MAX RICHTER – THE BLUE NOTEBOOKS (CD by Fat Cat/130701)
MINIMAL SELF – FORMULA OF REVERSAL (CD by Wavetrap)
COURTIS & MARHAUG – NORTH AND SOUTH NEUTRINO (CD by Antifrost)
LASSE MARHAUG – THE SHAPE OF ROCK TO COME (CD by Small Town Supersound)
CATHODE – SPECIAL MEASURES (CD by Expanding Records)
BATTERY OPERATED & MADE – APROTIC (CD by Cocosolodciti)
PAULO RAPOSO & MARC BEHRENS – FURTHER CONSEQUENCES OF
REINTERPRETATION (CD by Cronica)
JOERG PIRINGER – VOKAI (CD by Transacoustic Research)
CHARLES RICE GOFF III & DON CAMPAU – REUPHOLSTERED VINYL (CDR by
Taped Rugs Productions)
ERNESTO RODRIGUEZ & ALFREDO COSTA MONTEIRO & GUILHERME RODRIGUEZ &
MARGARIDA GARCIA – CESURA (CD by Creative Sources)
BORIS BALTSCHUN & AXEL DORNER & KAI FAGASCHINKSI – NO FURNITURE (CD
by Creative Sources)
INSTRUMENTALS (CD compilation by List)
FON – DEN REICHEN ZUR MAHNUNG DEN ARMEN ZUM TROSTE ALLEN ZUM HEILE
(3″CD by Werkzeug)
KK NULL/OVO SPLIT EP (3″CD by Bar La Muerte)
FREIBAND – SIJIS RMX (CDR by Sijis)
HEARSE – DEAD ON AUDIO (3″CDR by Scarcelight)
SPRAGGADAT & PIRRE – ENDING (3″CDR by Scarcelight)
EVOL – PUNANI SHELL (CD by Scarcelight)
AMM – AT THE ROUNDHOUSE (CD by Anomalous Records)
THE LOOP ORCHESTRA – NOT OVERTLY ORCHESTRAL (CD by Quecksilber)
ROBERT MILLIS – RECORDINGS FROM LAOS, CAMBODIA, THAILAND AND MYANMAR
(CD by Anomalous Records)
HILARY JEFFERY – SOLO TROMBONE & ELECTRONICS (CD by FMR Records)
EL CAMINO/ZOPPO (split 7″ by Muze Records/Drowning Man)
HENRIK RYLANDER – FORMATION (CD by Firework Edition)
EMULSION – DEATH OF THE AUTHOR (CDEP by Emulsionmusic)
RLW – VIEWS (CD by Anomalous Records)
MENU:EXIT – VOOL EP (10″ by Underscan Records)
ANDREW DEUTSCH – LUNG CLEANER (CD by Anomalous Records)
YITUEY – ESPACIO = VIDA (3″CDR by Paralelo 18)
BIOTA/MNEMONISTS – MUSIQUE ACTUELLE 1990 (CD by Anomalous Records)
EARZUMBA – HERMOSO MOVIMIENTO/FLORECE ESCONDIDO (CD by Dialsinfin)
EARZUMBA – PLAYBACK EMOTIVO (3″CDR by The Locus Of Assemblage)
THOMAS MOORE – THE PACE/THE PERIPHERY (3″CDR by Mark Of Pins)
WECHSEL GARLAND & WORLD STANDARD – THE ISLE (CD by Staubgold)
IMBECIL (CDrom by Alku/Imbecil)
PURE/DEKAM – REQUOIL DISPLACED PEACEOFF (DVD by dOc)
MAX RICHTER – THE BLUE NOTEBOOKS (CD by Fat Cat/130701)
Max Richter is a classical composer who studied composition and piano
in Scotland in Florence with the late Luciano Berio. He co-founded an
ensemble called Piano Circus, performing the works of Arvo Part,
Brian Eno, Philip Glass and Steve Reich. Richter also introduced the
group to using samples and worked later on with Future Sound Of
London and Roni Size. On 130701, Fat Cat’s more classical imprint, he
produces a CD that combines both electronic and ensemble pieces –
consisting of piano, violin and cello. There is some pieces a
narration, with texts from Kafka and Milosz, but there are kind of
hard to follow. Overal the music is quite melancholical which at one
point tends to be modern classical (in ‘On The Nature Of Daylight’)
at other points totally electronic in ‘Arboretum’.
In ‘Shadow Journal’ both worlds meet. Field recordings, synth lines
and loosely playing on the instruments. Strangely enough both worlds
do seem to mix pretty well and the album is much more coherent than
it may sound on paper. Sometimes the atmosphere gets a little to
esoteric for my taste, such as the organ/choir piece ‘Iconography’
and I thought that in some pieces the ghost of Arvo Part was a little
too present but on this morning with snow gently falling it’s quite a
nice release of melancholic music. Music for autumn and winter times.
Address: http://www.fat-cat.co.uk
MINIMAL SELF – FORMULA OF REVERSAL (CD by Wavetrap)
Behind Minimal Self we find John Everall, also formerly known as
Tactile and man from the Sentrax label. His solo CD ‘is an attempt to
document via sound a period of intense psychological turmoil’ and ‘to
achieve this end Everall uses samples of his own speech which are
manipulated and mutilated as an act of concealment which in itself is
revealing in much the same way as the ‘unspeech’ of schizophrenics’.
Everall uses as inspiration the notion of ‘direct film’ by Len Lye,
who scratched direct onto celluloid to map out his own nervous
system. I must say it all sounds mighty interesting, at least in
writing. The fifty or so minute piece on the other hand doesn’t sound
very inspiring to hear. Low resolution samples of what seems to be
voice manipulations, fed through a bunch of effects, but which never
grasp the listener in anyway, at least not to me. Maybe as a personal
purge, the end result of psychological turmoil, or maybe even music
brut it might work and even appeal to some listener, to me it just
didn’t do very much. I think music should be powerful also if you
don’t know the story behind it, and that is sadly not the case here.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.post-pop.org
COURTIS & MARHAUG – NORTH AND SOUTH NEUTRINO (CD by Antifrost)
LASSE MARHAUG – THE SHAPE OF ROCK TO COME (CD by Small Town Supersound)
Of course you know Lasse Marhaug. From all things Norwegian he is
probably the most active player on the scene, with his bands
Jazzkammer but also with his numerous collaborations with people like
Kevin Drumm, Aube, Merzbow, Kim Cascone, Maja Ratkje, Tore Boe,
Francisco Lopez and that’s not even half the list. Here he teams up
with Anla Courtis, the guitarist and main composer of the Argentinian
group Reynols. Over the last five years they have been working on
this piece, which is about forty-five minutes in duration. Things
evolve very high and very low pitches of sound, but they are divided.
Over the course of the pieces things move from the higher end of the
sound spectrum to the lower end of the spectrum in a very gentle way.
These two composers take their time to let things take their own way
and make a sort of natural evolvement of the piece. It moves in a
rather majestical way. Maybe soundwise not the most innovative piece
but certainly in it’s kind a very strong piece. Good sturdy
experimental music, just the way it should be.
With all his collaborative works and band efforts you might forget
that Mr. Marhaug is also a solo artist even when little solo works
seem to appear. On this new solo CD – the title being a pun at
Cornette Oleman’s ‘The Shape Of Jazz To Come’ – Marhaug takes a look
at extreme music from the last four decades from free jazz via Velvet
Underground and heavy metal to Whitehouse and Merzbow. Primarily
Marhaug uses the guitar as his source instrument, coupled with his
computer and his effect boxes. Marhaug offers what is to expected: a
full range blast of noise, but there are moments of almost ambient
music, such as the ending of ‘Magmadiver’. But these are sparse
moments. For maybe 95% this is a true orgy of noise. However Marhaug
is one of the better players in the field of noise music – he
controlls his material like only a few others can do and this CD
should be an example for those who try their hands at noise music.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.antifrost.gr
Address: http://www.smalltownsupersound.com
CATHODE – SPECIAL MEASURES (CD by Expanding Records)
From the world of such fine electronica labels as Static Caravan,
Awkward Silence, Unbearable and of course Expanding Records, comes
the first full length album by Cathode, aka Steve Jefferis from
Newcastle Upon-Tyne. This is the world of technoid rhythms, grainy
samples and melancholic keyboards, spread out over eight tracks.
Rhythms bounce all over the place, nice spacious synthlines and
sampled guitars, bring joy to the world. Joyful and uptempo with
relaxing moments. Not entirely smooth but the rougher edges make this
into quite a nice experience. Also there is a film by Rob Kennedy
with Cathode’s music – a pattern of abstract lines follow the music
quite nicely. Nice work throughout, pleasent afternoon work music.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.expandingrecords.com
BATTERY OPERATED & MADE – APROTIC (CD by Cocosolodciti)
Battery Operated might be known for their two previous CD releases
(see Vital Weekly 258 and 270), in which they combine musique
concrete with more techno related musics, here they team up with
Made, aka Mike Wiliamson, who was once a member of Gescom and who had
several 12″s on Skam. On their joint record they step into the world
of electro(-nic) music with traces of a lot of different sorts of
dance music – from electro to hip hop to techno. Mostly uptempo music
which towards the end of the disc is a little tiring – too much is
sometimes just too much. They feed their basic rhythm tracks through
a whole bunch of effects and the music is loaded with effects all
over the place. The rhythms might be classified as minimal but it’s
dense layered, so the minimalist trend is reversed into a maximalist
piece of music. As said, it might be a little bit too much to take on
at once, but it will make a few spins on the more adventurous DJs
around. (FdW)
Address: http://www.cocosolidciti.com
PAULO RAPOSO & MARC BEHRENS – FURTHER CONSEQUENCES OF
REINTERPRETATION (CD by Cronica)
To describe what led to this CD is not an easy task. It started with
the artist *0 (Nosei Sakata) who invited a bunch of people to remix
his CD ‘O.000’ (which delt in many ways with silence, or at least
sounds outside the hearing range) and among them was Marc Behrens.
After the results were released, Marc Behrens continued to recycle
the results of others and here is where Paulo Raposo comes in. This
Portugese composer is mostly known as the owner of that other fine
Portugese label, Sirr-ecords. The result is a CD with no less than
twenty-one tracks, which however seem to be mostly one piece with
various index points. The silent *0 CD is being scanned by using the
fast word button of the CD player and the actual sounds it produces
is just throughout this CD as source material. Needles to say that
this is a very ‘microsounding’ work: it glitches in many ways, plug
ins are applied, the dynamic range is kept wide – ranging from soft
to loud and makes this into quite an enjoyable CD. Completed with a
conceptual cover design I was very much reminded of P16.D4: extensive
recycling of similar sounds and images, from a previous, finished
project moving to the next one. A fine but somewaht neglected
tradition. It’s good to see people doing that again. (FdW)
Address: http://www.cronicaelectronica.org
JOERG PIRINGER – VOKAI (CD by Transacoustic Research)
You may, just as me, never heard of Joerg Piringer, but this Austrian
guy is a founding member of the Institute For Transacoustic Research
and a member of the First Vienna Vegetable Orchestra (and yes, they
play only real vegetables!). For his first solo CD, Joerg uses stolen
voice samples from radio and TV. On this Cd he has sixteen tracks
which are a pretty varied bunch of musics. Noise in ‘Pixo’, minimal
techno in ‘Cmd No’ (in a sort of Wolfgang Voigt kind of way), clicks
in ‘Olaaatst’. But the main thing about all of these tracks is that
they are all based around rhythmical samples and loops. Words or
sentences are heard to decypher throughout this release and it’s
probably the idea that we don’t understand a word of it. But overall
this is quite a nice release, although, like many others these days,
maybe a bit too lengthy for my taste. (FdW)
Address: http://www.transacoustic-research.com
CHARLES RICE GOFF III & DON CAMPAU – REUPHOLSTERED VINYL (CDR by
Taped Rugs Productions)
The recentely unearthed name of Charles Rice Goff III has a new
release with Don Campau (also recentely reviewed a couple of times in
Vital Weekly). Together they cover ten songs from well-known artists
such as David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, The Animals, Talking Heads,
Robert Wyatt (well, actually it’s Costello’s ‘Shipbuilding’) and
more. Other than ‘Shipbuilding’ I didn’t know any of these songs, but
in my defense I can state I am remotely away from popmusic for at
least twenty years, so please forgive me. This makes reviewing this
CD not an easy task, since I am not really familiar with the
originals. I however believe they stay, playing their instruments and
adding samples, close to a rock band. Which is actually quite nice,
since it’s quite a coherent bunch of songs, even when the originals
come from various musical backgrounds. Whoever is singing here, the
voice sounds most like Bowie’s! Quite a nice and coherent collection
of songs, that will be appealling to those of love alternative rock
music that for once is not lo-fi but excellentely produced. (FdW)
Address: http://www.geocities.com/padukem
ERNESTO RODRIGUEZ & ALFREDO COSTA MONTEIRO & GUILHERME RODRIGUEZ &
MARGARIDA GARCIA – CESURA (CD by Creative Sources)
Improvisor and composer Ernesto Rodrigues (1959) has over 20 twenty
years of experience on playing the violin in the context of
contemporaty and improvised music. He is a leading figure on the
Portuguese scene for improvised music. In 1999 he began the Creative
Sources Recordings label as an outlet for improvised music he is
(often) involved in.
As earlier work shows, he is mainly interested in sound and texture.
With his new one ‘Cesura’ this is also the case. Nothing new in this
respect.
He is accompanied by his son Guilherme (1988), who choose cello and
pocket trumpet as his instrument and cooperates often with his
father. Alfredo Costa Monteiro (1964) is a visual artist as well as
an music improvisor. Since 1995 he plays electric guitar and
accordion in a diversity of collaborarions. Here on ‘Cesura’ he plays
accordion. Margarida Garcia (1977) is a double-bas player from
Lisbon, and cooperated with Sei Miguel and Manuel Mota.
On a day in july, 2003 they together recorded ‘Cesura’ at the Tcha
tcha tcha Studio in Lisbon.
“This music is cut with a flick knife over the surface of silence,
which is why Ernesto boasts that this is his ‘least musical’ work.
Each stab of sound, each sudden construction dug into the
sequentiality is a mark left in time and a move, a gesture, against
inertia. A poetry of remainings, in a word” Rui Eduardo Paes writes
in the liner notes.
Because of their focus on sound, painting is the metaphor that I find
most fitting for what they are doing. Carefully and concentrated they
produce little patterns on the white canvas of silence. They are not
afraid of the white canvas. Silence remains their best friend, as
their playing is sparse and non-spectacular. Concerning their
playing, of course they do not play their instruments in a
conventional way. The instruments serve as a soundsource to be
generated in any thinkable way. And I must say the musicians are
capable of distracting of great diversity of sounds from their
instruments.
We do have here a kind of music that is ‘complete’. But on the other
hand this kind of soundimprovisation does not deliver the kind of
dynamics and tension we know from more conventional music. That’s why
I like more the shorter pieces (DM)
Address: http://www.geocities.com/creativesources_rec/
BORIS BALTSCHUN & AXEL DORNER & KAI FAGASCHINKSI – NO FURNITURE (CD
by Creative Sources)
‘No Furniture’ unites three young german musicians, who all have
there base in Berlin on a cd released by the portuguese label
Creative Sources.
Baltschun (1974) studied composition and electronic music in The
Hague (Netherlands).
Worked and works with people like Dror Feiler, Günter Christmann,
Conny Bauer and Wolfgang Fuchs.
Composer and clarinetplayer Kai Fagaschinski (1974) is focused on the
musicality of noise phenomena. His many collaboartions include a
quartet with Burkhard Beins (percussion), Serge Baghdassarians
(electric guitar) and Boris Baltschun (sampler), and very recent a
duo work with gitarist Michael Renkel (‘Rebecca’).
Axel Dörner (1964) studied trumpet subsequently in Arnhem
(Netherlands) and Cologne. Originally he stayed in Cologne, but his
activities increased whem he moved to Berlin in 1994. To name a few:
Robert Rutman, Annette Krebs, Butch Morris, Jim Denley and so on.
Berlin is also the place where they recorded ‘No Furniture’ between
november 2002 and oktober 2003. So they worked steady on a first sign
of life, since their start in 2001.
No idea why it is relased on Creative Sources, but it’s evident that
this trio has a familiar approach to improvised music as the circle
around Ernesto Rodrigues. That’s to say these improvisors have there
main interest in soundresearch and texture.
The clarinet produces long, clean notes. The trumpet sputters and
grumbles. The sample makes all kinds of noisy excursions. How
abstract the music may be, the ‘titles’ are very basic, simple and
represented pictographic: ‘Chair’, ‘Table’ and ‘Bed’.
Compared to the improvisations of Rodrigues and friends, these
improvisations are less turning and changing. Instead they chose for
duration of sounds so that they get a real ‘body’ and can make a
stronger impression on the listener (DM).
Address: http://www.geocities.com/creativesources_rec
INSTRUMENTALS (CD compilation by List)
The small French label List maybe be small but their releases so far
fill me with you. Their second compilation explores ‘the relations
between acoustic instruments and digital process’. It features a wide
range of musicians and composers, with different backgrounds. Janek
Schaeffer for instance uses a ‘record player for the blind, mixer,
pedals and on screen collage’, so that hardly sounds like an
instrument. At the other end we find Matthieu Saladin and Ivan Soland
who do a blass clarinet duo. However most others play instruments (or
have them played) and process them digitally. Steinbruchel for
instance process guitar playing by Herve Boghossian (label head
honcho). In many of the eleven pieces here there is some careful
playing and processing going on. Each piece takes a fair amount of
time and the acoustic element is never lost whilst the digital
element is always present somewhere. Take Andrea Gabriele’s piano,
double and electric bass and percussion piece: sounding glitchy and
ambient, the real instrumental touch is not lost. Lastly the
combination of somewhat more known and unknown players make this into
a fine introduction aswell something to recognize and be surprised
of. Mitchell Akiyama (nice violin piece!), Gunter Muller, Werner
Dafeldecker, martin Siewert and Sebastian Roux may sell the CD but
Julien Tardieu, Colleen or Herve Boghossian are certainly names to
watch out. A very nice compilation. (FdW)
Address: http://www.list-en.com
FON – DEN REICHEN ZUR MAHNUNG DEN ARMEN ZUM TROSTE ALLEN ZUM HEILE
(3″CD by Werkzeug)
Huge title for a 3″ CD. I wonder what it means? It’s the 6th release
from Werkzeug, a label based in Vienna, Austria, that puts out mostly
releases from Formation Ohne Name or just FON. This is the first
release I’ve heard from FON and I’m most pleasantly surprised. All 4
short audio pieces sound great, and there’s also additional mp3-data
recording of 60 minutes mostly talking about something in german
language I don’t understand. The sound of the audio pieces, which are
12 and a half minutes altogether, is mainly in the interesting edgy
ambient area, with pulsating droney backgrounds sometimes. It’s very
well done, sounds fresh, clever, clear and challenging. Short but
effective. I’m definitely interested to hear more from FON. Funny,
the last track from this EP, titled Wir Alle, starts with a voice
sample that sounds like a shorter version of the voice sample used in
the Bovine Life remix of Self-Seal Mishap by Tennis that can be found
on the bonus CD with remixes that goes with their album Furlines
(released by Bip Hop). I don’t know if FON know about this. But
that’s my favourite remix there and I like that sample very much. If
someone knows where those 2 extremely similar voice-samples in Bovine
Life remix and in this FON track are taken from, please let me know.
(BR)
Address: http://www.wrkzg.net
KK NULL/OVO SPLIT EP (3″CD by Bar La Muerte)
A 3″CD is a great thing to review. I’ve mentioned OVO once before
when I reviewed some releases from Bar La Muerte, check Vital 397.
OVO are the italian hardcore musicians (Stefania on vocals + guitar,
Jacopo/sax, Bruno/guitar and Capoccia on drums) who have played live
in many places touring around, they’ve been even in Skopje, Macedonia
on 24.03.2001. I like their Vaevictis EP released by Bar La Muerte in
2002. Even though I don’t like this kind of guitar/rock based
hardcore music very much, they easily managed to become my favourite
hardcore band. I don’t even see them as hardcore, more just as a band
that makes really great music with a rougher edge. Vaevictis is often
close to jazz.
On this short EP there are 2 tracks from OVO remixed by
Miniwagonwheel. They both sound very good: Claws is like the
electronic version of the original OVO sound, or how OVO would sound
if they were making their music with computers instead of the
instruments they use; and Tails is much closer to their original
sound. KK Null offers one nice piece of his ‘cosmic noise
minimalism’. But I think the OVO tracks is what I’d go for. Keep on
rockin! Both OVO and KK Null. (BR)
Address: http://www.barlamuerte.com + http://www.kknull.com
FREIBAND – SIJIS RMX (CDR by Sijis)
This is the 8th release from the label Sijis. It’s called Sijis Rmx,
but it’s not actually a classic remix. Frans de Waard aka Freiband
has taken some sounds from the previous Sijis releases to make a 15
minutes long atmospheric drone. The sound of this new piece is
stretched, layered, very calm and linear, the only rumblings appear
at the very beginning, in the first 5 seconds. It sounds like all 15
minutes after that are catapulted from those 5 seconds at the start.
I like that. Nice EP. (BR)
Address: http://www.sijis.com
HEARSE – DEAD ON AUDIO (3″CDR by Scarcelight)
SPRAGGADAT & PIRRE – ENDING (3″CDR by Scarcelight)
EVOL – PUNANI SHELL (CD by Scarcelight)
Scarcelight is a label run by Chris Jeely, also known as Accelera
Deck, and there are more 3″ and regular size (or is it the other way
around?) CDs and CDRs released by this label recently. One of them is
the 3″EP from Hearse: 20 minutes in 2 tracks, of which the first is
much longer, 19 minutes. The music is explained by the label as “a
no-fi destroyed bliss masterpiece”. This is new to me, no-fi, I like
this term. I haven’t been exposed to no-fi music much, at least not
consciously. I’d call this music no-fi ambience, it is there,
surrounding you, in a no-wave atmospheric way, you’re safe but still
don’t know what to expect, so better listen carefully. This is a nice
release.
The other 3″EP by Spraggadat & Pirre is divided in 4 untitled tracks
with various lengths. It’s also more noisy. The first track is build
of stretched intense noise-drone. But it’s not just harsh noise, the
atmosphere calms down in the other tracks, and other softly distorted
sounds appear. This is rougher music, obviously Scarcelight likes to
cover those musical fields with a rawer edge.
Now, prepare to meet the evil Evol. Or maybe you already know them
from their Principio EP on Mego released in 1999? Here they are
again, with another EP release on Scarcelight, their first release
since the Mego EP. OK well, the first longer release, because they
also have a track on the Full compilation released by Antifrost. That
track is like a smaller part of this almost 22-min EP which
completely fulfills the idea of ‘full music’. It’s very different
from their Mego release. Evol are Roc, Anna and their chinchilla
(www.cavyrescue.co.uk/chinchilla_guide.htm) pet Perkele. They also
run the nice label Alku from Barcelona. The chinchilla info page
says: “Loud voices and sudden noises will also disturb chinchilla’s,
so keep them out of busy hallways, and the clicking sound normally
made to budgies will only worry and confuse them, so always talk to
them using a soft and soothing tone.” Anna, Roc, do you know this?
What Evol offer here is furious, loud and mad music, and I like it!
Constantly shifting fragments of sound, fractured all the time.
That’s good, the noise is broken and there are many short moments of
silence that allow some rest in this fully present music, total
opposite of Ronnie Sundin’s music for example. (BR)
Address: http://scarcelight.com
AMM – AT THE ROUNDHOUSE (CD by Anomalous Records)
AMM have been around since probably a lot of readers where not born
or still in diapers – and that includes me. Since the mid sixties AMM
is a group including Eddie Prevost, Keith Rowe, Lou Gare and Lawrence
Sheaff, later versions included also Cornelius Cardew, Christopher
Hobbs and Christian Wolff. By 1972, when this recording was made, AMM
was only Prevost on percussion and Gare on tenor saxophone. Today AMM
still exists of Prevost, Rowe (guitar) and John Tilbury (piano). In
August 1972 a festival was held in London called the International
Carnival of Experimental Sound, short ICES 72, organised by Harvey
“Job” Matusow, which included some 300 artists from over 21
countries. The festival included films, dance, happenings but the
main thing was music. Anomalous Records, no longer an excellent
mailorder service, now unearthed the recordings of the festival and
AMM kick off what will hopefully be an excellent series of unusual,
improvised music. This is the first time that the entire concert is
released (there was a 7″ of some of this concert by Incus in the
seventies). Although a line up of drums and a sxaophone might ring a
‘jazz’ bell, Prevost states in the liner notes that their work was
‘decidedly non jazz’ – but for the untrained ear, this might be hard
to believe. The free improvised music here (and more from the same
period), I think, is the most jazz work of the entire AMM work – the
element of silence that has become a later trademark of AMM, is
present here already, but only for shorter periods. The liner notes
also recall the indifference of the audience during the concert. That
might be so, but luckily enough the concert was recorded and now we
can enjoy it. This is an essential recording to understand more about
the development of AMMusic and should be part of anyone’s collection
of improvised music (like, I must add, all other AMM releases). (FdW)
Address: http://www.anomalousrecords.com
THE LOOP ORCHESTRA – NOT OVERTLY ORCHESTRAL (CD by Quecksilber)
A loop is a piece of sound that is continuously repeated. You knew
that from your musicsoftware, but before the days of computer, loops
were made of magnetic tape. At a workshop I learned they should be
cut with a demagnetized razorblade and that you use special sticky
tape and put that on the side with no music. The Loop Orchestra from
Australia have been around for maybe fifteen or more years, but never
released that much. The odd LP or cassette, but maybe this will
change with the release of this CD; this actually being their third
official release. The Loop Orchestra consists of five players, each
armed with tape-loops and reel-to-reel machines. Because the loops
have a varying length, things come and go in varying monents, some
sounds in a short time span and the others in a longer time span.
It’s hard to tell what exactely is the input of the sounds – musique
concrete, bird calls, a sigh etc. Sounds fade in and out, and make up
minimal sound pieces with strange atmospheres. The only problem I
have with this is that the sounds themselves are a bit undynamic.
Everything stays on the same level throughout and therefore no real
tension is created. That’s a pity because the ideas are pretty nice
themselves in this digital world. (FdW)
Address: http://www.quecksilber-music.com
ROBERT MILLIS – RECORDINGS FROM LAOS, CAMBODIA, THAILAND AND MYANMAR
(CD by Anomalous Records)
Holidays are in general not my thing. I rather be at home. A trip
that Robert Millis (part of the Climax Golden Twins) did, going to
South-East Asia and doing field recordings, now that’s the sort of
thing I would not say ‘no to. His trip went to Laos, Cambodia,
Thailand and Myanmar and on this CD one finds all sorts of sounds
connected to the place, not just animal also those of people. They
sign in cabs, streets and even a rendition of ‘More Than I Can Say’,
maybe famous by Leo Sawyer, by the drunken and possessed Burmese Pwe
Orchestra is to be found here. That makes this release into a map of
these countries. Like in the pages of an atlas where you can find
maps about population, about religious aspects, about wildlife, etc,
this CD is like an atlas too. Twenty-one pages, each page deals with
a certain aspect. However it’s an artistic atlas: you are told to
which country you are listening per track. However it doesn’t matter,
it’s a fascinating journey, even when you never visited these
countries. (FdW)
Address: http://www.anomalousrecords.com
HILARY JEFFERY – SOLO TROMBONE & ELECTRONICS (CD by FMR Records)
I don’t think I know that many pieces for trombone. After a hard long
think I only know Phill Niblock’s pieces which were played by James
Fulkerson – the exact same one as he who write the liner notes for
this CD by Hilary Jeffery. As the title implies, this CD is a work
for solo trombone and electronics. I think this music works best when
it’s kept minimal, in both trombone and electronic part, such as in
‘Oil Hell’ or ‘Strangel’, which carries a lot of tension. When
Jeffery goes into a more free improvised mood, I must admit I am
lesser interested. It sounds too regular to be really captivating and
his use of samples not very interesting. Roughly these two interests
keep themselves in a 50-50 balance here, which makes I have mixed
feelings about the CD. The half that I really, I really and the other
half… well, I won’t skip while playing… (FdW)
Address: http://www.fmr-records.com
EL CAMINO/ZOPPO (split 7″ by Muze Records/Drowning Man)
Partly a follow up to their second LP ‘Laika’ (see Vital Weekly 400),
this is for sure a big step into a new direction for El Camino. So
far their releases were post rock music, totally instrumental, but
here there they use vocals. For the occassion they have a
guestsinger, Sebastian Cupido (from the band Min), who will also sing
on a few lines on the forthcoming El Camino CD. It starts with a
repeating Steve Reich-like opening but unfolds into a melodic and
melancholic popsong once the vocals kick in. A nice song indeed and
the vocals certainly add a nice extra elements to El Camino.
Zoppo is also a dutch band, and they are on the other side. I know
they have been around for quite some time too, but I don’t think I
ever heard their music. About half the song is used for introduction
but they too use vocals, and overall, due to the same atmosphere and
melancholy of the vibrato guitars, they share a lot with El Camino
and that makes this into a nice split 7″. (FdW)
Address: http://www.muze-records.nl
HENRIK RYLANDER – FORMATION (CD by Firework Edition)
The work of Henrik Rylander has been reviewed before, via a 10″ (see
Vital Weekly 318) on the same label that now releases his solo
release. Rylander was a drummer in a rock band called Union Carbide
Productions, but since 1996 he works inside electronic music. On his
solo release he works with ‘controlled feedback from different
fx-units’. In each of the nine pieces (01, 02 etc they are called),
he plays around with them in a rhythmical way. Each of these pieces
is minimal and in each of the piece I thought: god, this sounds very
much like Pan Sonic area ‘Vakio’ or other works from that period, for
instance the first Noto or the first Goem CD. It seemed to me that
Rylander didn’t have many original ideas of his own and that he’s
years too late with his sound. I must say that it’s an excellent copy
though – in that respect he did a very nice job. (FdW)
Address: http://www.fireworkeditionrecords.com
EMULSION – DEATH OF THE AUTHOR (CDEP by Emulsionmusic)
Now here’s a band of which I never heard before, and who claim to be
influenced by Coil, Boards Of Canada and Godspeed You Black Emperor!
Their EP has five tracks of which the first is an eyecatcher: a cover
of The Cure’s ‘Pornography’ title track, here made into a dark
audiopoem. ‘Is Lust’ the hardest hitting track here, rhythmical noise
music. ‘Undone’ and ‘Sonido Negro’ are sombre, atmospherical pieces,
while ‘Every Machine Makes A Mistake’ is also atmospherical but with
gothesque drums. It’s nice stuff, but really a bit too far out my
place to really enjoy for a long time. The textural pieces are
alright, but overall a bit too much gothic sounding for me. (FdW)
Address: http://www.emulsionmusic.com
RLW – VIEWS (CD by Anomalous Records)
There was a time when RLW, which stands for Ralf Wehowsky, was a buzz
name. From his previous band P16.D4, he developes since the mid
nineties a strong solo career aswell as many collaborations with
people like Jim O’Rourke, Kevin Drumm, Bernard Gunter,
Duimelinks/Meelkop. But in more recent years his release schedule was
less hectic and now we have ‘Views’. Everything on this CD is made by
RLW with no input from anybody else. His source material includes
tone-generators, music boxes, toys, electric guitar and toothbrush.
Each of the four pieces here consist of RLW improvising three or four
times his sounds on to the computer, and creating a mix afterwards.
In the opening piece, ‘#1’ he only uses tone generators, by which he
creates quite densely layered patterns, that come in quite a chaotic
way at one point – unlike much other RLW material. In ‘#2’ he uses
the Orff instrumentarium (percussive instruments for children), which
he jams around and this is much more his territory: carefully
hoovering on the edge of silence. Something similar goes in ‘#3’, but
here it deals with the hallucinating simplicity of music boxes. These
two quieter pieces are the total contrast of ‘#4’, which uses various
feedback recordings of the two previous tracks and some added guitar
sounds – a fiery noise piece, which is again an unlike RLW piece.
Quite a strong CD, with some surprises for the RLW devotee. Moving
inside aswell as outside of his usual music, this is quite a step
forward. (FdW)
Address: http://www.anomalousrecords.com
MENU:EXIT – VOOL EP (10″ by Underscan Records)
The two boys behind Menu:Exit are also the founders of Underscan
Records (with previous releases by Scanner and Frank Bretschneider).
Menu:Exit’s 10″ is the follow up to their 2001 ‘Profiles EP’. ‘Vool’
opens up in a harmonic techno style, in which half way through a
flamenco guitar sounds. This by far the best track of the four, even
when the three other ones are also quite nice. The two tracks on the
b-side, ‘iyf’ and ‘linger’ are moodier, and more heldback, but for
all four tracks goes that they are excellent melancholic, richly
textured pieces, but ‘Vool’ remains the hit track. (FdW)
Address: http://www.underscan.de
ANDREW DEUTSCH – LUNG CLEANER (CD by Anomalous Records)
The name Andrew Deutsch I saw before, but I don’t think I ever heard
his work before. This CD was made for Eric Lanzillotta (Anomalous
Records boss) when he was sick, suffering from a serious lung
infection. Deutsch is a computer musician, who feeds his source
material (in this case: wine glasses, baby toys, pure tones, bells,
music boxes, water etc.) into the computer to create his music. Among
his influences he cites John Cage, Gyorgy Ligeti but also Merzbow.
The latters influence is not very present, I think. Although it’s not
stated on the cover, I think Deutsch uses a lot of Max/MSP processing
on his music. So far so good, but I couldn’t say that the music did
much for me. The four long pieces on this disc, seemed to me rather
haphazard put together sounds, seemingely put together without too
much notion of any compositional structure. Things didn’t seem to
come from nowhere, nor did they go anywhere. Except for the final
piece, ‘Sleep Fields (Go To Sleep)’, which lulls the listener into
sleep via an ever continueing crescendo. Otherwise I wasn’t too
pleased with this. (FdW)
Address: http://www.anomalousrecords.com
YITUEY – ESPACIO = VIDA (3″CDR by Paralelo 18)
The work of Yituey was discussed before in Vital Weekly 390 and here
he returns. Yituey is one Claudi Chea. Whereas the previous release
was recorded in the Dominican Republic, this new work contains
everyday sounds from Puerto Rico, again processed using computer
techniques, but Yituey maintains to keep a balance between the
original input and the processed output. We hear insect calls and
street sounds, set against a warm and glitchy soundtrack. Slow and
peaceful processings they are, probably capturing the mood of the day
on a hot, tropical island (I am guessing here, since I was never to
Puerto Rico). Just like the previous release, a very nice work of
soundscaping. (FdW)
Address: http://www.paralelo18.org
BIOTA/MNEMONISTS – MUSIQUE ACTUELLE 1990 (CD by Anomalous Records)
With the emerge of home computers and the easyness of using them for
music production it is hard to imagine that there was a point when
the studio was a seperate instrument, a place where you could shape
your music and expand beyond the limitations of any instrument or
sound. Now it seems so common and you can do it at home. Biota is a
group that has been around for at least twenty years as part of the
Mnemonists (who were a music group too, but now only concern with
visuals) and on the small output (at least when seen from a larger
time frame), Biota uses the studio as their instrument. Their members
play guitar, saxophone, piano, clarinet, accordion but also crumhorn,
curtal, rackett and shawm but it’s when it all comes together in the
studio where the real work is done. Needless to say it’s a band that
hardly performs live. But Anomalous unearthed this recording from
1990 when Biota (along with Mnemonists for the visual side) where
invited to Canada to bring the sound live in a specially commissioned
work in four movements. The CD is made out of the live performance
and the run through prior to the concert. Biota doesn’t use any such
thing as samples, tapes, synths etc and upon hearing this hearing
this recording, that is hard to believe – but I believe it’s true.
Especially in the lenghty opening and closing piece, things sound
distinctely electronic with highly processed instruments. In the
second and third piece, Biota plays much more free improvised music,
quite chaotic but a slight touch of folk music in the second piece.
The entire concert is a fascinating thing with many surprises all
over the place and an excellent display of their unique working
methods. And what struck me most: for a band that hardly plays live
it’s a great concert! A much underrated band, sadly. (FdW)
Address: http://www.anomalousrecords.com
EARZUMBA – HERMOSO MOVIMIENTO/FLORECE ESCONDIDO (CD by Dialsinfin)
EARZUMBA – PLAYBACK EMOTIVO (3″CDR by The Locus Of Assemblage)
You could make a CD with say ten tracks and say it’s ten different
albums on one CD? Silly? Maybe, but Christian Dergarabedian (a one
time member of Reynols, now living in Barcelona) offers two CDs
pressed on one disc – the first ten tracks make up ‘Hermoso
Movimiento’ and track twelve to nineteen make up ‘Florece Escondido’.
However, I think it’s hard to see it as two albums, since one puts
this one, and leaves it on until the end… Unlike his previous 7″ on
Drone Records (and the only work I heard), under his new monniker
Earzumba, Christian loves to sample other people’s work. On ‘Hermoso
Movimiento’ these samples are lifted from both popular media sources,
but also electro-acoustic sources, although the balance is in favor
of the media sources. However, it’s quite a nice version of
plunderphonica, as Christian takes the sound apart and puts it back
together in a rather abstract way, ie without recognizing too much of
the original. Although the blurb says that the differences between
the two albums are quite big, I don’t think that it’s case. However
with such a lenghty album (or two for that matter) it is just a bit
too long. I think I preferred two seperate albums and not to be
released at the same time…
And if things are not enough, The Locus Of Assemblage also releases a
mini CDR by Earzumba and it continues along similar lines. However
here it works well, maybe it’s the limitation of time that makes this
into a nice introduction to his work. So my best guess is: start with
the 3″ and if you continue to play that over and over again, it’s
time to move to the full length… (FdW)
Address: http://yovibro.tripod.com.ar
Address: http://www.assemblage.freeuk.com
THOMAS MOORE – THE PACE/THE PERIPHERY (3″CDR by Mark Of Pins)
A name that is new to me, with a short work, only just under eleven
minutes. Thomas Moore composed this piece of ‘tiny collapsed bell
tones’ at IEA Alfred NY and is to be remixed by Tetsu Inoue and
Andrew Deutsch. It’s a fragile piece of computer processings of small
rumblings and carefully constructed sine waves or modulations arising
from the treatments of the bell tones. A nice but too short piece.
Would have loved to hear more of this. (FdW)
Address: http://www.hansonrecords.com
WECHSEL GARLAND & WORLD STANDARD – THE ISLE (CD by Staubgold)
The name Wechsel Garland is of course not the real name, it’s the
name chosen by Jorg Follert and under that guise he presented such
nice albums on Morr Music and Karaoke Kalk. Here he works together
with Sohichiro Suzuki aka World Standard. This Japanese musician may
not be very well-known, but he has released some album through
Haruomi Hosono’s Daisyworld label. This collaboration was made during
two meetings in Japan and otherwise through the mail. The two pluck
their guitars, have string arrangements, glockenspiel and occassional
drumming. Together they play some very pleasent minimal music.
Minimal, but pleasent might be more correct. Intimate and
atmospherical, but atmospherical in the sense of light hearted. It’s
the sort of music you can play when your parents come round on a
sunday afternoon for a cup of tea. Very pleasent and definetly
appealling to those who like Wechsel from his earlier works, but also
the Sack/Blumm collaborations or some of the Obscure Records, most
notably Penguin Cafe Orchestra. Cosy and warm music. (FdW)
Address: http://www.staubgold.com
IMBECIL (CDrom by Alku/Imbecil)
This is not an audio CD but a CD Rom of some of the most weird
computer programms. You can play Tock, Paper, Scissors with your
computer, you can use ‘Suicide Letter Wizard For Microsoft Word’ to
write your suicide note or a resource file to replace the most common
Unix commands with gangsta-rap jargon. And much more such weirdness.
This CD-rom runs all sorts of platforms (linux, PC, Mac), so I
couldn’t access them all, but I’m sure it’s fun. And oh yes, it is
quite useless too, as you don’t need any of this software really for
anything. A nice thing to impress your friends with… (FdW)
Address: http://www.imbecil.net
PURE/DEKAM – REQUOIL DISPLACED PEACEOFF (DVD by dOc)
This DVD holds three films by Johnny Dekam with music by Pure. Pure
you may know from his various releases on his own dOc label, but also
from Mego, Staalplaat and Praxis. Johnny Dekam has videoinstallations
and develops software under the name Vidvox. The title of this DVD
has all three films mentioned. In ‘Requoil’ we get first abstract
imaginary of an oilwell, which gradually moves into an imaginary that
is less abstract before going abstract again. Pure’s music is best
described as industrial music – heavy and dense layers of synths.
‘Peaceoff’ uses also less abstract images of a water purification
plant, layered but still recognizable. The music here is based on a
breakcore loop provided by Peaceoff and is, I think, the least
interesting soundtrack. My facourite film is the very abstract
‘Displaced’: here both abstract music (drones gradually fading into
minimalist rhythms) fit the abstract forms and surfaces of the film
nicely. Entertaining enough I’d say… (FdW)
Address: http://pure.test.at