FdW)
Address: <kaon@hol.fr>
CHRISTOF MIGONE – VEX (CD by Avatar)
COMPOST 2 (CD by Avatar)
>From the active new music sources from Canada, a new CD by composer Christof Migone, who is helped by the voicesof Gregory Whitehead, Michel Cote and Louis Ouellet. There are three zones, or themes if you want: Erik Satie, Gilles Deleuze and Antonin Artaud. “Vex is a series of accidents, problematic strategie, absurd tactics and misunderstood languages”. Like with schizophrenia, the music limps on many ideas. Some strong, and some weak. Much sampling of sounds, instruments, voices, short and witty at times, even rhythmic at times, but sometimes boring. A strange CD, not easy to capture in it’s intent. Closed like an asylum. If you are into improvisation, sampling and a strong concept: this is it.
Compost 2 is not a release by that hip German label, but one of those funny shaped CD’s, and has no information. No artist names, no track titles. The “title” is more or less self-explenatory: all short pieces of sounds, music etc. thrown together in 30, short tracks, and can be the growing substances of new compositions, either by re-programming, shuffling or taking them further by your working skills. Funny item. (FdW)
Address: <ohmavtr@meduse.org>
JOHN DUNCAN – CRUCIBLE (CD by Die Stadt)
Another beautiful coffeetable object: a nice wooden box (to please me, as a cigar smoking music devotee), with printed cards and a CD that is over before you realize it. The music was realized by Duncan for an outdoor concert in a small village near the Italian/Slovenian border. It almost always rains over there… and I guess that’s why Duncan starts out his piece with thunder and rain sounds. These end abruptly only to return in a slowed down mood. These end similar, and the piece ends with a long, ambientesq sound scape of stretched sounds (maybe again the rain sounds used, to give the piece a continous flow?). The enclosed rambling of this village being used by the CIA to support anti-communism, I intend to ignore (as suggested by Duncan on the cover – probably under the influence of Duncan’s friend F. Lopez, he’s now letting the listener more to decide what the meaning of a particular piece is). That aside, it makes this into a highly enjoyable work. (FdW)
Address: fax: + 49 421 75993