PHEEK – TABISURU KOKORO LP (MP3 by Thinner)
UN CADDIE RENVERSE DANS L’HERBE – LIKE A PACKED CUPBOARD BUT QUITE…
(CD by Dekorder)
COCK E.S.P. & PANICSVILLE – LAST TRAIN TO COCKSVILLE (miniCD by
Little Mafia Records)
BRANDLMAYR/DAFELDECKER/NEMETH/SIEWERT – DIE INSTABILITAT DER
SYMMETRIE (CD by Grob/Doc)
FRANK BRETSCHNEIDER – PARTY OF TWO PARTS (10″ by Underscan)
MATEO MURPHY – THE RISING EP (MP3 by Thinner)
ELOI BRUNELLE – MONTREAL NIGHT GROOVES EP (MP3 by Thinner)
VICNET – VICLP (LP by Deco)
ORIGAMI KLASSIKA – AKISSALK IMAGIRO (MP3 by Tibprod)
KENNETH KIRSCHNER – 6 TRACK EP (MP3 by Tibprod)
VARIOUS MP3 SINGLES (MP3 by Tibprod)
KAI FAGASCHINSKI & MICHAEL RENKE L- REBECCA: TWO VARIATIONS (CD by Charhizma)
DEAD LETTERS SPELL OUT DEAD WORDS (CD by Ideal Recordings)
QUOTIDIAN ASSEMBLAGES VOLUME TWO (CDR by Haltapes)
CAMPAU/MCGEE – HOAX (CDR by Haltapes)
HART/GOFF/MCGEE – MESHED MIXAGES (CDR by Haltapes)
TAKU UNAMI – INTRANSIGENT TOWARDS THE DETECTIVES OF CAPITAL (CDR by W.M.O/R)
ERIC COOK & BEN BRACKEN – FRAMED/FROZEN (CDR by Simulated)
ORPHAX – AS THE STONE FALLS IT WON’T COME UP AGAIN (MP3)
COELACANTH – MUD WALL (CDR by Mystery Sea)
DEAD LETTERS SPELL OUT DEAD WORDS / MODERNART (7″ by Robot Riot)
OK_01 – TO A.K. W/BEST WISHEZ (MP3 by Nexsound)
PHEEK – TABISURU KOKORO LP (MP3 by Thinner)
Here’s another Mp3-Lp from Thinner, the net-label that (mostly, but
not always) releases lots of dub and ambient influenced house music.
Pheek operates in the 4/4 way (except in the first track), but it’s
not in-your-face house. On the contrary, this music is a very
successful mix of house and ambient, it’s fully present house music
(dance-friendly) that you can easily hear as pure ambient (for
listening). Three of the tracks are Pheek’s music remixed by other
artists: Taho (known from the fantastic Silent Season Dub compilation
– see Vital 390), Jeff Bennett (offers a jump-upy-hakan-lidbo rmx)
and Mateo Murphy. It’s good that these remixes are added, they make
the release more varied. The Mateo-remix is an epic and slowly
developing 9-minute killer-track. Taho’s remix is a nice example of
this successful kind of dance&listening-friendly ambient-house music
with a dubby feel, the beats in this track are very much in the
background and that’s how it achieves endlessnessism. There are
constant dub surroundings in this music that give a relaxing flow to
the house. (BR)
Address: http://www.thinnerism.com
UN CADDIE RENVERSE DANS L’HERBE – LIKE A PACKED CUPBOARD BUT QUITE…
(CD by Dekorder)
Apperentely Un Caddie Renverse Dans L’Herbe found his home in the
Dekorder label, because this is already the second release he’s doing
there. Behind Un Caddie is Didac P. Lagarriga, fromerly from Brazil
now in Spain and this new album is a deligtht. Lagarriga uses
‘exotic’ instruments such as the Balaphon, Mbira, Kalimba, Berimbau,
but also piano, cello, guitar, bass and of course at the end of this
chain we find the computer. That last thing is important to realize
since there are traces here of laptopmusic, but Un Caddie opts for a
far more natural sounding music. Building loops from the source
material, but not extensively processing them, there is still an
element of ‘exotic’ music to these pieces. More closely to the
intimate home made music of Pascal Comelade or Sack & Blumm than to
Oval or Fennesz. It makes this into quite a strong album of its own,
rather than a copy of something else, but also avoiding the trap of a
computer generated fourth world music. This album is digital but
warm, intimate but with a wide view on the rest of world and a true
joy for the ear. A fresh wind in the land of laptop. (FdW)
Address: http://www.dekorder.com
COCK E.S.P. & PANICSVILLE – LAST TRAIN TO COCKSVILLE (miniCD by
Little Mafia Records)
A short album (twenty-one minutes) that looks like a real CD of
collaborations between the old brothers in noise: Cock E.S.P. and
Panicsville (see also last week’s issue for another recent album by
Panicsville). This time they are taking the piss out of ‘popmusic’ in
some way, mainly trough the titles of the tracks (‘Theme From
Cocksville’, ‘I Can’t Get Her Off My Cock’, ‘Gonna Buy Me A Cock’
etc.). Of course these two are in more noise territory than
Panicsville would be on his own, but, it might be there years of
experience, it’s the kind of noise that is slightly more interesting
than the average noise maker. Tracks are short, witty and to the
point. In ‘She’ there is even a touch of popmusic to be noted, wacky
of course and out of control, but it’s a distinct break in the short
album. Served a such a dose it becomes even accessible and enjoyable!
(FdW)
Address: http://www.littlemafia.com
BRANDLMAYR/DAFELDECKER/NEMETH/SIEWERT – DIE INSTABILITAT DER
SYMMETRIE (CD by Grob/Doc)
The connections between these musicians are too much to mention: they
play together in bands like Efzeg, SSSD, Trapist, Radian or in duos
together. This album has tracks recorded in 2002 and one track
without Werner Dafeldecker from 2001. Their instruments are drums,
double bass, guitar and of course electronics and computers. The
music is, I believe not the result of improvisation but guided along
lines set out by the four players and is ‘strongely connected to the
visual part by video artist Micheala Grill’ however it’s not
absolutely necessary to see this when hearing this CD. There is some
careful playing going on here: sounds are brought delicately, almost
in a shy way, but once they gain life of their own, they are firmly
there and start breathing and grow like lively organisms. But do not
confuse this album for a soft one, these four boys can burst out into
a wall of noise, albeit in their usual careful fashion. They burst
out suddenly, but pull back in volume while staying on a noisy edge.
At every moment in time on this CD sometimes happens, and usually
it’s not something that lasts very long before going into a new
territory. Digital sits next to analogue here and form a happy
couple. Guitar strummings guide crackles and forms a fascinating
journey. A carefull yet great work. (FdW)
Address: http://www.churchofgrob.com
FRANK BRETSCHNEIDER – PARTY OF TWO PARTS (10″ by Underscan)
From all the clicks and cuts artists, there is only a few whom I
really follow to see what they are doing next, simply because they
keep on moving about and do new things. Frank Bretschneider is one
such guy. His music is always in development, always new ways and
both his studio and live work are great. This 10″ on Underscan has
three tracks and again he took me by surprise. Three up tempo funky
tracks, with a nice fat bass line in ‘And It Comes Out There’ and
dubby elements in the title piece. It’s minimalist music, oh yes it
is, but it’s at the same time vibrant, tight in structure, never too
accessible, but at the same time never too easy or too experimental.
Plus it shows him in a direction which I haven’t heard of him before.
And this makes him one of the best, for me. But I already told you
that. (FdW)
Address: http://www.underscan.de
MATEO MURPHY – THE RISING EP (MP3 by Thinner)
ELOI BRUNELLE – MONTREAL NIGHT GROOVES EP (MP3 by Thinner)
It’s really a pleasure listening to this music. I got interested in
Mateo’s music after hearing Pheek’s mp3-release on Thinner. There’s a
great Mateo Murphy remix there. The Rising is an EP with 3 tracks,
very much in a housey mood. Fully present music, clear and sharp 4/4
beats, warm bass lines and kinda liquid atmospheres. Mateo Murphy
comes from Montreal/Canada, has a djing background and is producing
music more seriously since 1998. All 3 tracks from this EP,
especially the 1st and the 3rd, because they’re the longest ones, are
somehow graceful, slowly developing and setting up the atmosphere.
Great dubby house from Thinner, chilled and relaxing sometimes.
Eloi Brunelle is even more direct house music. Beats and background
atmospheres again, but (also again) with all dance and up-beat
rhythms, this Thinner-music still manages to be transparent, airy and
thinner, for both listening and dancing. Eloi is another Montrealer.
The atmosphere on his EP is quite allright in the first 2 tracks, but
the last 2 tracks is where the real groove is happening. The third
track, called Blackout (not radio:), has a distinctive bass line.
Hakan Lidbo comes to mind (again), with a jump-up track like Natty
Roots. The last track starts with some Motor-like samples in the
first few seconds but very soon the beat starts. Some DJs would enjoy
playing this music in different places, clubs, cafes… (BR)
Address: http://www.thinnerism.com
VICNET – VICLP (LP by Deco)
This is the follow up of the album ‘Vic CD’, with three tracks of the
CD and three new tracks. Vicnet is one French designer Vincent
Tordjman. His music is made at home on a computer, but also on the
train, waiting for a plane or on Japanese subway trains. It’s
entirely made on a laptop. Vicnet produces some clever kind of
popmusic, totally electronic, loaded with samples and influences:
funk, techno, electro and even a bit of experimentation. Quirky
uptempo songs, that sound alright, but nothing special or shockingely
new. A LP with six entertaining songs, of which the cover ‘Top Of The
World’ was the most appealling one. Just very much ok, this one. (FdW)
Address: http://www.w-deco.com
ORIGAMI KLASSIKA – AKISSALK IMAGIRO (MP3 by Tibprod)
KENNETH KIRSCHNER – 6 TRACK EP (MP3 by Tibprod)
VARIOUS MP3 SINGLES (MP3 by Tibprod)
From the Tibprod world of MP3, two new MP3 albums and they were also
kind enough to send me a whole CDR of their Mp3 singles collection.
The first is by Origami Klassika. As you may know using the word
Origami means it’s by a member of that big collective, and each
member is free to use the name and put something behind it, to make
clear what it is about. Here, Mr. Iversen, head honcho of Tibprod,
reworks classical music in eight tracks. Using samples of classical
music, bringing the sample conversion rate back to a mere 2K per
sample, this is a rather lo-fi affair, in which even the trained
devotee for classical music probably can’t recognize that much. Quite
rhythmical stuff, via the use of short loops. Nice stuff going on
here.
Kenneth Kirschner of course you may know from his more than excellent
album for 12K and his participation to the 12K guitar compilation,
here he offers six tracks of highly drone related music. Deep, deep,
unearthly bass drones with an occassional piano tinkle coming in. It
seems to me, but who I am, that much of this material comes from
treated and processed piano sounds. In ‘012597’, it is much more in a
collage form. In ‘101301’ it’s the aforementioned deep drone
business. In total these six tracks are very nice done and certainly
match the other, ‘normal’ releases of Kenneth.
Also on Tibprod you can find a whole bunch of singles, which were
kindly burned to CDR for my digest. Highlights and highly recommended
for download are the nice clicks and cut tracks by Christian Di Vito,
Autistici, Iversen and the 80s retro tracks by Tib and Russian
Computer Club or the more noisy outings by Ivan Bachev and Lasse
Marhaug. Relaxing ambiences are provided by Mil.Org/Iversen and
Hanhisuanto. Maybe not the most known names around here, but
certainly worth investigating. (FdW)
Address: http://www.tibprod.com
KAI FAGASCHINSKI & MICHAEL RENKEL – REBECCA: TWO VARIATIONS (CD by Charhizma)
These two german musicians started working as a duo in 2001. For this
cd Kai Fagaschinski plays clarinet, Michael Renkel plays acoustic
guitar, zither, preparations.
Renkel studied classical guitar in Hamburg and also composes. He is
influenced by 20th century composers like Cage, Feldman, Kagel and
Berio, but also by old lute music. Also he interested in extending
his guitar instrument with new computer technology and live
electronics.
Composer and improvisor Fagaschinski played in the duo-format already
with Axel Dörner and with computer manipulator Christof Kurzmann. He
is interested in the sound and noisy aspects of the clarinet. His
work often is an intertwining of composition, concept and
improvisation.
The concept behind this recording is interesting. “Rebecca exists
since October 2002. Work began with improvisations. Over the cause of
time the same piece was repeatedly “improvised” again, reducing the
concept of improvisation to absurdity. Through repeated playing a
musical piece, a composition come into being. The piece is not
notated. Rebecca remembers, and forgets. It is not so much a matter
of interpreting a preconceived idea but rather of continuously
working on and within the piece. The musical work becomes practice,
action.” And so the work grew and developed over a period of one and
a half year, as a process of memorizing and forgetting. In may 2003
it is played for the first time live at the ‘Küche’ in Berlin. The
present recording is made in Fagaschinski’s flat during four days in
december. Two versions of ‘Rebecca are on this cd, variation 5 and 6,
both recorded in real time.
Both versions offer a serene and meditatieve work with subtile and
fragile sounds. The music slowly progresses and is almost static at
moments. It’s a very stripped down and minimalistic work. The playing
is reductionist, with lots of long notes from the clarinet, and short
attacks from the guitar. As background music it completely
disappears. Listening intensively, the music often failed to keep and
attrack my attention. So in the end I don’t know what to do with it.
Too much concept and much too less vibes in my experience. But that
may be different for you (DM).
Address: http://www.charhizma.com/
DEAD LETTERS SPELL OUT DEAD WORDS (CD by Ideal Recordings)
The oddly named Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words I heard before and
maybe even heard some of their/his music. Behind this band is one
Thomas Ekelund from Gothenburg, Sweden, who is also a member of
Normal Music (along with Jeff Surak), Dead+Hurt, Winquist/Virtanen
and who also runs the Fukk God label (releasing CDRs, MP3s etc.). As
DLSODW, Ekelund spells the book of ambient, but is most of the times
much louder than the his ambient predecessors. Not a sea wash of
analogue or digital synths at work here, but rather the laptop
version thereof. His computer is a blender in which he throws all the
elements – ambience, field recordings (some rumblings of contact
microphones going on here), synths – and all of this is stirred well
and together with a large dose of computer processing, it’s music
that is influenced by the ambience surrounding them. But all with
more energy and power than a regular ambient music release. Ekelund
sources are obvious Eno meeting Fennesz and minimal music meeting the
ambient side of Oval. Maybe not the most innovative thing in this
area, but still quite a nice release, that works overall quite good.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.idealrecordings.com
QUOTIDIAN ASSEMBLAGES VOLUME TWO (CDR by Haltapes)
CAMPAU/MCGEE – HOAX (CDR by Haltapes)
HART/GOFF/MCGEE – MESHED MIXAGES (CDR by Haltapes)
Following hot on the heels of Volume, there is now a second volume of
Quotidian Assemblages, a compilation based on ‘ordinary everyday
sounds’. Many of these pieces are about ‘sticking a microphone
outside the window, picking up the signal’ or in some other cases the
plain recording of machines, such as the pieces by Copper Kung or Mac
Of Bionight. This makes this series into more a mail-art music
project than a pure musical thing. More so than the first volume,
this contains music from people I never heard of such as Planetaldol,
Binter Timbre, Part Of Me, The Serota Tendency, Dave Fuglewicz. In
fact I just recognized the names of XV Paworek, Gintas K and Fever
Spoor. Like with the first volume, I think the pieces that actually
do something with the sound are the more interesting ones, such as
Part Of Me or Bruce Beverlin II. This ‘Quotidian Assemblages’ grows
into a nice series. And be sure: many more to come.
And with this compilation there are two further releases which
involve Hal McGee (see also Vital Weekly 404). The first one is a duo
recording with one Don Campau, of whom I know nothing. On their
lenghty release (two tracks, seventy seven minutes of music), McGee
and Campau do an extensive freakout in music. The music is made by
the exchange of music via mail (one of the pieces is called ‘Forward
As An Attachment’) with Campau delivering the sources of short
samples and McGee adding his sounds later on the multi-track. There
is an extensive use of electric piano sound, along with ebow-ed
guitars, strummings and tons of sound effects. Not every moment of
this work is done with great care, sometimes it’s a great hit or miss
here, but especially the quieter moments work quite well. I could
have imagined a work that was a bit shorter and a bit more edited,
would have doubled the impact.
Also lenghty is the release by Hal McGee, Charles Rice Goff III and
Bret Hart, but at least in these seventy minutes we get nineteen
diverse tracks. Again nothing of any sort of instruments are listed,
not any notes on the recordings, but the website learns us that this
was made via the postal system. Bret Hart plays prepared guitar, a
Pan-Jo and several toys. Goff III plays synths, guitar and various
electronics, while McGee plays mostly things with keys. While this
improvisational playing, it’s quite a nice release, since the tracks
are quite short. Not every track is great, but at least one can
easily go zapping through this and go to the nicer tracks. Sometimes
the playing is quite tight and close, but at other times things are
too far away, like in ‘The Alones’. But a piece like ‘Throb &
Throblette’ is quite nice, and sounds a like good ol’ Throbbing
Gristle. As said a varied bunch of music, which like the Campau/McGee
release is maybe a bit long. A critical ear is needed. (FdW)
Address: http://www.hometown.aol.com/haltapes1/index.html
TAKU UNAMI – INTRANSIGENT TOWARDS THE DETECTIVES OF CAPITAL (CDR by W.M.O/R)
I have no idea who Taku Unami is, but on this limited CDR he is
credited for playing ‘computer’. While this being a release by
W.M.O/R, the label of Basque native Mattin, I assume there would be a
lot of computerized noise on this release. But it starts out with a
lot of silent stuff. For seconds and seconds nothing seem to be
happening, and then occassionally there is a few sounds. Slowly this
piece builts up over the next half hour as more and more sounds drop
in and at one point they start dropping out again. There are moments
when maybe two or three sounds can be heard, which are the most
active bits here. It’s hard to tell which are the sound sources Unami
uses, because the sound is highly fragmented. The second and final
piece uses the same sort of structure as the first piece, but here
the sounds are louder, of course when they do sound at all. This not
an easy work of music, and might be best compared to Taku Sugimoto:
what he does on the guitar, this guy does on the computer. If you
like silent music, here is your thing. (FdW)
Address: http://www.mattin.org
ERIC COOK & BEN BRACKEN – FRAMED/FROZEN (CDR by Simulated)
A quick second encounter with Eric Cook, the former drummer of
Gravitar and Bantam Rooster, after his solo CD ‘I Will Not Be Angry
Anymore’ (see Vital Weekly 389). Here he teams up with Ben Bracken,
who is a composer and improviser, who plays in Flashpaper, The Remote
Viewing Ensemble and Showdown At The Equator. As an improviser he
played with Kevin Drumm, Fred van Hove, Brent Gutzeit, Gene Coleman
and Wener Dafeldecker. Having written all that, I don’t know what he
actually plays. Eric Cook was a drummer, but now works on the
computer. This joint work was made for a period of two years and
uses, I think, the amplification of textured material, reworked or
live processed using computers and is foremost a delicate matter.
Despite the somewhat over extensive use of reverb, which add a
somewhat esoteric feel to some of the pieces – and which is
unnecessary, I think – they work their way nicely through the pieces,
with the rumbling of bottles on concrete, wood being cracked with
bare hands and more of somesuch. Microsound might indeed be an
appropiate word for this music, but it’s a kind of microsound that is
firmly rooted in ambient industrial music of the mid-nineties. More
Asmus Tietchens than Steve Roden I’d say, but hey, that’s hardly an
insult. Fine, carefully crafted work. (FdW)
Address: http://www.simulated.net
ORPHAX – AS THE STONE FALLS IT WON’T COME UP AGAIN (MP3)
From the suburbs of Amsterdam comes Orphax, the soundproject of
Sietse van Erve. He has released a couple of albums and was part of
the ‘We’re Running Out Of West’ compilation (see Vital Weekly 317).
Here he offers one track, which lasts some eightteen minutes. I
haven’t heard much other music by Orphax, so I can’t say wether this
is typical or not, but this is quite an enjoyable effort. Orphax
spreads out a bed of ambient synthesizers, far away tinkles a piano –
maybe a recording from Orphax as a small child? – and a distant cry.
Add some downtempo beats which tick time away. It’s melancholical
music, but somehow of a different kind that the whole Morr Music
sound. Orphax is just a bit more dark edged in his use of
synthesizers, and the sounds are more stretched out, as in real
ambient music. Great final hour of the day music. (FdW)
Address: http://www.orphax.cjb.net
COELACANTH – MUD WALL (CDR by Mystery Sea)
You may have never heard of Coelacanth, but it’s the collaborative
effort of Loren Chasse (whom you may know from the works in his own
name) and Jim Haynes (who writes for The Wire and for Acqarius
Records site). While this is released by Mystery Sea there is
obviously some reference to the sea made. The band name is from a
fish, a 400 million years old “living fossil” which mostly
congregates in submarine caves. Loren and Jim collected a whole bunch
of organic material in the studio, like wood and metal and started
scraping them. The sounds are fed through a whole bunch of delay and
reverb units, until a thick, waving pattern of sound started
vibrating the studio walls. A careful rumbling of objects takes place
over the course over forty minutes and off and on they seem to be
using field recordings of water. Maybe not as peaceful as some of the
other Mystery Sea releases: it seems that there is a darker edge
about this release, a more unearthy machine-like deep end hum.
Soundwise this gets quite close to the old Small Cruel Party sound,
and since he’s long gone, it’s good to have something like that
again. (FdW)
Address: http://www.mysterysea.net
DEAD LETTERS SPELL OUT DEAD WORDS / MODERNART (7″ by Robot Riot)
Two swedish projects split this 7″ slab of vinyl. The glitch drone
pop project Dead Letters graces the A side with a track that is split
into 2 parts. “my heart is filled with darkness, but there’s still
disarray” sounds like the disarray trying to get out of a box wrapped
in plastic. Or is one trying to bring order to the disarray by
wrapping it up? The piece seques into the second part entitled “…is
dark no more, the night is dark no more, the night.” Here sounds of
backwards guitars are added, creating a bleak drone. On the flipside
Modern Art continues the feeling of desolation, but adds a sense of
hope, yet it never overcomes the bleakness. A slow hymn-like
accordian pad accompanies a panning drone as a distant train like
sound echos in the distance. Great cover art as well. (JS)
Address: http://www.robotriot.nu/
OK_01 – TO A.K. W/BEST WISHEZ (MP3 by Nexsound)
This is the second mp3 release by this member of the Moglass on the
Kharkov imprint, Nexsound. The ep is no doubt dedicated to the label
boss Andrey Kiritchenko. It opens with a short prelude for loop and
harmonica, which has the strange feel of something that Mark Twain
might have heard going down the Mississippi on a steamboat. The
second untitled track is based on a phasing loop with a synth melody
on top. Too short i think, as the basic material could have been
developed further. The third piece is a happy little melodic loop
that repeats and goes through different variations moving from a
synth to xylophone type sound all the while being destroyed by
various effects with a good dose of electronic noises thrown in the
mix. The final track is again based on a swirling loop, with the
addition of drum machine. In a strange way it recalls the old S.F.
band Breather with the distant droning vocals and a hit of piano.
There are alot of ideas crammed into this 10 minute ep so there is
plenty to enjoy despite the short length. Very different from the
first ok_01 release and a lot of fun. (JS)
Address: http://www.nexsound.org/ok_01_2ak.html