QUOTIDIAN ASSEMBLAGES VOLLUME 1 (CDR by Haltapes)
HAL MCGEE – AMERICAN PRIMITIVE (CDR by Haltapes)
KAPITAL BAND 1 – 2CD (2CD by Mosz)
VOID/FULL (2CD by Antifrost)
TROUM-SIGQAN (CD by Desolationhouse)
MANDIBLE CHATTER – OF FOREIGN LANDS AND PEOPLE (CD by Relapse)
THE HALFER TRIO – HOW TO SLICE A LOAF OF BREAD (3CD by Phonometrography)
THE HAFLER TRIO/AUTECHRE – æ3o / h3æ (2miniCD by Phonometrography)
ETHAN ROSE – MINIATURE AND SEA (3″CD self-produced)
EUROPEAN TUBA QUARTET – ECHO-NOMIA 4.4 (CD by Nur Nicht Nur)
CARL LUDWIG HUBSCH – 119 ARTEN ZU BEGINNEN (CD by Nur Nicht Nur)
IFCO – RAGS TO RICHES (Cassette by Pineapple Tapes)
HINTERLANDT – BO CHCNG HU (CDR by CUE Records)
HINTERLANDT – POPREKORDT (CDR by Dhyana Records)
QUOTIDIAN ASSEMBLAGES VOLLUME 1 (CDR by Haltapes)
HAL MCGEE – AMERICAN PRIMITIVE (CDR by Haltapes)
Like Big City Orchestra – see last week – Hal McGee is one of the
survivors from the independent cassette market of the 80s who moved
into the world of CDRs, the next logical step. Back then he was
involved in such projects as Dog As Master and the Cause & Effect
label, now it’s Haltapes and Quotidian Assemblages. These are
compilations based on ordinary everyday sounds. Many of the
contributing musicians take this seriously and they present a piece
of raw, unedited outdoor sound and only some take the oppurtunity to
add something to the sound, or transform the sound in anyway. I think
I prefer the latter tracks, since some of the ‘unedited’ ones seem a
bit simple to me (let’s stick a microphone outside the window and we
capture whatever comes across, as opposed to let search for some
interesting sounds to record). The processed pieces are more
interesting, certainly when it comes on a lenghty compilation like
this. Some of the nicer pieces were by Mystified, Micheal A. Cosma,
GX Jupitter Larsen, Sputnik Weazel, Jeph Jerman, Liquid Sphere and no
thanks for Filthy Thurd.
On his solo CD ‘American primitive’, McGee offers two lenghty tracks
(31:10 and 46:50) and lists a wide variety of instruments, mainly
electronic but also electric toys. Both pieces are total mayhem in
sound. Bangings on a piano, people talking, shouting and other
obscure field recordings are mixed in with a bunch of electronics.
It’s a crisp clear recording, not a muddy chaotic sound. However it’s
also an endurance test, to sit through until the end. It seems to me
that there is not much compositional structure underneath, which
makes it altogether a hard pill to swallow. For die-hards I assume.
(FdW)
Address: http://hometown.aol.com/haltapes1/index.html
KAPITAL BAND 1 – 2CD (2CD by Mosz)
Another new label here. Mosz was founded by Stefan Nemeth of Radian
and Michaele Schwenter, and their aim is to release music on the
borderline of analogue and digital concepts in music and it will no
doubt slide through various categories. The first release is a
collaboration between Nicolas Bussmann (aka Beige Oscillator and Ich
Schwitze Nie who plays bass here) and Martin Brandmayr (Radian,
Trapist on the drums) under the project title of Kapital Band 1.
Their first release is not really a double CD: one CD in this package
has music and the other (with various much the same design) is empty,
ie you can record music on it yourself (or rip some of the website at
http://www.kapitalband1.com). From their joint backgrounds, I am only
familiar with Radian and I must say that Kapital Band 1 has somewhat
similar sound to Radian but it’s more direct and somewhat more simple
in approach – and don’t get the wrong here, it works well here. The
emphasizes is on the drums and bass, but it’s not really a drum &
bass sound. With traces of popmusic, improvisation, jazz and
microsound (most tracks do have all sorts of small crackles and small
synthesized sounds, like particles coming from a space craft), this
operates in various places, but I assume their main interest is in
playing a stripped down version of popmusic. If Radian is something
that went down well with you, then you should definetely give this a
go to. (FdW)
Address: http://www.mosz.org
VOID/FULL (2CD by Antifrost)
This double compilation is a follow up to ‘Suffer/Enjoy’, which had
eleven pieces which were limited to a certain part of the frequency
range (see also Vital Weekly 348). On ‘Void/Full’ the concept is a
little bit more open. The artists were asked to create a piece that
would either fit the idea of ‘void’ or the idea of ‘full’ in music.
You could also see this compilation as a survey of what is available
in the areas of ‘microsound’ or ‘lowercase’ – many known names here,
but also some new ones.
Luckily ‘Void’ is not just filled with ’empty’ music: long gaps of
silence, small drones, inaudible sounds etc. Maybe it’s the contrary
thing here: a piece by Dieb 13 is a minimal for sure, but it’s filled
with a lot of ‘noise’ and ‘sound’ throughout. This can be said of
other pieces too here, by Cremaster or Bernd Schurer. The ‘silent’
people are of course Roel Meelkop, Ronnie Sundin and Francisco Lopez,
although the latter has a piece that is kinda new for him: starting
out with drones, but halfway a sudden break appears and crackles of
plug ins appear. This happens a couple of times in this piece. A big
surprise. Other fine tracks here are by Ilios, Jason Kahn and Coti.
‘Full’ lives more up to its expectations, many of the pieces here are
indeed ‘full’ – loaded with sound, from top to bottom, but having
said that, it doesn’t mean that this is pure work of noise. Toshimaru
Nakamura for instance could have easily fitted on ‘void’ and so does
Sachiko M. I must say I am not blown away by some of the pieces,
like the ones by Evol, Maja Ratke or Lasse Marhaug who play a bit of
a too simple noise card. Good solid pieces come from Eric LaCasa,
Alejandra and Aeron, Edwin van der Heide and the aforementioned
Nakamura.
Overal this is a very good compilation and most certainly a fine
introduction to some very specific musicians. (FdW)
Address: http://www.antifrost.gr
TROUM-SIGQAN (CD by Desolationhouse)
I think anyone searching for deep, slow evolving soundscapes that are
dark in their nature and environment will find what they are looking
for in Troum. The very name Troum means “dream” in the German
language and this group certainly fits that bill with this release.
Sigqan features three long improvised sections of glacier paced audio
for the vivid subconscious, the planets and otherworldly landscapes
created thereby. This album also serves as a minor testament to its
simplistic creation with various guitar effects, guitar, voice
processing and accordion. I was pleased overall with Sigqan in its
concept and inventive production. (CN) Address:
http://www.desolationhouse.com
MANDIBLE CHATTER – OF FOREIGN LANDS AND PEOPLE (CD by Relapse)
Now here’s one from the past that I almost forgot about it. Mandible
Chatter was once one of more favourite groups. Their third CD ‘Grace’
even ended in my best of 1996 list (when I did such lists), but maybe
shortly after that I lost connection, and apart from the EP on Drone
Records (see Vital Weekly 171), I must have assumed they no longer
existed. Mandible Chatter however continued and now returns with a
full length CD. The core are two members, Neville Harson and Grant
Miller, who play all the instruments (cello, vocal drones, piano,
guitars) and they are helped by people playing violin, throat vocals,
harmonica, fiddle and even Robert Rich playing the prepared piano.
Mandible Chatter plays some extended ambient music. With this I mean
that it’s not a pure synth wash or a pure drone experience, but the
addition of other instruments, playing real tunes on them, but most
of the sounds are embedded in a large dose or echo and reverb. Maybe
that was something I liked many moons ago, but in these days I prefer
a cleaner sound trying to achieve the same effect. Does this mean
that Mandible Chatter are no longer of interest? Hell no, they still
produce some mighty interesting music. It’s produced with great skill
on the instruments and care for detail, aiming at some beautiful
ambient textures, but without losing the musical edge. In that
respect Mandible Chatter are almost solitairy, but they are a great
band too. (FdW)
Address: http://www.relapse.com
THE HALFER TRIO – HOW TO SLICE A LOAF OF BREAD (3CD by Phonometrography)
THE HAFLER TRIO/AUTECHRE – æ3o / h3æ (2miniCD by Phonometrography)
If I understood well, the recentely founded Phonometrography label
was founded just to release material by The Hafler Trio. If these two
releases are a sort of standard for the future, then the future is a
bright one. Both are beautifully packed on good quality paper, with
booklets with texts and seperate cards of photos, in odd sized
enveloppes.
The first one is a three CD set, covering the music and more of ‘How
To Slice A Loaf Of Bread’, the concert held in preston earlier 2003.
Since The Hafler Trio incorporate performance in his concerts, we
could wonder why this wasn’t released on DVD (maybe there was no
footage?). However we could wonder the same thing for just the music.
It seems to me that the three CDs are in fact one long piece, and
releasing the music on DVD could have made this into one long piece.
I read on the liner notes that all of the sounds were recorded on the
location, which is hard to believe: it’s quite a stretched out, drone
like work. Although I must immediately state it’s not the same kind
of drone music as the two parts of the trilogy released by Nextera.
This is a work with great chance. Disc one is in general the most
droney one, disc two continues that, but half way through have some
sort of rhythm and disc three is the most silent one – here the
drones sound more like outdoor field recordings being processed on
end. It’s really a great work, which is quite minimal (not as minimal
as Nextera), which played all the way through has a strange relaxing
effect, at least on me.
In the second package we find two mini CD (pressed on a 5″ with a
transparant edge), of which one is maybe The Hafler Trio playing
Autechre and the other the thing vice versa. The Hafler Trio remix of
Autechre is a fifteen minute piece which is about a gentle fading of
a drone sound, which may or may not derived from all the sounds
between two bass drum claps – but if it’s Autechre talking, it could
be very much right too. The Autechre CD is also about drones, which
operate on a more even level through out the piece. They do not add
any rhythm at all to the drones provided by The Hafler Trio, but
instead stay close to his original sound material. In a package that
is as equally beautiful as ‘How To Slice A Loaf Of Bread’: good
quality paper, extra images on seperate cards, embossings etc etc.
Both releases are simply excellent. (FdW)
Address: http://phonometrography.net/
ETHAN ROSE – MINIATURE AND SEA (3″CD self-produced)
This 17 minute-long 3″ disc by Ethan Rose is a nice minimal surprise.
Enchanting mood developed by Rose who often collaborates with
video/filmmakers and other artists. “Miniature and Sea” is an
experiment in quiet ambient surfaces with a barren, atonal/acoustic
fringe. Though the nuances here are all childlike and optimistic,
even if the gauzy finish isn’t as rainbow-colored as the Pokemon
posse. There is a much more obvious chance that this would be
mistaken for a successor to the soundtrack for a future rendition of
“City of Lost Children” rather than that of a fluffy weekend morning
candy-coated eye-opener. Submarines come to mind, or things
submerged, just enough below the surface that you may be fortunate to
pick up half of its pieces to plug it all together in time, with
imagination and tolerance. The percussion is like a tinkering rubber
mallet in a room beneath you. Rose’s kinetic sonar minor beats are
casual and non-linear. (TJN)
Address: <lifeofbirds@hotmail.com>
EUROPEAN TUBA QUARTET – ECHO-NOMIA 4.4 (CD by Nur Nicht Nur)
CARL LUDWIG HUBSCH – 119 ARTEN ZU BEGINNEN (CD by Nur Nicht Nur)
There is of course the Rova Saxophone Quartet and numerous string
quartets, but this is the first time I come across a tuba quartet.
The quartet exists of Pinguin Moschner, Melvyn Poore, Larry Fishkind
and Carl Ludwig Hubsch. Each composed a piece for the quartet and
Poore delivered short intermission tracks of spoken word about the
instrument. I don’t know much of these people except that I saw
Hubsch playing with Jaap Blonk and Claus van Bebber a while ago and
recentely with Anette Krebs, Olaf Rupp and Alessandro Bosetti. His
tuba playing in those concerts was certainly not in a very
traditional sense of the word, also using the instruments to drum on.
Here with this quartet it’s more regular playing – if that is
something one could say of such a disc. The piece that opens this CD
did make me fear the worst: a piece about the interaction play of
tuba’s, kinda like they were having conversation. I must say not well
spend on me. But some of the other pieces, especially the two pieces
composed by Hubsch, I really liked. Quite, drone-like but in a
natural sounding way. The short interludes could have been left off
too. A good CD for the better part.
On Carl Ludwig Hubsch solo CD we find 99 tracks in 45 minutes. This
means he wants the listener to play this CD at random or shuffle
mood. Certainly not a new idea, and also something I would not do
very easily. I think I am just old fashioned and play a CD (or
anything) from begin to end. More so than on his CD with the European
Tuba Quartet, we hear his techniques of playing sustained tones, but
also a thin metallic lid to alter the tones. It works best, I think,
when Hubsch plays the sustained tones, which result in a kind of
drone like world. The improvisational side of this kind of solo work
stayed for me a bit on a too regular level. But one can easily
re-compose their own favourites out of this of course. (FdW)
Address: http://www.nurnichtnur.com
IFCO – RAGS TO RICHES (Cassette by Pineapple Tapes)
Ah yes, cassettes. I seem to be doing very few of them, this might
even be the second tape I am reviewing in 2003, but oddly (or is that
not surprising?) enough it comes from the same person as the first
one: IFCO, aka Idea Fire Company. They have a couple of LPs out, but
now there a tape of various live work and ‘tape work’. The Idea Fire
Company is a group around Scott Foust, Karla Borecky and also
involving Meara O’Reilly and Jessi Swenson. They play on a bunch of
old analogue synthesizers, cheap casio samplers, guitars and effects.
I saw them earlier 2003 live and they play a very lo-fi drone music,
that is strangely enough quite captivating once you get sucked into
it. IFCO don’t play nice drone music, but rather a raw and ugly one.
They set forth some drones of the analogue synths, maybe an e-bow and
the casio sums up some banging rhythms. At times, like in ‘The
Library Is On Fire’, I am reminded of Scott’s first band,
XX-Commitee, but less forceful and more embedded inside a bed of
drones. I must say I quite enjoyed this release, but maybe that’s
also because it brought back memories to a very nice evening – in
many ways – to their concert at the Flywheel in Easthampton. (FdW)
Address: http://www.anti-naturals.org
HINTERLANDT – BO CHCNG HU (CDR by CUE Records)
HINTERLANDT – POPREKORDT (CDR by Dhyana Records)
Behind Hinterlandt is one Jochen Gutsch who is originally from
Germany but now living in Australia. He played in various rock bands
before but now devotes his time to using the sampler. His first
release was reviewed in Vital Weekly 375. Here are his second and
third release. ‘Bo Chcng Hu’ is a forty two minute work and it’s just
one long piece. This is already a big step forward to his previous
CDR on CUE Records. Rhythms play an important role here and the whole
work is presented as one long collage of rhythmical sounds. The title
means ‘no government’ and the cover says about that: “used to
describe a state of lawlessness where anything goes” – and that
describes the music quite well, I think. Rhythms of all kind, from
techno to drum and bass, but also glitchy and microscopic roll by and
move out and something else comes in. It’s music with a high energy
level.
But the major step forward is the release on Dhyana Records. More
than on ‘Bo Chcng Hu’, he is inspired by popmusic and uses samples of
not just drums, but also guitar and bass and the whole thing moves
into a wide range of deconstructed popmusic. One of the things he
doesn’t do is using the normal length of a popsong, but rather has a
few but lenghty tracks (up to seventeen minutes at one point). But
within those seperate songs, things are pretty much structured, with
great detail for composition and with much care for the execution.
There are traces of so many styles from popmusic, from kraut to post,
from techno to pop, from drum & bass to experimentalism. This is most
refined moment to date, and should definetely be the way to go for
Hinterlandt. On this road a major succes album can be found, one day.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.cavestudio.org/cue
Address: http://www.dhyanarecords.com