TRYPTAPHONIC MIND EXPLOSION : SOUNDS FROM THE PSYCHEDELIC NOISE
UNDERGROUND (Cd by Mandragora Records)
NO ONE RECEIVING – THE RELEASE OF THE WANDERING-EYED GIRL (CDR by
Grain Of Sound)
NEED THOMAS WINDHAM – EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS (CD by Antiopic)
DAVID DANIELL – SEM (CD by Antiopic)
GROS – WAVES (CD by Fork Series/Nosordo)
MENTAL DUNGEON (CDR by Time Stereo)
MOUNTAIN OCEAN SUN (CDR by Time Stereo)
KUWAYAMA-KJIMA – 01.05.10. (CD by Alluvial Recordings)
KK NULL – HELIUM FLASH (3″CDR by Deison)
AIDAN BAKER – I FALL INTO YOU (CDR by Public Eyeshore)
FALAFEL AVANTGARDE – HE PEA (7″ by Public Eyeshore)
MONOTRACT – PAGU (LP by Public Eyeshore)
CIRCLE 0 (2CD compilation by Fylkingen Records)
ATOMIUM/EVOLUON (12″ by Discodesafinado)
TRYPTAPHONIC MIND EXPLOSION : SOUNDS FROM THE PSYCHEDELIC NOISE
UNDERGROUND (Cd by Mandragora Records)
Massachussetts based label Mandragora Records has since its birth in
2001 specialized in psychedelic noise and other edgy kinds of
experimental music. Tryptophonic Mind Explosion being the first
compilation on the label presents twelve more or less unknown artists
of the psychedelic underground. Quite a few of the contributions seem
retrospective with some influence from the psychedelic scene of the
late 60’s and 70’s thanks to the frequent occurrences of space
rocking guitar distortions and the busy use of organs. The
psychedelic style of the compilation reminds a little of the
“Succour: The terrascope benefit album”-compilation from 1995, though
the expression on Tryptophonic Mind Explosion is noisier and more
drone-based stylishly pointing towards ambient where the
Succour-compilation had a more emotional and dark expression. There
certainly are many great tracks on the album. Highlights come from
Acid Mothers Temple and their over the top guitar collaboration-freak
out with Melting Praise U.F.O. as it sounds on “Spaced out” and the
retro-psychedelic “Rosewood frog with Serbian eye” from Interferents
sounding like oldest Pink Floyd with some truly bizarre subtle vocals
and progressive drum patterns. Also worth mentioning is the long
spooky “Harmaat”-track by Circle built on minimal soundscapes of
droning noises and guitar distortions as well as the trippy sounds of
psychedelic organs, spacey guitars and echoed vocals on the album’s
most melodic track, “Cornered” by At The Eat. Generally the musical
quality is very high on this rather unusual compilation recommended
to everyone searching for something quite different in the field of
noise music. (NMP)
Address: www.mandragora.com
NO ONE RECEIVING – THE RELEASE OF THE WANDERING-EYED GIRL (CDR by
Grain Of Sound)
It is well likely that you never heard of No One Receiving. This is
the debut release of a group that was formed ‘one winter day in 2001’
by Loren Shapiro and Michal Seta, who are both from Montreal and
Hiroya Miura, from off and on comes around from New York. They all
have their solo projects also. Together they improvise on such
acoustica as classical guitar, viola de gamba, electric guitar and
keyboards and computers. Everything they do is what they call ’round
table sonic conversations’. Other people would probably call it
‘improvisation’. Their work is loaded with sound effects, mainly echo
and reverb. This makes the music spacious but due to the nature of
improvisation, also a bit long and here and there unfocussed. The
ambient sound that is the result moves along well-known paths, from
Brian Eno to Vidna Obmana and back. It never gets close to ambient
dance music, or glitch ambient. Smooth, sweet and gentil, but nothing
earth shaking new or different. (FdW)
Address: www.grainofsound.com
NEED THOMAS WINDHAM – EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS (CD by Antiopic)
DAVID DANIELL – SEM (CD by Antiopic)
I am sure I picked up music from Presocrates somewhere, but it’s hard
right now to tell you what it sounded like. But maybe it has also to
do with the fact that these two solo CDs by Need Thomas Windham
influenced my perception of what I try so hard to remember of
Presocrates but can’t really locate in my musical memory. ‘Employment
Patterns’ has five pieces of processed ‘hated and rejected parts of
Presocrates compositions’. The press text raves about ‘fluid pop
sensibility’, but I am really lost there. It has sensibilities
alright, but they account more for a strong Bernard Gunter influence
(and that particular school of sound) then popmusic. Low end drones,
slowly shifting by, but suddenly cracked with a few ticks and hiss
here and there, which come in abruptly. This is what brings Need
Thomas Windham aside from the Gunter school, simply because there is
a stronger collage element in these processed sounds, which include
also number stations. More Meelkop then Gunter, but also a strong
thing by itself.
Now while staying on the namedropping side, the one other name to add
as a reference that popped up while playing ‘Sem’ is Francisco Lopez.
David Daniell is the guitarist for improvising trio San Agustin,
which I know better and like a lot, but he too is into a serious
composer mood for his solo CD. Here only two pieces are presented and
both operate on a low level. One is ‘Dixon Lake Road, July 31, 1999,
5:45 am’ and the other is ‘Highway 371, forty miles south of
farmington, january 19, 1998, 2:25 pm’ – let’s safely assume that’s
when and where these pieces were recorded. Low end sounds that nicely
drone away, with some distant and remote clicks (in order to strictly
avoid the word ‘beats’). Ambient music by the fact that it is using
field (= ambience) recordings, but with a lot more depth then y’r
usual mish-wash of synths or new age flutes. The second piece is very
quiet for a long time (that’s where the Lopez reference comes in, I
guess) until rumbles comes in (apperentely there is even a violin in
here) and requires your attention a lot.
Both are musically very nice releases, but (and I am speaking as
somebody who hardly complaints about design), the covers could have
used a little better design. (FdW)
Address: www.antiopic.com
GROS – WAVES (CD by Fork Series/Nosordo)
Over the past few years Sweden has been the home to a burgeoning
music scene. Punk, indie, hardcore and electronica have filled the
cool air from Malmo to Gothenburg, Gothenburg to Stockholm. Several
Swedish artists that have made lasting impressions in the electronic
are Mikael Stavostrand, Andreas Tilliander and the Komplott label.
The latest Swedish export to arrive in our sound system is the duo
from Malmo, Gros with their album “Waves”. Their first release on the
Spanish labels, Fork Series/Nosordo, contains warm, washed melodies
and cold, tight beats that evoke the emotive side of idm. Composed
with mostly analog keyboards, samplers and an old an Atari, the
tracks on “Waves” contain layer after layer of textural melodies that
are drawn into context with the use of found sounds taken from Sweden
and the Basque region of Spain. Organic instruments such as guitars
and organs were also used to give the album a personal feel. “Tomas
Tak” stands out from the rest of the tracks with its warm guitar
lines reminiscent of the Cocteau Twins. At times Kraftwork comes to
mind, other times Brian Eno and Autechre, while listening to Gros.
Driven by its electro-tinged beats and filled with beeps, blips and
harmony, “Waves” is the perfect fix to get you through these
ice-cold, winter months. (GK)
Address: www.forkseries.com or www.nosordo.com
MENTAL DUNGEON (CDR by Time Stereo)
MOUNTAIN OCEAN SUN (CDR by Time Stereo)
There is not much information on the cover of the Metal Dungeon
release. Or maybe more correct no information at all. No bandmembers,
no instruments etc, nothing. So we are thrown back to what the music
is worth. Lenghty hardcore droning sounds, the rusty looped
percussion of metal, speaker hum and guitar noise. Some of the sounds
like they have been recorded on an ancient reel to reel recorder and
then spliced together by loops. There is a genuine old cassette feel
to this music, like it is a time warp recording of something from the
late 80s which now comes to us in a digital mode. Nice retro.
Of a totally different nature is the Mountain Ocean Sun release. A
work of improvisation by Warn Defever (of His Name Is Alive), Hitoko,
Ian Masters and Aya. Recorded in a five hundred year old Buddhist
temple, there is guitar playing (by Warn and Ian) and the playing of
bells, shells, children’s gamelan, seeds and some singing. The
singing is not some wordless chanting in some quasi Buddhist
tradition, but actual singer-songerwriter stuff singing. However, you
know me, this is kept to a minimum, which is good for me. These four
people gently improvise on their material. In a rather free form in
the beginning of the CDR but half way through this changes towards
very intimate guitarplaying and singing, which is almost beatlesque
in the eleventh piece. Strange release this one, strange changes
between singer songwriter material and the more free form
improvisations. Strange but captivating. (FdW)
Address: www.timestereo.com
KUWAYAMA-KJIMA – 01.05.10. (CD by Alluvial Recordings)
A while ago I visited Kuwayama Kiyoharu in his studio in Japan and it
was a wonderfully strange experience: a sort of dislocated bar space
underneath the subway of Nagoya. Every once in a while the subway
would pass, shaking the foundations of the small, intimate workspace.
Kuwayama has a wide variety of materials to work with. Self-built
speakers, violins, guitars and electronica. But for this, his second
CD outside Japan, he and Kjima Rina concentrate exclusively on the
use of cello, violin and viola. As the date probably refers to the
date it was recorded (like the track titles), one of course knows
that we are dealing with improvised music here. These two string
players work through their sounds in a serious manner. No really
focussing on the possible drone character of stringed sounds, these
sounds jumps around, but in a rather friendly way. Unlike say
Agencement for instance, whose nervous hectic playing is of a totally
different area. This is more in a serious classical mood then
anywhere close to noise. (FdW)
Address: <alluvial@hotmail.com>
KK NULL – HELIUM FLASH (3″CDR by Deison)
Is there anybody outthere who can remember seeing KK Null playing a
guitar? Of course, you remember his work with Zeni Geva, but for his
solo work (and that seems to be more then before) the interest has
shifted towards using electronica. This new 3″ CDR on Deison shows
his growing interest in using technoid rhythms for his type of noise.
Ultra short sound samples that are repeated over and over again, fed
through a bunch of filters (reverbs, ring modulators and delays) may
sound a bit like techno, but KK Null is nowhere close to doing the
real beat thing. Violent dance music for mutant disco. If one likes
Pan Sonic but then even more minimal and even less techno, then KK
Null has found the right place for you. (FdW)
Address: <crdeison@tin.it>
AIDAN BAKER – I FALL INTO YOU (CDR by Public Eyeshore)
FALAFEL AVANTGARDE – HE PEA (7″ by Public Eyeshore)
MONOTRACT – PAGU (LP by Public Eyeshore)
Until now I associated the Public Eyeshore label mostly with guitar
cum improv cum noise, by this new one by Aidan Baker is clearly
something else, something new. He plays both electric and acoustic
bass guitar, tape-loops and vocals and gets a bit of help from Naomi
Okabe on vocals and Lisa Rossiter-Thorton on string loops. One may
remember Baker’s work from the ARC collective who did a release for
Piehead. Here he operates in similar territory. Ambient music with a
capital A, but in a strange kind of lo-fi setting. Layers and layers
of sound, instruments and effects, swirl through eachother. Small
percussive loops of guitar loops, mumbling voices that are not
necessiraly poetic, but certainly add to the overall melancholical
feel of this release. Mainly due to its instrumentation, it’s easier
to classify as post rock with it’s stretched out patterns of sound,
then synth doodlings that ambient music also sometimes is.
I do not know much about the Falafel Avantgarde, other then,
recognizing some people from the line up, they are from Israel. A big
line up of ‘knobbers, pickers and thumpers’ (that might be then
synths, guitars and percussion players), nine players in total. They
play two steady rocky tunes on their 7″, with some added weirdness on
the synths, somewhere remotely away in the mix. Two nice tunes from a
country that is not much known for their avantgarde.
The Monotract LP is definetly the most Public Eyeshore release
amongst this lot. This trio, Carlos Giffoni, Roger Rimada and Nancy
Garcia play around with found sound, electronica, vocals, loops and
noise. Relatively short pieces is what they do to keep up the speed
of the release. Boring pieces are easily switched with high end,
vibrant pieces of noise music. They can do it all, or so it seems.
Quite a nice record for its various angles of noise and related
music. (FdW)
Address: www.sinkhole.net/pehome
CIRCLE 0 (2CD compilation by Fylkingen Records)
In a rather badly designed cover we are offered over two hours of
music by people whom we can see playing around the globe, armed with
their laptop. These people all played at one point at Fylkingen in
Stockholm, Sweden. The nice thing about this compilation, that one
will find the well-known ones, such as Kid 606, Richard Chartier or
Mikeal Stavostrand sitting next to Jonas Lindgren, Dead Letters Spell
Out Dead Words, Pfeffenbauer or Silent Comfort – not the most
well-known artists, I think. The music is very strict divided over
the two releases. The second disc has mainly rhythmical musics, what
some people call clicks and cuts, but luckily of a more experimental
and less techno nature. Crackling organ like sounds, occassional
beats and the usual dub influences. Disc one is somewhat harder to
describe. Here the music is more ‘lowercase’ (to refer to that
compilation that was recentely released). Sturdy sound processing,
loops and laptop ambient. The selection turns out to be a fine one on
both CDs. There are no standout tracks (maybe Ronsun, ie Ronnie
Sundin, as an exception), but on the other hand also no weak brothers
around. Clicks and cuts for the more adventurous listeners. (FdW)
Address: www.fylkingen.se
ATOMIUM/EVOLUON (12″ by Discodesafinado)
Discodesafinado was a series of concerts a few years back in Belgium.
These evenings presented a cross-over between techno and experimental
music, let’s say clicks and cuts before the words ever existed. The
one time I visited I saw Porter Ricks, Rehberg & Bauer, Panasonic and
maybe something else. A nice evening. I am not sure if the event
still exists, but there is now a label under the same name. Here the
same sort of material is presented, but now on vinyl. It’s a bit
unclear wether who these musicians are, at least I never heard of
them before. The a-side, let’s say by Atomium is filled by a rather
slow beat, to which small processed sounds are heard. Kinda fits well
the formal minimal tradition of the evenings. A stripped down version
of Pan Sonic maybe.
The other side, let’s say by Evoluon is more dance beat related in a
very up tempo style, like Vladislav Delay on speed and in more techno
vein without losing it’s minimal touch. A nice record for those who
can’t get enough of labels like Kompakt or Audio.NL. (FdW)
Address: <post@discodesafinado.com>