COLLECTIONS OF COLONIES OF BEES – FA.CE (A (CD by Crouton Music)
SILVERMAN – REQUIEM SETTINGS (1-6) (CD by Soleilmoon)
NOISE MAKER’S FIFES – RAW (CDR by Absurd)
NOISE MAKER’S FIFES – MUZOOK (10″ by Beta Lactum)
NEGATIVE ENTROPY – CITY OPEN TO THE NOMAD (CD by Beta Lactum)
TU’M – NINE SONGS (CDR by Grain Of Sound)
C-DRIK – DISSOLUTION (CD by Hushush)
MOONSANTO – FRAUD-HELL-DOPE (CD by Hushush)
POLYVOX POPULI – (CDR compilation by Nexsound Records)
DEAD LETTERS SPELL OUT DEAD WORDS – VANISHING RED BY THE MOVEMENT OF
A HAND (CD-R by Fukk God)
JAZZKAMMER – SOUND OF MUSIC (Mini-CD by OHM Records)
HOWARD STELZER & FRANS DE WAARD – TORN TONGUE (CD-R by Absurd)
~FLOW – ~FLOW (CD-R by s’agita recordings)
COMMUNICATION PROBLEMS (2CD compilation by Vibragun)
VIR UNIS & SAUL STOKES – THERMAL TRANSFER (CD by Hypnos/Binary)
VARIOUS ARTISTS – COLLECTION 1-OPENING (CD by Databloem)
VARIOUS ARTISTS – COMMERCIAL AD HOC (CD by Seeland Records/Illegal Art)
VARIOUS ARTISTS – OPENSOURCE.CODE (CD by Source Records)
VARIOUS ARTISTS – POST OFFICE (CD by Logistic Records/Telegraph)
BRENDAN WALLS – CASSIA FISTULA (CD by Idea Records)
COLLECTIONS OF COLONIES OF BEES – FA.CE (A (CD by Crouton Music)
>From the ever active improv circles around the Crouton label, a new
work by Collections Of Colonies Of Bees. This is a duo around Chris
Rosenau and Jon Mueller, both of which are also a member of Pele,
aswell as various other impromptu improv workings. Together these
boys play acoustic guitar, lap steel guitar, piano, electronics
aswell as percussion and vocals. The CD starts out fairly guitar
based and sounds like post rock number umteenth, but all done in a
nice mood. From the CD grows into a more imrpovised music matter,
with some rather nice surprises as the seventh piece (no titles of
course) when a drum beat kicks in. Other tracks sound fresh and
direct, when we hear birds, a squak of the chair these gentleman sit
upon or a bump here and there. Their improvisations don’t hurt or
harm. They play in a rather silent, contemplative way, going through
their sounds in a nice way and with a delicate closing tracks track
‘mu:rder’ – the only track with a title, but with it’s ten minutes
and nice playing on guitar with just a little bit of a dying computer
sounding, most rightly the one with a title. (FdW)
Address: www.croutonmusic.com
SILVERMAN – REQUIEM SETTINGS (1-6) (CD by Soleilmoon)
This is the Silverman’s fourth solo CD, but by day and night
Silverman, nom de plume from Phil Knight, is the hardcore member of
The Legendary Pink Dots, together, of course, with singer Edward
Ka-spel. Together they form the core of this band, which originates
from the UK, but reside in The Netherlands since quite some time.
It’s there that Silverman found his inspiration for this CD. Living
right on the border between The Netherlands and Germany, an area that
was heavily fought in the second World War, the relics are still
present. This, and the death of his father, inspired the six works on
this CD. Much unlike anything The Legendary Pink Dots do, this is a
work of experimental ambient. Using the sound of bullets being struck
together, train and wind sounds, along with sound processing and
analogue synths, the six pieces are all austere musicworks, sobere
and sombre, a worthy requiem. Loaded with references – war, death,
transition – it’s also an album that tells many stories. Evocative
music. If the Pink Dots are too much of krautrock band for you, then
it might be worthy to dive in the solo works by it’s various members
(Niels van Hoorn’s CD was reviewed last week): they go way beyond the
ordinary and provide you an insight in the various interest,
culminating in the work by the Legendary Pink Dots. (FdW)
Address: www.soleilmoon.com
NOISE MAKER’S FIFES – RAW (CDR by Absurd)
NOISE MAKER’S FIFES – MUZOOK (10″ by Beta Lactum)
NEGATIVE ENTROPY – CITY OPEN TO THE NOMAD (CD by Beta Lactum)
>From my perspective things have been quiet for a while around Noise
Maker’s Fifes. They (although I believe they were reduced to a one
piece band over the years) released a number of CD’s some years ago,
but after that things slowed down. Here they have two fairly new
releases. The CDR has two extensive live recordings made in Greece in
2001 (and when they were presented as a four piece band) where they
play their performance ‘Inversage’. Scraping metallic sounds from the
basic of the lengthy second part of that piece. It opens with a more
droning character, and after a break speaker hum opens the second
part. The other piece is a live film soundtrack of a rusty,
unsettling musique concrete. The recording quality is not really top
notch, but the music is kinda raw and inspired and that makes up a
lot.
‘Muzook’ is a 10″ released in Beta Lactum’s Lactamase series, the
seventh in a series of 12 (reviews of others will follow shortly). I
assume this is a studio recording. Part 1 (also known as side A) is a
densely layered environmental work. Sounds from cities drop in, with
distint luna park sounds and a marching band providing the music.
Occassionally a voice loop says ‘Be careful’. The whole things sounds
alienated and has a displeasing feel. One waits for a sudden incident
to happen, bt it never happens. Strange music, but fascinating. Field
recordings are also the foundation of the other side, but here they
are culled from nature. Bird calls, cow sounds with an undefinable
hum in the background. Hyper ambient music that entirely deals with
nature sounds, albeit in loop mode. Nice record indeed, two opposites.
The main man of Noise Maker’s Fifes is Geert Feytons, who is also
half of Negative Entropy. The other half is the well-known Micheal
Prime, reknowned solo artist and core member of Morphogenesis. Their
CD doesn’t contain really recent works (all dating from 1994 to
1997). The collaboration sums up their various interests: drone
sounds, musique concrete and field recordings. The four lenghty
pieces shift through all of these interests, at times working
seperately and at other times working together. Especially their
drone capacities work well, such as in ‘A Desert Realm Of Fish’, with
it’s careful built up and thoughout structures. Things only go out of
hand in the more noisy and improv bits, which didn’t do much for me.
(FdW)
Address: <absurd@otenet.gr>
Address: www.blrrecords.com
TU’M – NINE SONGS (CDR by Grain Of Sound)
Tu’M are mostly known for their website acitivities, were tons and
tons of musicians do short soundtracks to images. But Tu’M, now
reduced to a duo, also do their own music, and they have released a
CD on Jason Kahn’s label before. On this new Portugese CDR they have,
how original, nine songs. Tu’M play improvised music, created by
laptops. Every cliche you can imagine about improvised music created
with laptops, is present here. Scratches, peeps, hiss, feedback and
an occassional rhythm, they work their way through it, as if there is
a CD available: “sound bank for micro glitch artists – all 13
scratches”. Most of these pieces don’t seem to go anywhere, but
occassionally they glitch into a nice fragment, or nice sounds. But
just as with so many improvised music, this lasts for a few moments,
and then it leaps back into lesser fragments. I guess it’s all sort
of alright, but maybe in a concert situation they should proof their
improvisation qualities. (FdW)
Address: www.grainofsound.com
C-DRIK – DISSOLUTION (CD by Hushush)
MOONSANTO – FRAUD-HELL-DOPE (CD by Hushush)
Hushush is a label from Canada, but their background is in Belgium.
Just in case you wonder why they release so many belgium artists.
C-Drik is one of those. His full name is C-drik Fermont and was a
student of Annette Vande Gorne. He also works with Moonsanto, Ambre,
Ammo, Xingu Hill and Crno Klank. This is his first solo CD, and the
pieces were composed between 1997 and 2001. C-drik’s interest lie in
drones and rhythms. He sums up the best of both worlds, from say
Thomas Koner to Rapoon, but also from bands like Ambre and Xingu
Hill. A highly electronic force of small sounds, loops, voices and
electronics. Nicely pleasent music to hear with not a single
disturbing moment. Also, I hasten to say, not with a single original
moment. C-drik’s music remains calm, with strict boundaries of his
self-defined style. That is not a bad thing, since the music is
alright.
As said C-rdik is also part of Moonsanto, a group that includes
members of Silk Saw and Xingu Hill. Apperentely Moonsanto released a
limited CDEP ‘Dogme’ that was received well, and after years of
silence this is the full length. Their central theme is the current
use of biotechnologies. They have some professor (Professor DR.
Goodseed) speaking words through a voice synthesizer, which in the
end works a bit boring. Moonsanto’s music ranges from drone to gabber
like rhythms and back again. It’s all highly diverse, but I guess too
diverse to please throughout. It’s hardly imaginable that one doesn’t
stumble over a fragment that one doesn’t like. For me the gabber
piece was right out of place in this collection. The more daring
experimental pieces, with guitar strummings, sounds swirling in and
out the mix, make a much more lively impression to me. So, despite
it’s diversity, I still would rank this CD as a positive one. The
scissors of editing should have done their work however. (FdW)
Address: www.hushush.com
POLYVOX POPULI – (CDR compilation by Nexsound Records)
About ten years ago a compilation came out called Novaya Stsena,
featuring underground music from Kharkov and other cities in Ukraine.
It was an amazing document of the creative sounds produced before and
right after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Now a new compilation
shows us that great music is still being made in Ukraine. Polyvox
Populi, the title a play on words of vox populi and polyvox, the
soviet version of the moog synthesizer. Ten groups perform 12 tracks,
two of them being collaborations between 2 of the groups. What
strikes me overall is how the CD flows together, as if they were
produced by the same group. Some of this is due in part to groups
sharing members, or collaborating, but more likely a result of the
thought put into compiling the tracks for this CD. What really
appeals to me is how the groups here seem to not be affected by
current fashionable trends in electronic music, and prefer to operate
in their own sonic realm. Yes there are some clicks and cuts (most
notably in the great harsh edged track by Kotra) and laptopisms, but
the music has feel of experimental music of the late 70s-early 80s,
with its analog sounds, rhythms, and drones. But it never succumbs to
retro fetishism, rather more a result of the years of cultural
isolation under soviet rule. One of the few benefits of the old
regime, was that experimental
music developed on its own, with its unique take on western
influences when it encountered it. The track by The Moglass could
have been released on the old UK label Third Mind, with its process
guitars, rhythm box and atmospheric sounds. Sidhartha presents us
with a
nice looping bit of electronica, swirling keyboards, tabla-like
glitching, along with the accompaniment of a baby’s cries. The
Moglass team up with Alphonse De Montfroyd for a track of lightly
played, percussive guitars and intriguing loops and processed
environmental sounds. Alphonse’ solo track is a hard edged rhythm
machine, like old Esplendor Geometrico.
Nihil est Excellence, which is nexsound boss Andrey Kiritchenko’s
project (along with Sidhartha), creates a highly irregular pulsating
piece of musique glitch concrete, composed environmental sounds.
Cold War Mechanizm’s track is very reminiscent of the 80’s hometaper
band F.A.R., with its sequencer lines and processed ambient sounds
and tapes. The other groups
on this compilation, Caste’, First Human Ferro, and Fragments are
contribute strong tracks. Most of the groups contained herein have
other releases on nexsound in cdr format, all of which come highly
recommended. (JS)
Address: http://www.nexsound.org
DEAD LETTERS SPELL OUT DEAD WORDS – VANISHING RED BY THE MOVEMENT OF
A HAND (CD-R by Fukk God)
An intriguing release by fukkgod label boss Thomas Ekelund, Dead
Letters gives us lofi static and lowercase compositions, that are
always full and thick of sound, that never fade below the threshold.
These 8 tracks were recorded from 2000-2002. The first track is a sea
of record surface noise in all its glory, that seems not to have
undergone much digital sanitization. All of the music is raw and
crackly, having a warm tape feel to it, and some of the sounds were
probably created outside of the digital realm. There are low rumbling
drones as on track 3, and squeaky tonalities as on track 4, sort of
like a duet for wine glass rims and playground swings. Track 5 is
almost like Ultra Milkmaids recorded under water with no high end.
With fluttering machine-like sounds, deep bass drones, feedbacks,
strange rhythms, glitches and more, DLSODW create a universe of their
own, sometimes dark, sometimes agressive, but always with that
certain edge and a great feeling for sound. Things move slowly in
their universe and that is good. it gives enough time to go from one
piece to the other. Basically, as a listener, one is continuously in
transit (which sounds bad, but it’s not in this case), waiting for
what will happen next. This kind of open music is always high on my
list. (MR) The splattered CD artwork of black and grey paint on white
paper accurately reflects the music therein. A very nice release,
that works well when played in the background and also at loud
volumes. (JS + MR)
Address: http://www.fukkgod.org
JAZZKAMMER – SOUND OF MUSIC (Mini-CD by OHM Records)
The title of this latest Jazzkammer release is a very nice reference
to their tactics: they create sound out of music. With the help of
electronic equipment and a guitar, they blast their way through
definitions of the term that shocks so many. This little disc leaves
no questions about Jazzkammer’s intentions: they want noise and
they’ll make it happen. In twenty minutes time they offer the whole
spectrum of the genre as we know it: fierce rumbles, glithches,
hisses and piercing tones. And not to forget: some looped melodic
elements, heavily distorted and, more often than not, buried under an
avalanche of other noise. In the end it’s actually possible to make
out a guitar, be it one with a grim sound. Having said this, it must
also be said that it’s a good piece, with enough happening to keep it
interesting and exciting. Way to go! (MR)
Address: www.ohmrecords.no
HOWARD STELZER & FRANS DE WAARD – TORN TONGUE (CD-R by Absurd)
This CD-R comes in a very nice paper cover, let that be understood.
Now, many of you may know that Howard Stelzer is the man behind
Intransitive Recordings from boston, USA. But he is also one of the
most gifted tape-jockeys in the world. This collaboration with Frans
de Waard started some five years ago, when Stelzer was asked by a
visual artist to add sound to an exhibition. He chose to record the
artist’s voice in different locations, while she was reading from her
journal entries. This project turned out to be more than part of an
exhibition. While playing around with the tapes and the tape
recorders, Stelzer found that he became more and more interested in
the sound of manipulating the original material. Her asked several
people to work on the same material and then the whole thing thing
was sort of forgotten, until recently, when he picked up the project
with Frans de Waard. Frans was by now working on computer and this
proved very interesting in combination with the analogue tape
manipulations. The result is forty minutes of highly concentrated
sound work, with quite a lot of silences and subtle sounds. And
indeed, the combination of the digital and the analogue works very
well. The sound spectrum is very wide and there is almost no trace of
the original material. There are drony parts, cuts and glitches and
all is put together very well. To put it simply: this is a beauty.
(MR)
Address: www.anet.gr/absurd
~FLOW – ~FLOW (CD-R by s’agita recordings)
Yet another alter ego of busy bee Frans de Waard: ~flow. He seems to
be collecting AKA’s as others collect stamps. ~flow contains two long
tracks, based on material from Beequeen’s album ‘Ownliness’. Beequeen
is one of Frans’ other alter ego’s, of course, together with Freek
Kinkelaar. So actually we can wonder if this is Frans’ highly
personal view of the material recorded by Beequeen. The work has some
the elements that we know from Shifts: long drony sounds that are
layered to create a mass of overtones. But there are also references
to Frans’ digital glitch project Freiband: stretched sounds, rhythms
and weird manipulations. In the end it’s probably a subtle mix of
both with Beequeen sounds. Put it this way: Beequeen recorded and
manipulated by Freiband and mixed by Shifts. Can you still follow?
Anyway, the result is a gentle and flowing mix of Beequeen material,
partly disconcerting and partly soothing, but in general warm and
very friendly. This is better than reggae on a warm summer night like
this. (MR)
Address: http://sagitarecordings.vze.com
COMMUNICATION PROBLEMS (2CD compilation by Vibragun)
The Australians that go under the label Vibragun present a collection
of modern day electronica in a loosely thematic approach of
‘communication problems’. I have no idea how this relate to the
enclosed music, but I am just hear to view the results. As goes with
things like this, it seems that the various artists delivered one of
their tracks, for good compilation’s sake. It is to be welcomed that
Vibragun managed to get some well-known celebrities aswell as some
people that need to be introduced as newcomers. More or less the
following division is to be noticed: on disc 1 we have the more
rhythmic outings and on disc 0 (digital life is all about 1’s and
0’s) the more ambiento works. So techno celebrates on the first disc,
but there is also a hip hop piece by Sensational and a drum & bass
piece by Quoit.
Nice pieces on the first disc are by Atom Heart, Sensational (not
that I like hip hop so much, but it’s really an odd ball in the
entire collection), Kettle (whose ten second piece leaves more to
dream about) and Cray, who’s Lustmord inspired piece cracks down in a
dying computer crash.
Disc one closes with one of the last pieces composed by John
Watermann, who offers a hetic piece that proofs to be one of the more
interesting pieces here. The tower of babel as the source of
communication problems.
The second disc has less rhythms, and the artists here seem to be
using (faulty) data streams to enlighten the subject – and so much
more they do a better job. Pimmon’s morse transmissions sound rusty
and untrustworthy, but on those lines there is a problem, aswell as a
densely layered piece. Two boys having no communication problems are
Markus Schmickler and Thomas Brinkmann. Their piece is mostly spoken
word, like a conversation, on building a piece of music, but they
seem to get a long well. The track is not so interesting, as it’s not
really to play over and over again. Two tracks didn’t do much for me
and that was the piece by Steve Law, which is straight off Scanner
rip off and Plenum, who seems to be throwing just some sounds
together. Good pieces come from Thomas Koner, Farmers Manual and Oren
Ambarchi.Martin NG here. All in all a pretty varied compilation, with
much nice music and the usual out of place pieces. (FdW)
Address: www.vibragun.com.au
VIR UNIS & SAUL STOKES – THERMAL TRANSFER (CD by Hypnos/Binary)
Stroboscopic is a helicopter sinking through a time warp in the
Bermuda Triangle. This disc begs to be played at riskier volume.
Tracks blend inside each other like a tidal wave of tropical
vibration as in Replicants in Orbit. Vir Unis, last heard on the
collaboration Blood Machine (Green House Music) with Steve Roach is
in superb, groovy form on Thermal Transfer blending his sythesizers
with the ample rhythms of the Bay Areaís Saul Stokes. Portland label
Hypnos has established Binary, a sub-label forged in deeper
groove-laden recordings with an emphasis on sequencer relationships.
Modea’s Liquid Metal is a churning concoction of quirky percussion
and smooth hand forged electronics via Stokes. This track merges
fluidly into Blurring Maguro (which is then remixed for the disc’s
final track). The Interstitial (John Koch-Northrup) remix crosses
semblances between itself and Aphex Twin with an air of free-fusion
electronics. This is a sizzling collaboration by two artists who
normally reduce the bpms in half. Here we have a solid combine of two
electronic wizards, making for an overall more buoyant, singular
voice. Turning the tonal levels to a crispy, but darker element, The
Burning Ground shrouds the listener in a heavy handed transitional
track that emphasizes its weight. On the title track, the preeminent
tick-tocking breathes an inverse, anxious sigh. An active listen that
performs like stormy weather, complete with its own abstract fractal
sunset. This is a recording that pulses above the line and beyond
the pale. (TJN)
Address: http://www.hypnos.com/
VARIOUS ARTISTS – COLLECTION 1-OPENING (CD by Databloem)
Databloem, another new label with a noble mission ‘dedicated to
bringing you excellent contemporary intelligent electronica’. The
music is ambient, groove-ambient, down-tempo, experimental and
related sonic creations. Here we have five artists each with
15-minute tracks nourishing our ears with fine sounds from five
continents. Opening with The Circular Ruins (APK’s Anthony Paul
Kirby) whose Aperture: A Lesson in Cosmology is a safari, a search of
unknown terrain. This Canadian band’s name was taken from a story by
Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges. Aperture is a dreamy
investigation, like taking a digital camcorder into a tropical bird
sanctuary and lying motionless while the rapture of nature fascinates
the senses. We are offered the spectral, kaleidoscopic results.
Mutagene (Alexis Glass) offers A Borrowed Skin, which is music from
Ironson, a documentary directed by Cousin Chang. Glass, an acoustic
audio phenomena student in Fukuoka, Japan, has developed a calming
piece that hovers and probes. Its fluorescence builds and stabilizes
with an insightful use of modulating synths. Spheroid is a project of
Kiel Germany’s J. Wolfgang Rttger, whose name means a subcutaneous
calcification, but he spares us the gore in this soaring astral
projection of sonic ambience. Imbedded Neptune is filled with
fireworks and flying orbs. The track wavers a bit on the edge of new
age, tipping into AOR territory, but bears enough hypnotic
interlocking sequence to mark its muted Berlin-school approach.
Kwookyworld is offered by Austrailian namesake Kwook whose peripheral
sounds keep us above the surface. Kwook writes music for game
software and Toyota uses the sounds he has created with another
project, Wiggly, in car commercials in Japan. The final track on this
disc is Encounter (In An Unexplored Nebula) by Swedenís The Civilized
Electrons (TCE). There is something of a chamber orchestra shrunk to
the size of a music box here. TCE is Positron Alpha, a university
student working in the electronic medium for about eight years with a
wry sense of humor. The end result is anything but a laughing matter
in this weaving piece of intense stillness. Collection 1- Opening is
a rest stop on the electronic superhighway. (TJN)
Address: http://www.databloem.com/
VARIOUS ARTISTS – COMMERCIAL AD HOC (CD by Seeland Records/Illegal Art)
Ad hoc collage indeed! What a world sampled on this pleasing disc of
cut-ups and paste-backs. Poking fun at our hyper culture of buy/sell
the Evolution Control Committee (DJ Pantshead) plays the listener for
a fool in the irony of its Music For Selling. Roux Partout makes
paper doll poems in #5 (Life Without), a no-frills dada take on life,
rats and Mozart. Pimmon, a favorite act of recent memory, distorts
radio archives on Sales Pitchí 67 with the warbling replication of
voices and Victrolas. An acid trip merry-go-round ride built inside
a hall of mirrors. It takes the clever minds of the folks of Seeland
Records and illegal art to furnish a lusting audience with a host of
brainy samples proving that People Like Us, V/vm and Stockhausen &
Walkman aren’t the only breeds creating such manipulated send offs.
We are treated to the limitless pings and modeled reckonings of
commercialism. With prolific rendering these cries for our undivided
attention become horrifically modified from the once commonplace in
tracks like Realistic’s (James Towning) Trademark Messaging. The
Army, Intel and various haircare products never seemed as sinister
between episodes of Charlieís Angels when I was a kid. Adkinsí
Breaking scritch-scratches its way through pre-sampled breakbeats and
treats us to a Libran take on the instrumental life of UK
commercials. Mr. Meridiesí short story Easy finds its way in unknown
territory as a black man speaks his truth about contemporary living
and the drone surrounds him, drowns him. Created on the Mac, this
seven minute pleaser has a depressive tonal stance and a filmic,
enigmatic flavor. The listener implicates the character and is left
to fill in the blanks. Spacklequeen strips infomercials down to the
nub, slicing and dicing their absurdity, and “BAM” you have
(Royalties), a four-minute blur of elongated blah-blah-blah complete
with squeaky retorting horns! The Bran Flakes take a trip to the
poppy-aligned fields alongside the yellow brick road on Turn The
Channel, It’s Another Commercial. Carters’ Little Liver Pills is the
Big City Orchestraís sampled manipulation or “movement” on the
assumed wholesomeness of past tense remedies mass marketed in the
earliest days of television. This lilí disc that could proves that
you should never judge anything by its packaging, as this recording
comes in an
unassuming white sleeve with a inkjet printed label, guts intact. (TJN)
Address: http://detritus.net/illegalart/
VARIOUS ARTISTS – OPENSOURCE.CODE (CD by Source Records)
Bring it on! Source Records is the new force behind post-glitch.
Their new compilation opensource.code includes To Rococo Rot’s Robert
Lippok, Thomas Brinkmann (Profan), Move D (Warp), Jan Jelinek
(Scape), Monolake and Sutekh among others. Opening with a wonderfully
funky Synthaxis 2 Montreal-based artist Marc Leclair aka Akufen
(Force Inc) samples his way into our disco heart and busts the house
with a strobe light of progressive ambient. On his heels German
low-fi dub-techno whizkid Jelinek (Farben) is logged in on Music to
Interrogate By, wired for micro-static subtle beats. S.E. Berlin
offers the lounge-flavored dub house minimalism of Toninas with an
offbeat hint of future islands. Berlin-based Lippok is a busy man,
having just recently played at this year’s Lovebytes Festival, and in
between strategies with mainstay band To Rococo Rot shows no signs of
wavering. On 6 a.m. Lippok is burning the candle of time, er the glow
of his Powerbook, perhaps. The whir and buzz is so nice, so acidic,
yet goes down smooth as silk. Bton (Jonas Grossman) proves that using
muffled cornet (or an artifice thereof) can be effective. On Nocturne
Deep Space Network’s Grossman shows us how to create an alter world
where the wee hours are where you are just getting started. By far
the funkiest track on this disc, its soul lies in its interpretation
to make you recall impressions of bygone eras. Hailing from the Bay
Area Sutekh (Seth Horvitz) has released a handful of reputable
platters on Mille Plateaux, Plug Research and his own label Context.
Having recently toured France, Poland and the US Horvitz presents us
with the airtite Asscr, trancy techno with a funky finish. Leave it
to Thomas Brinkmann (aka Soul Center) to serve us such a lacquered
finish on Momoklick, complete with a sodered and unspecific organic
edge. This is dance music without a floor. This is making something
of the sediment that is suspended in its open-air construct.
Cologne-based Brinkmann’s loops and altered beats are unprecedented
in this field of micro-tech tunes. David Moufang, known as Move D
(Compost/Fax), has worked with luminaries Pete Namlook and Deep Space
Network. On µst we are into warbling vibes tick-ticking with a
vibrant chill out ambience. Alex Cortex is recontextualized by Tom
Thiel in this remix of Laconic, a dry reduction with open wires from
the full-length of the same name. Studio Pankow (Kai Kroker,
Moufang) closes the program with Linienbusse, a lovely meeting of
sonics and piano. This mesmerizing avant minimal track is filled with
light and purpose, plotting like a lullaby. This disc stays true to
its title – in the way classic collections like Clicks + Cuts (Mille
Plateaux) and Microscopic Sound (Caipirinha) this seems to be a
likely third installment in the world of micro-sound greatness. (TJN)
Address: http://www.source-records.com/
VARIOUS ARTISTS – POST OFFICE (CD by Logistic Records/Telegraph)
>From the very first funky note the bpms are getting me moving. This
Parisian label also has one of the best websites I have seen in a
while. Bringing together funky electro acts Post Office delivers!
Dawn by Cabanne gleefully bounces the opening on this disc. Its
squeaky appeal pops and drives its minimal house format. Ben Neville
expands the minimal concept here a touch and adds shorted breath
sample and light cymbal percussion on Petid. Unknown Mysterioso
(Karat), a project by Ark, offers the bad-ass techno house pleaser
Taimz, turning the disc into an instant party. Alter-ego Ark then
plays Pro-Blaim with its deconstructed acid flavor and inferences to
the cult classic Liquid Sky (listen closely). Label owner (7th City,
Accelerate) Daniel Bell’s (Tresor/Klang) up-tempo glitch-house number
Rhodes 1 steals the sky. Hailing from sunny California, Bell, who has
collaborated with techno genius Ritchie Hawtin, spins us right round
with enough propulsion to catch a second wind. In the totally
distorted Oral 3 Afuken provides all the reptile beats and stunted
vinyl antics. Warped fare for the X generation for sure. Interlude
(Cabanne) offers the very short Trex which pokes its high pitched
sine waves and signs out. Drawing back from 1997’s Do The Dimbi is
Germanyís Dimbiman (Perlon) sampling and fretting the bars of
electronica, climbing higher and higher with an irresistible dance
beat. Up next is Robert Hood’s (Axis, M-Plant) abrupt Realm taken
from the Monobox ep. The track paces the center of the recording by
this seasoned techno specialist. And then – BAM – in comes the total
surprise cut by Ricardo Villalobos (Perlon/Playhouse). My Life
Without A Wife is a pop techno wonder – with just the right spices:
disco, abstractions, muted voice manipulation and enough beat to
shake a stick at, or just plain shake. This is the fortune in this
cookie – stop-starting with percussive fun, and a dash of latin
drums. This German spinster has a lengthy future ahead for our sake!
Closing this shop down is Deperissement Progressif creating a street
beat tick-tock sizzle and live feel to Panic Patrol Blues taken from
their La Guerre aux Trousses recording on Karat 5. The track seems
to have parts. An all out tech attack and then smoothing out after a
pause into a jazzy guitar short ending the disc on an expressive, yet
hmmm note. This is a great comp for funky people who want something
to spin on continuous play. (TJN)
Address: http://www.logisticrecords.com/
BRENDAN WALLS – CASSIA FISTULA (CD by Idea Records)
Sydney-based Walls releases his debut solo disc Cassia Fistula, a
work of electro-static energy and vibrance. The disc is split into
three sections, raging with stealth, soaring noise frequencies.
Drawing from high pitch tones and angular drones, this newcomer is
working with Oren Ambarchi (Ritornell, Staubgold) whose minimal
compositions and collaboration work are evident on the mix work in
sections one and three. Working with defective hi-fi equipment and
homemade electronic devices, Walls has developed a trip-like
exploration of deep, organic (cassia fistula – a 10 meter tree)
sound-sphere, not for the passive listener. This is not for
relaxation, this is not click/cut/glitch, this is not dark ambient.
This is discovery, almost improvised, in unfolding beauty, its nature
warns of the dark side of the power behind its ornamental exterior.
(TJN)
Address: http://www.idearecords.com/