FABIAN NEGRIN – SIRENA DISTRATTA + ANGELO MORTO
BFY – INDUSTRIAL DUB MENTALITY
MICHAEL SNOW – Snow Solo Paino Solo Snow [3 Phases] (3CD by Avatar/Ohm)
MENTAL ANGUISH & NOMUZIC – PO’ BOYZ W/GOBOT TOYZ (CDR by Harsh Reality Music)
PAN AMERICAN – 360 BUSINESS/360 BYPASS (CD by Blast First)
EA (CD by Cpt. Sparky)
SMALL RECORD (OR WAIT) (3″ CD compilation by Apestaartje)
THE 8-BIT CONSTRUCTION SET (LP by Beige Records)
DAVID TOLLEFSON – NEAR AND FAR (CD by Hypnos)
(….) – IRRATIONAL (LP by Psychopyjama)
FABIAN NEGRIN – SIRENA DISTRATTA + ANGELO MORTO
BFY – INDUSTRIAL DUB MENTALITY
(Both CD’s by Airstudio)
A label as yet unknown to me with two releases in the same format: digipack
with booklet, but without the ugly plastic tray, just a slit). Both look
very well taken care of, with a lot of pictures in the booklets. Fabian
Negrin is actually a graphic artist and the music on the (short) CD seems
dedicated to him ( I cannot read italian, so this is a guess). The music
has been made by Mario Mariani, Ghittoni, Straight Beat,
OutOffBodyExperience and Tiziano Scarpa. There are five tracks on the disc,
separated by short sounds. The first and third track were written by
Mariani and sound as if they were made for film. Sort of contemporary
composed music with a lot of fuss and italian lyrics (first one a woman,
third one a man. The fifth track is a remix of the first and has been
turned into a triphop piece by Ghittoni. Pretty laid back and easy. Nice
track. Track seven is a drum ‘n bass remix of track three and sounds pretty
nice as well, until this italian guy starts crooning on top of it. Not
really my thing. Nr. nine is again a remix of track three, this time by
OutOffBodyExperience and tends more towards the ambient, using a lot of
loops. Nice enough, until they put in dear old Mr. Satie or something
likewise and on top of that this italian guy again, this time just
speaking). It’s all a bit off track, this stuff. But it looks good. BFY
seems to be a collaboration between Mick Harris (that one I know!) and
Eraldo Bernocchi (former Sigillum S) and some of the tracks have been
produced by Duarte (?). Another name: Interceptor (?). In the credits it
says: Thanx to W.S.B. The Ultimate Prophet of the 21st Century. Yeah,
right. So the title of this disc has an appropriate name: this is
industrial dub. Beats, guitars and angry voices. Not bad, but somehow I’ve
heard this fifteen years ago, then made by Belgians. So what can i say? It
has been produced very well and at a rough party this could be a hit. (MR)
Adress: <airstudio@tiscalinet.it>
MICHAEL SNOW – Snow Solo Paino Solo Snow [3 Phases] (3CD by Avatar/Ohm)
Michael Snow was born in Toronto in 1929 and had his education on the
Ontario College of Art. His talents are many. He directed experimental
motion pictures (often together with his wife Joyce Wieland) and made
videos, photos, soundinstallations. He is a musician as well. Played a lot
as member of CCMC. Also he works as a painter and sculptor. So there is a
world to discover here I guess.
Till now I myself only knew him from his double album on Chatham Square
‘Musics for Piano, Whistling, Microphone and Tape Recorder’ from 1975. I
can recall it as an minimalistic and conceptual piece of work.
So I was very surprised by this 3double release. Because here we can meet
Michael Snow the improviser. I must say it is a great pleasure to listen to
as a person who likes the work of typical dutch piano-improvisers as Misha
Mengelberg, Guus Janssen and Michael Braam. All three make very often a
humorious and ironic use of jazz elements. The irony is missed here, but
the music is full of love for jazz and blues and breathes great joy.
His love for jazz goes back to the 40s when Snow started playing the
piano. Later on he played in many jazz ensembles, played with Steve Lacy,
Pharaoh Sanders and many others.
Cd 1 (Piano Antique) opens with a piece recorded by him around 1948,
privately on record. It is followed by a very long piece that shows all the
influences Snow underwent from that date. This release is not meant to give
an historic overview of Snow as a pianoplayer. No there is a
concept here as the subtitles of the three cds indicate. Most pieces on cd
2 (Piano Biologique) are also improvisations on piano. Although sometimes
with the addition of tapes. On the third cd (Piano Mecanique) Snow plays
Yamaha Disklavier, an acoustic grand piano with a memory, an electronically
assisted ‘piano player’. All pieces have involvement of sound artist and
computer virtuoso Jocelyn Robert. The piece ‘Headline: Bird Mecanique
Arabian Entendu’ I like most from this third one. Snow makes great use some
lines of Charlie Parker. The box is accompanied by a 48 page booklet
including text by Raymond Gervais (DM).
MENTAL ANGUISH & NOMUZIC – PO’ BOYZ W/GOBOT TOYZ (CDR by Harsh Reality Music)
If ever the words Underground Veterans came to meaning, then it must be
with Mental Anguish and Nomuzic. Both have making electronic music since
the dawn of mankind(or at least since the dawn of electricity) and they
have been releasing it on cassettelabels, most notably their own Harsh
Reality Music (home of Mental Anguish) and Audiofile (where Nomuzic rules).
Cassettes no longer rule, but CDRs do, so these boys have an amount of work
lying ahead. This particular collaboration was released over a decade ago,
but is the first to be digitally remastered and released. I’d like to say
surprisingly fresh, however that goes as far as the recording. The music is
undoubtely ‘old’: tons of old analogue synths swirl, drum patterns from
small jap boxes and sequences. Definetly more psych/kraut than we usually
find here. Having said all this, there are some very nice tracks in here,
such as ‘Two’ and ‘Four’ or the spaced out doom of ‘Pigs In The Barnyard’.
Even when not surprisngly fresh, still a nice CD, and not just from a
historical point of view. (FdW)
Address: <chris.phinney@gte.net>
PAN AMERICAN – 360 BUSINESS/360 BYPASS (CD by Blast First)
At more then one occassion I hinted to Pan American, and how sad it was not
to have reviewed his first CD. I got that CD, played it and thought it was
alright, but nothing special. As time went by, I discovered the beauty of
it. Despite his sparse output nothing else was reviewed (an occasional
remix and a very nice 10″ for Kraak). The second CD, now on Blast First,
can make it well again. Pan American is the solo project of Mark Nelson,
also of Labradford. He plays Programmig, Pedal Steel and Rhodes Piano. The
six tracks are likely to clock in at 10 minutes, which is different than
his first CD, and each are ultimate, relaxed dub excursions. Laid-back
rhythms, lush, easy doodlings on the Rhodes, sparse dub effects andthe
cornet of Rob Mazurek. The cornet, added with the likewise sparse vocals of
Al Sparhawk and Mimi Parker, even add to the nightclub atmosphere that some
tracks breath. The easyness that this is made is a boobytrap… it’s so
easy that it may be dismissed. But I think the easyness is the big power of
this CD. It’s so relaxed, so warm, so easy… hauntingely good. (FdW)
Address: www.mute.com
EA (CD by Cpt. Sparky)
How much do we know about music made in countries that are not coming in
the daily music press to us? We know, or we assume to know, that there is
something going on. But to which extent? EA are from Poland, and their
debut CD is released by Cpt. Sparky (a label to release all sorts of music
actually). EA, whatever it stands for, have members from Meoma, whoever
they are and they play ambient. Ah that makes sense. In seven long, sparsly
orchestrated tracks, they rumble about with samplers, percussion, kontrabas
but in a very nice manner. It sorts of lurks at Lull meeting Noise Maker’s
Fifes (whatever happened to them?). EA controls the process of their music
very well, with nice floating textures that are calm and majestic, dark and
unsettling at other times. Partly improvised gathered, and partly through
wonders of multitrack. Very nice indeed. Question is: are these words
inspiring enough for you to go get? (FdW)
Address: <sparky@polbox.com>
SMALL RECORD (OR WAIT) (3″ CD compilation by Apestaartje)
Apestaartje is the Dutch word for the @-sign, but don’t get fooled.
Apestaartje are a new label out of Chicago, and within the 20 minutes they
present three of their bands: Anderegg, A Silent Partner and n/a. These
pieces are to be considered computer music, but that says just something
about the process employed to create it. Anderegg uses guitar sounds, but
they are heavily fucked up in the world of digitalia. The composition
itself is a bit chaotic and unfocussed, but has potential. A Silent Partner
brings a very coherent sort of digital electronica. A poptrack for Bernard
Guenter or Lopez, although not as soft. Very nice piece. n/a are like
Anderegg more in collage spheres, but do a better job with it. Strange
music that is filled with guitars, yet sound like one really. Not as ‘warm’
as promised on the blurb, but very nicely made anyway.
For a whole new brand of popmusic that has it’s references in Oval,
Microstoria or Fennesz, this is wellcome addition. Can’t wait to hear more
of this.
Address: <keanh@earthlink.net>
THE 8-BIT CONSTRUCTION SET (LP by Beige Records)
A clash of the computers? PC vs Mac? Almost. There were days that
zipdrives, internet, or CD Rom did not exist, and computer storage went to
audiocassettes. Days from Commodore 64 and Atari. These two toys of antique
are the subject matter of this record, each on a side. Each side has the
same ingredients: samples, a few lockgrooves, a music track and the ‘data
cassette program’ (this in case you have one of the old computers, you can
hold them up to your computer). This is a real tool, rather then just a
collection of lockgrooves and there isa concept. The outcome, mainly the
grooves and the music track are rather old fashioned, yet nice,
techno/elektro beat stuff and how do you comment on the raw sample material
or the sound of data? The total is well thought, well conceived piece of
vinyl that is really about something. (FdW)
Address: <orders@beigerecords.com>
DAVID TOLLEFSON – NEAR AND FAR (CD by Hypnos)
The second CD by this guitarist, following New Eyes On The Universe. In
eight sketches he displays the beauty of the guitar – a somewhat mysterious
machine that keeps attracting people to create ambient music. David is not
just merely building drones, but he keeps a well-balanced line between
laid-back drones, but also more ‘heavy’ textures (such as ‘Displacement’
which it’s e-bow sound) or strumming snares (as ‘Twin Earth’, which sounds
like a piano). The guitar and the many ways to generate sound is at times
recognizable and at other times it’s drenched away in spacey sound effects.
It remains a warm, pastoral early morning walk, when their mist in the
hills and woods. Very nice work (again!). (FdW)
Address: <mgriffin@hypnos.com>
(….) – IRRATIONAL (LP by Psychopyjama)
I came across the name Psychopyjama before and for some reason I forgot, I
associated them with plunderphonica in the vein of People Like Us, Stock,
Hausen & Walkman, but maybe I am wrong. This LP by this greek sign I don’t
have on my computer (I believe it means ‘alpha’ – err. help!) is made up
with synths (maybe 95%), and musique concreteish sound processing. One side
has rather short tracks which are pretty much to the point. The three
longer cuts on the other side reminded me more of the non-keyboard
electronics of Conrad Schnitzler. Quite nice stuff. The overall feel of
this record is rather 80s when people released their music on self-produced
labels in these sort of silk-screened jackets and small magazines like
Vital (in case anybody remembers our old paper version) supported that.
Nothing changed – we still like to support that! (FdW)
Address: <psychopyjama@hotmail.com>