VA – SOUND ART-SOUND AS MEDIA (Book & CD by NTT Publishing Co.)
DAVID KRISTIAN – ROOM TONE (CD by Alien8)
HEMATIC SUNSETS – RENDEZVOUS IM AROMA CLUB (LP by Klang Der Festung)
BASTARD NOISE – THE ANALYSIS OF SELF-DESTRUCTION (CD by Alien8)
EDWARD KA-SPEL – RED LETTERS (CD by Caciocavallo)
GOOD MUSIC (CD compilation by Jazzassin)
PANIC AMIGO (12″ compilation by Morr Music)
BIONIK – COMMON (CD by Prikosnovenie)
MYSTERY HEARSAY – EAR GEAR (CDR by Harsh Reality)
MENTAL ANGUISH – EYEBALLS GLAZED OVER (CDR by Mystery Hearsay)
VA – SOUND ART-SOUND AS MEDIA (Book & CD by NTT Publishing Co.)
The progression of sound art as a medium in its own right is well under way
and supported strongly with the release of this catalogue, accompanying the
exhibition of the same name in the ICC in Tokyo. The book has been designed
and edited in the beautiful way that only the Japanese seem to be able to
do. In ther book there are CV’s, texts and photographs of the artists and
two texts about the artists, one by Minoru Hatanaka, who is a curator at
ICC, and one by the deputy editor of Wire Magazine, Rob Young. Both texts
give a personal view about the works. The CD featurse tracks by the
artists, starting with a strong piece by C.M von Hauswolff. Electric sounds
and hisses are combined into a powerful ‘seance’, which might call up
spirits of the electric. Next is Ryoji Ikeda, who did an installation in an
anechoic chamber, and judging by the track on the CD, this must have been a
truly hallucinating experience. Very minimal and strong. The third track is
by Cristophe Charles, who uses computeres to generate sounds and images,
that fit into the environment and are meant to incorporate sounds from its
environment. This is a piece without any apparent structure and therefore
suits the goal very well. It is undirected and unfocused, just as the
ambient sounds from any environment. A well done piece with a wide variety
of sound sources. After this one the conceptualists: Toshiya Tsunoda of WrK
presents a piece which was recorded by putting a contact mic on an
abandoned anchor in a bay where fishing boats are at anchor. the
resonations of their engines and other sounds are thus recorded only
through resonance. This is a beautiful track with a lot of depth. Jio
Shimizu, also member of WrK, is a person who likes to to things to
machines, so that they produce sound, rather than perform in the manner
they were originally designed for. In this case he used a TV set to create
a strong electriconic piece. The second part was made by turning a quartz
watch into a micrphone. The third part are the electrical wires in his
house. This is sound as pure as it can get. Good stuff. Jane Dowe presented
an installation using two CD players and a MD player, to be played at
random or in shuffle mode by the audience. On the discs are sounds of
varying origins. The track on the CD is basically a collage using these
discs. This one is probably more interesting as an installation. Noto is up
next with a track that is probably illustrative of the installation he did:
water in a flask is moved by the oscillation of low frequencies. The sounds
are seen more than heard. The track is very clear and has a FAT bass. A
slow and almost still piece. Minoru Sato built a sonic camera, an
instrument that records the changes of light directly as sound. This almost
imperceptible piece is beautiful again in its clear conceptual elegance.
The next track is also by Sato, but under the name S.A.S.W. In this case he
made a composition of the sounds recorded with the sonic camera. Beautiful
again. The next track is the oldest of the lot: recorded in 1990 by Max
Eastley and Daviv Toop, it is an improvisation with Eastley playing a bowed
arc (I can’t tell what that is) and toop on pedal steel guitar (I can only
imagine what that is). The piece is drenched in reverbs en delays (and
possibly other FX) and is not my favourite. Brandon Labelle sat himself
down on several spots in several public spaces, meanwhile reciting only the
vowels of the final part of ‘The Pleasure of the Text’ by Roland Barthes.
He superimposed all these recordings and we are confronted with a space
that is virtually unimaginable and a recitation that is uncomprehensible.
Good stuff again from Mr. Labelle. Last one on the disc is Marc Behrens
with a piece that refers to his installation, based on the circle. I will
not try to explain all the possible meanings of this symbol and its use by
Behrens, but limit myself to the track. And what a track it is: deep sounds
with flutters and purs, some steps and breaths, actions done somewhere,
somehow. All this edited with elegance and a strong sense of timing, this
must be one of my personal favourites of this very good CD. (MR)
Adress: www.nttpub.co.jp
DAVID KRISTIAN – ROOM TONE (CD by Alien8)
David Kristian’s musical output is as diverse as the Dutch clouds over our
house: ever changing, nothing remains. Sometimes quirky uptempo beats and
techno licks, but also, again like the clouds, there is darkness and
greyness of beatless music. Room Tone falls no doubt in this last category.
Divided over 10 lenghty pieces, Kristian explores the darker side of
ambient music, or maybe the ambient side of electro-acoustic music.
Stretched, slowly changing and humming the buzz, a rich field of sound is
created. Warned by ‘not responsible for damaged woofers’, I played this
rather soft and still the room was filled of tones. Even when comparing is
a shaky thing, this comes close to Aphex Twin’s ‘Selected Ambient Works 2’,
but it’s really the last track that gave me this idea, as this track is
sort of the odd moment to close the CD: a rhythm track that slowly moves.
Even when much of the rest is just continous buzzes, it never is annoyingly
static. No surprise of course seeing the list of equipment he uses and
which may give some of the boys out there a hard one (for me personally
this list means as much as a telephone book: nothing of any value until you
know what it is). I wonder if this was some sort of art-thing, as this was
state sponsored. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out it was some art
installation thingy. (FdW)
Address: <alien8@alien8recordings.com>
HEMATIC SUNSETS – RENDEZVOUS IM AROMA CLUB (LP by Klang Der Festung)
I know various people who like the music of Amus Tietchens, but I know very
few who actually like the entire work of Asmus. Some herald his
electro-acoustic work, or his synthetic work, or his pop phase with Sky
Records. Some say Asmus has no humor. That last thing is not true, I think.
Making serious avant-garde records with quotes of the not-so pleasent
philosopher Cioran, doesn’t mean one has no humor, it’s just a different
kind of humor. To proof you wrong, I think this new record by the Hematic
Sunsets, is hilarious. The Hematic Sunsets, a bunch of anagrams of the name
Asmus Tietchens are behind this ‘band’, is music played on an organ with
those preset rhythms. My nephew had one of those and with the two finger
playing he could believe me he was Jean Michel Jarre (I must admit I am
talking some time ago!). Asmus plays preset rhythms and the organ, and
produces fine ‘unterhaltungsmusik’ as opposed to ‘ernste musik’ (sorry for
not translating this). The first time around I played this accidentely at
45 rpm, and half way the second side, I thought: gosh what a short record.
So I went back at 33 rpm, and found to be pleasing with the same music at a
slower speed. If Felix Kubin is your thing already, then this is not be
missed in your collection (and knowing this is hip, I am sure it will go
down well). (FdW)
Address: fax: + 49 404606160
BASTARD NOISE – THE ANALYSIS OF SELF-DESTRUCTION (CD by Alien8)
Right from the start I must admit I haven’t heard that much of Bastard
Noise before, but I wasn’t too impressed with the bits that I did manage
hear. Some sort of heavy singing over a bunch of noise – heard it all, seen
it all and better. But maybe they gave away their lesser tracks to save up
the best? Who knows as I thought this was quite an interesting CD. Each of
the six tracks has a backbone repeating/drony mass of noise and the solo’s
(I know this isn’t the appropiate word, and that’s why I like using it) are
played on the good ol’ analogue synths, microphone in front of speaker and
shortwave. Some of it remains in the rehearsal room approach, like
‘Brotherhood – Execution Style’ (titles remain a problematic feature in
this scene) which drags on and on. But the very tense opening piece ‘An
Obstacle To Murder’ or ‘A Head In The Refrigerator’ (now what did I say
about titles?) is a proof that they manage to create an exciting and
haunting piece of music. And no sign of any heavy metal vocals – I must be
mistaken with their other band Man Is The Bastard… Without that long
track ‘Brotherhood’ it would have been a great CD, which could grab me from
beginning to end, but now it’s 23 minutes too long… No shame, I can still
programm my player. (FdW)
Address: as above
EDWARD KA-SPEL – RED LETTERS (CD by Caciocavallo)
For many years The Legendary Pink Dots and their foreman Edward Ka-spel
play an odd role in my music circles: still regarded to carry on the legacy
of mid-eighties industrialists, do it yourself tapists, their music is
nothing the like. Psychedelic electronic apocalyptic – those are the
parameters their music moves along. Mr. Ka-spel breathes music. If not busy
in the studio or on the road with the LPD’s, he’s at home creating his solo
music. What started out as a stripped version of the Dots, Edward on vocals
and keyboards, grew into a world of it’s own. Still a much more intimate
then the big band line up of the LPDs. Edwards solo albums is something you
must love, a simple mere: “they are alright” will not do (which some people
say of the LPD albums). It’s too much the work of Edward, it’s too close,
too near by, to view just remotely. ‘Red Letters’ just continues were ‘Blue
Room’ left off. The best tracks are in the beginning: ‘Radio 6’ with the
apocalyptic vision and ‘Seeing Red’ which bursts out into a joyful (?)
sampled orchestration. But a track like ‘Believe On A Breeze’ harks a bit
too much back to the early solo stuff: repeating keys and vocals. On
previous albums, Edward showed that more is possible, so getting back the
old thing is not what I prefer. Experimentation, such as in ‘Illumina 3/The
Carrier’, with processed voices and percussive sounds, show there is more
to it. ‘Red Letters’ can’t make me forget ‘Tanith & The Lion Tree’, Edwards
best solo album to date, but in the entire body of his work, this is an
alright one (oops, now I said it myself). (FdW)
Address: www.soleilmoon.com
GOOD MUSIC (CD compilation by Jazzassin)
What could go wrong with a title like this? Nothing I’d say. It raises a
couple of questions: why four bands? why only 45 minutes? why are these 4
together? Ok, who cares? Good music is what counts. Arm is a group that can
have up to 8 members, who work together in various combinations, and this
track is the result of a day-long improvisation jam and a day behind the
computer to edit it. Quite a vivid sort of editing technique that is used
to slice up a dash of what sounds like 25 DJ’s playing avant-garde records.
Clop Neplat is known for his ‘CD1’, that was also remixed onto a 2LP and
here he presents another fine piece of dark broading music with textured
ambient hiss underneath. The ever-present Lasse Marhaug is part of a duo
called Jazzkammer, together with John Hegre and their ‘Great Analog World’
starts out with the skipping of a CD, but soon is a Merzbowish track area
‘Ecobondage’. Scraping metal, feedback, which move over into an assembly of
noise, radio, music, noise, spoken word, more noise. This sounds as an
excerpt from something that might have been twice as long. KA is part of
the Origami family, that slighty mysterious collective of artists, and the
three members serve us a plate of environment recordings and industrialized
ambience.
This is reasonably good music, and made me curious to hear more from these
people. (FdW)
Address: <lmarhaug@online.no>
PANIC AMIGO (12″ compilation by Morr Music)
Piano Magic is one of the groups I am always keen to hear for they are
known for their diversity. But its the same diversity which doesn’t make me
their biggest fan. Some of their more ‘normal’, or ‘poppy’ edges with
vocalists of some kind, are just not for me. But they have a range of
instrumental and slightly more experimental releases which I really like.
No surprise that somebody had the idea of asking people to do a remix, and
why not on Morr Music, a German label that brought us more nice tunes
before. This 12″ has 2 remixes of 2 tracks by 4 bands.
The a-side has Future 3 with a very laid-back version of ‘There’s No Need’,
with a nice vocal sample. An almost romantic piece. Lover boys ISAN remove
the rhythm section to next door (you can remotely hear them), and add one
of their typical analogue keys on top. My favourite is the first on the
b-side by Ensemble. They come close to the Chain Reaction sound, but they
are a tiny bit cleaner. The surface is a continious drive and everything
else happens underneath. A very cool piece. A total contrast is Opiate with
a drum & bass track and a sampled guitar and a sampled line. Not bad, but
my least favourite of the three. And this brings us back to Piano Magic:
this set of four remixes is as different as the band they remix, and it’s
hard to like ‘m all, but with a 3 out of 4 score, its not bad. (FdW)
Address: <info@morrmusic.com>
BIONIK – COMMON (CD by Prikosnovenie)
Behind Bionik we find one Gaetan Bulourde who plays bass with Kasper
Toeplitz. This is also what he does in a solo-mood. Apperentely these
tracks were captured live (which I found out half way through this CD,
while studying the few liner notes), which is a surprise. In ‘E’, the first
piece a lush field of overtones fills your space, gently played with a
violin bow. Bionik repeats this with succesion in the next tracks, either
playing the very low bass end or the higher range. In ‘Hijacker’ things
start to rock and the bass sounds like a harley davidson. This is the
heaviest piece around. I quite enjoyed this, the overall serious approach
and execution left a good impression and may appeal to the more daring fans
of Scelsi and Feldman. (FdW)
Address: <prikos@worldnet.fr>
MYSTERY HEARSAY – EAR GEAR (CDR by Harsh Reality)
MENTAL ANGUISH – EYEBALLS GLAZED OVER (CDR by Mystery Hearsay)
More re-issues from the underground from more then a decade ago. Two bands
who used to have their output on cassette, but now will be back on CDR.
It’s striking to see so many similarities between these two: spacey and
lenghty tracks with nuf rumbling for analogue keyboards, drumpatterns and
guitars.
Mystery Hearsay is still Mike Honeycutt and the two main tracks on his
release came as a cassette and the bonus tracks (three of them) might be
from the same period. Mike jams his way around the analogue world, and even
when his is nice, a pair of sciccors could have made it a bit shorter, but
maybe also easier to digest. The second long piece is better then the first
with it’s more continous and slowly developping sounds. Things worked best
in the final three short tracks. The one thing that struck me was the
overall good quality of the sounds. Things certainly improve in the digital
domain.
Mental Anguish’ sound is more electronic (this guy must have an analogue
synth heaven) and bears more resemblance to cosmic music. His music is more
linear and builts up gradually. Since I never did drugs, I had no trip
while listening, but it was quite an enjoyable affair this CD. Years too
late for either cosmic or ambient, but as a document of music recorded in
1989, when cosmic was over and ambient house not born, very nice stuff and
now preserved again for the future. (FdW)
Address: <chris.phinney@gte.net>