KORBER/ERIKM/NAKAMURA/OTOMO – BRACKWATER (CD by For4Ears Records)
ALVIN CURRAN – LOST MARBLES (CD by Tzadik)
CHRISTOF MIGONE & VEDA HILLE – ESCAPE SONGS (CD by Squintfucker Press)
ET SANS – MI LA LE MEMOIRE EST CHASSE LA MILLE VOIX TETES DE TETE
DANS DE SA RIS NEIGE: LE MONSTRE ABSENT (3″CD by Squintfucker Press)
RLW – EARLY RLW FOUR: AYATOLLAH CARTER (CD by Absurd)
THE HAFLER TRIO – HOW TO SLICE A LOAF OF BREAD – LENGTHWISE (3xCD by
Phonometrography)
THE HAFLER TRIO – ANYTHING THAT ANYONE ELSE TELLS YOU IS NOT GOOD
ENOUGH (LP by Phonometrography)
CONSTRUCTION SONOR (2CD compilation by Pro Helvetia)
FRODE GJERSTAD & LASSE MARHAUG – RED EDGE (CD by
Breathmint/Carbon/Gameboy/Little Mafia/Sunship)
FLUORESCENT GREY – LYING ON THE FLOOR MINGLING WITH GOD IN A TIJUANA
MOTEL ROOM NEXT DOOR TO A VETERINARY SUPPLY STORE (CD by Record Label
Records)
STEINBRUCHEL – OO: DEDAIH (3″CD by Synchron)
KAPOTTE MUZIEK – CURING WITHOUT KILLING (CDR by Fencing Flatworm)
THE GOLDEN SERENADES – II (CDR by Gameboy Records)
DYLAN NYOUKIS & CAREN CONSTANCE – HERE COMES BLOOD STEREO (CDR by Absurd)
ZVUUK – FOR DAVE (CDR by The Egg And We)
MELODIUM – PARTHENAY (MP3 by Autres Directions In Music)
DUDLEY – SEASONNAL (MP3 by Autres Directions In Music)
DEPTH AFFECT – MESQUIN EYE (MP3 by Autres Directions In Music)
HARPAGES – SIMPLES VISIONS (MP3 by Autres Directions In Music)
KORBER/ERIKM/NAKAMURA/OTOMO – BRACKWATER (CD by For4Ears Records)
It’s a bit difficult to say who made this CD. Ok, so it is played by
Tomas Korber (guitar, sampler, electronics), Erik M (3-K.pad system),
Toshimaru Nakamura (no-inout mixing board) and Otomo Yoshihide
(turntables, electronics) and it was recorded in a studio. It was
Tomas Korber who did the mixing and editing of the recordings. On the
first, title, piece all four play and on the second on Tomas, Erik
and Otomo play. Despite the fact that this is recorded in a studio,
the element of improvisation is of course present. In these two
pieces lots of things happening: small sounds of guitar playing,
water-like noises and sounds of an undefined nature. All four of the
players are of course excellent musicians, but I am not entirely
satisfied about this disc. Somehow, somewhere, there is something
nagging here in my head and saying that it is all good but not
special, not great. The spark doesn’t come across of this material.
Despite the noisy outbursts here and there, the material is maybe
just too ordinary. Or maybe I just heard too many of these things.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.for4ears.com
ALVIN CURRAN – LOST MARBLES (CD by Tzadik)
I am pretty sure that I heard music by Alvin Curran, but I don’t
recall much of how it sounded. I am also pretty sure that these were
CDs with only a few lenghty pieces, but it never left me a good
impression. So you can imagine that this CD is a rather well-come
thing. Curran (1938) has created orchestral pieces aswell as
electronic music (being a member of Musica Elettronica Viva) and this
CD is a kind of best of his works from 1987 to 2003. There are
plunderphonic pieces of Curran solo on the sampler (in ‘Toto
Angelica’), to a solo piano piece (aswell as one with ‘taped
soundscapes’) aswell as his 1987 piece for ‘eleven computer
controlled shiphorns’. Standout pieces are ‘Music Is Not Music’ for a
small ensemble and choir and ‘In Hora Mortis’. The first one is
almost religious in approach (but it’s probably not), this has
gliding tones and small sounds, whilst the second piece starts out as
a minimalist piece, but develops into some vaudeville piece.
Alvin Curran is a composer with many sides to his work, and even when
a lot of the pieces here are parts of bigger pieces, this is a more
than excellent introduction to his work.
Address: http://www.tzadik.com
CHRISTOF MIGONE & VEDA HILLE – ESCAPE SONGS (CD by Squintfucker Press)
ET SANS – MI LA LE MEMOIRE EST CHASSE LA MILLE VOIX TETES DE TETE
DANS DE SA RIS NEIGE: LE MONSTRE ABSENT (3″CD by Squintfucker Press)
The Squintfucker Press label is a highly strange label. Their covers
are hard to decipher and the musical content is usually out of the
ordinary. Out of the ordinary, even when it comes to ‘Escape Songs’.
These were recorded over the years 2000-2004 by Christof Migone and
Veda Hille and are indeed songs. Veda sings and Migone (and Veda?)
produce the music. Intimate songs that is. Small alienated sounds, an
organ. Short songs. Strange songs. It’s hard to tell what the songs
are about. Very intimate music, very open music. From the output of
the label, probably the one that is close to ‘real’ popmusic, but
like so many of the releases also one that leaves the listener
puzzled.
The release by Et Sans might the regular cup of tea for Squintfucker
Press. As far as I know this their second release, following a
release on Locust Music (see Vital Weekly 293). Et Sans is a duo
consisting of Roger Tellier-Craig (who is a member of Fly Pan Am and
Godspeed You Black Emperor) and Alexandre St-Onge (who is a member of
Undo and Shalabi Effect). That first release had them playing bass,
guitars and sound collages, but here the two move into a new
direction. The twenty minute piece is a strange collage of mouth
sounds and crackles. No bass, no guitar – it seems so at least. Much
more musique concrete than free improvised. I was reminded of some of
Christof Migone’s work (circa ‘Crackers’ – see also Vital Weekly
293). A compelling work. (FdW)
Address: http://www.squintfuckerpress.com
RLW – EARLY RLW FOUR: AYATOLLAH CARTER (CD by Absurd)
There aren’t that many artists who I really collect, I usually say
it’s just Asmus Tietchens and The Hafler Trio, but the work of Ralf
Wehowsky is also something I may have nearly complete. One could
wonder if this new CD is actually any worth getting, but that is not
a question for me. This is the fourth volume of work that Ralf
Wehowsky made with his band PD, the preceeding band before P16.D4.
Ralf is the only member that has been always around in both bands,
and the main man for the ideas. The first two volumes of his early
work were released on Swill Radio (whom also will do the third volume
somewhere in the future, all on LP) and they consist mainly of PD’s
works on tape. This CD however focusses on previously unreleased
work. Much of the music on this CD sounds like free-form rock music,
with a recording quality that could either be a concert or the
rehearsal room (no audience shouting on those, so that makes the
difference). Some of this material was later on used by P16.D4 in a
cut-up collage form, such as ‘Rausch-Suite’, which ended up on the
‘Born Out Of Dreams’ compilation. The music has a kind of punk spirit
and aggression that is no longer apperent in the later P16.D4 works,
but there is also humour to be found here, such as in the jazzy ‘No
Mainz’. This CD covers one year of music: from the first track, a
concert recording of january 1980 to the last track, again a live
track from december the same year. For celebrity spotters there is
also the appearance of Achim Szepanski on a few tracks, who started
Mille Plateaux later on (does that still exist? I would surprised).
If RLW’s current work means anything to you, you can see parallels
from say his recent ‘Views’ CD – see Vital Weekly 413) or his recent
collaboration with Bruce Russell to the work he did twenty-four years
ago. And that makes this into a document to cherish and to study.
(FdW)
Address: <absurd@otenet.gr>
THE HAFLER TRIO – HOW TO SLICE A LOAF OF BREAD – LENGTHWISE (3xCD by
Phonometrography)
THE HAFLER TRIO – ANYTHING THAT ANYONE ELSE TELLS YOU IS NOT GOOD
ENOUGH (LP by Phonometrography)
“Ouch! What a nice packaging. But hold on, didn’t I already know ‘How
To Slice A Loaf Of Bread’? I flipped back a couple of pages, and
there it was: On page 404 it said that ‘How To Slice A Loaf Of Bread’
covers a concert held earlier in 2003. And now we get the second
part? That makes what it says on page 404 even more true: why not
release it as a DVD with just music? It would have been one super
long piece. Ah, but then we wouldn’t have had two great packages,
with lengthy texts… (scribbled notes): disc one first half: maybe
Asmus Tietchens sort of processings inspired than the usual h3o
drones. disc two: drones work in a storm like way. disc three:
shortest CD, more fragmented, shorter loops. louder drones. (end of
scribbles). I keep thinking: beautiful stuff, beautiful stuff. fade
out.
More ouch. That very same label has no trouble in packing the
releases right. The same sort of packages as with the two three cd
sets is blown up to 12″ size. A close study of the inserts (full
colour, transparant architects paper) learns that this is the
document of something I actually saw happening. In Belgium, somewhere
in September. I do remember it as a great performance with somebody
in a white suit painted black – or was it vice versa? My memory of
what happened is not what happened. Someone next to me closed his
(her?) eyes, and said that the performance was not so interesting but
the music was indeed rather nice. That is an objective thing to check
now. The music is on the 12″. Or is it a LP? Let’s say it’s an LP.
It’s 12″ sized and maybe plays at 33 RPM. Again music with a great
drone like capacity, lulling you in sleep. Maybe I’m a awake and
slowly going deaf? I couldn’t possibly tell. I am awake? Hello?” The
alarm rings, I am awake. What a dream.
Address: http://phonometrography.net/
CONSTRUCTION SONOR (2CD compilation by Pro Helvetia)
This compilation deals with the subject of field recordings made in
the Alps. the first disc lets you hear the raw materials and on the
second disc you will find ‘remixes’ of these original sounds into new
works. The disc of raw material is the work of Bernd Schurer, whom
you may know as a composer (as Teleform) and labelowner of Domizil.
No less than ninety-four small pieces of sound are to be found on
disc one, related to the Alps, but mostly man’s intervention in the
Alps. Tunnels, airco systems, hydraulics aswell as water and rain
sounds. As for strictly musical joy, this might not be the thing you
would play a lot, but no doubt the more adventurous listener – those
who are composers themselves – may find enough work in there to set
him or herself to work. The quality of the sounds are excellent.
That made me all the more curious to hear the remixes, but I must
start with saying that I was rather disapointed by them. Many of the
remixers do play a rather nice tune, no doubts here, but I fail to
see the relation between the original sounds by Bernd Schurer and
some of the remixes. Some of them do take the sounds into new
territory, like Luigi Archetti, Balduin, Erik M or Fennesz, but
people like Boris Blank, Drumpet, Intricate or Monolake take just a
snippet of sound for the intro of more dance related pieces. Nice
pieces no doubt but somehow a bit beside the project, I think. Mixed
feelings here. (FdW)
Address: http://www.gallerie-ph.ch
FRODE GJERSTAD & LASSE MARHAUG – RED EDGE (CD by
Breathmint/Carbon/Gameboy/Little Mafia/Sunship)
No less than five labels join hands to release this work from the
ever so active Lasse Marhaug, here in a live duet with Frode
Gjerstad. It will no doubt be plain ignorance on my side, but I never
heard of Frode. Maybe it has to do with my relative unsympathy with
the instrument he plays: the saxophone. Lasse is on laptop and
electronics here. In the opening piece ‘A Dry Well’ things open in a
violent freaky free-jazz manner. Loud, chaotic, frentic and hectic.
But by the end of the next track, ‘Red Edge’, things have come to a
virtual halt. Calm, relaxing, almost ambient in approach. From
‘Falling Down’ things go the same route back up, with a prominent
role for laptop in that piece and live sampling of saxophone in the
final ‘The First Rule’. Certainly this is not easy listening music at
all, and might be considered nerve wrecking by the untrained
listener. However if you are up for some relentness free improvised
playing along the lines of releases such as Grob and Erstwhile (to
mention two dominant labels for new improvised music that involves
electronica on an equal level), then this is absolute your thing.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.gmby.net
FLUORESCENT GREY – LYING ON THE FLOOR MINGLING WITH GOD IN A TIJUANA
MOTEL ROOM NEXT DOOR TO A VETERINARY SUPPLY STORE (CD by Record Label
Records)
Even on the extended website of Record Label Records I couldn’t find
that much information on Fluorescent Grey, which is one Jacob
Harnigon from California. He came up with a nice band name, a nice
record label name and some nice titles for his tracks – “A Peruvian
Shaman Sits Down To Make IDM On His Laptop” – and that track pretty
much sums up what this CD is about. Fourteen lenghty pieces,
consuming the entire bandwith of the CD… that is a little bit hard
to digest at once. I usually play things to review a couple of times
in a row, but here I had serious trouble doing so. Many of the tracks
are a like, with bouncing drum & bass breakbeats, electronics go
psych wild, Aphex Twin and Squarepusher inspired intelligent techno
and jungle but there is a point to say: nice, but please stop the
music for a while. I think about four tracks, still clocking at
thirty or so minutes, was well enough for me to enjoy but the full
seventy some minutes was a bit hard. Despite the title gags. (FdW)
Address: http://www.recordlabelrecords.org
STEINBRUCHEL – OO: DEDAIH (3″CD by Synchron)
The format of 3″CDs seems to be well-spent on Steinbruchel from
Switzerland. In his by now long career, he has released a couple
already, and this new takes his sounds to the works of others. On the
CD rom part of the disc you will find information, image and sound of
the original sound and visual installation by Steinbruchel and Brusa
from the year 2000 and on the audio part there are remixes by Frank
Bretschneider, Richard Chartier, Stephan Mathieu and Steinbruchel
himself. The delicate sounds put forward by Steinbruchel are well
translated by these people, keeping in mind the peaceful cracklings
and drones of the original. Even Frank Bretschneider is at control
here and the choice for the remixers is an excellent one. All of
three of them understand the nature of music, and each gives a
personal touch to the material. Short, sweet and delicate. This is
how it should be done. (FdW)
Address: http://www.synchron.ch
KAPOTTE MUZIEK – CURING WITHOUT KILLING (CDR by Fencing Flatworm)
What do we have here… Another release from my boss at Vital that I
have to review. I already reviewed one EP from Freiband here, check
Vital 413. And it was ok I think. Let’s see how things will go this
time… 🙂 ok, no more kidding! Curing Without Killing is the last
studio recording with ‘broken music’ from Frans de Waard, released
this period in 2004. Or to be more precise, this is the last solo
studio recording of Frans as Kapotte Muziek, from now on Kapotte
Muziek (which means ‘broken music’ in dutch) is always a trio of:
Frans, Peter Duimelinks and Roel Meelkop (the same line-up as Goem),
who will perform live and record in the studio. But what do we have
here and now? It’s one longer piece, a recording of 43 minutes with
stretched, slowly evolving, kind of a lazy droney music. It sure
demands closer listening to reveal it’s content. A part of it is
based on a more atmospheric sound and then it changes to quite
minimal microsounds. At one point in the first half it disappears
completely, to appear again after few seconds of silence, slowly,
carefully and calm. I like the longer part of few minutes when the
sound is present but it’s really quite, that’s at the beginning of
the second part, after 23 or 24 minutes. Pity I can’t see this
release in a perspective compared with other Kapotte Muziek releases,
’cause I’m not familiar with them, of all projects where Frans de
Waard is involved I’m most familiar with Goem, so in that way maybe
I’m not the best person to review a release from Kapotte Muziek. Or
maybe that doesn’t matter much. The only other Kapotte Muziek release
I’ve heard so far is the Zeromoon collection with early music + a
track from a double compilation on Fylkingen, I like that track very
much. I can say the sound is more broken and raw on those earlier
recordings, and much more peaceful and smooth on this new one. (BR)
Address: http://www.fencingflatworm.cjb.net
THE GOLDEN SERENADES – II (CDR by Gameboy Records)
Not just Lasse Marhaug is very active (see elsewhere) but also his
Jazzkammer roommate John Hegre. The picture in the booklet shows four
man, so let’s assume The Golden Serenades are four people? And let’s
assume this is the second release. Hegre and his mates hark back to
the days of loud industrial music, loud noise music and above all the
work of Merzbow. Performed with care and style no doubt, this is no
easy task to hear. About fifty minutes of full blown noise, feedback
and distortion, this may just appeal to the noise heads who simple
can’t get enough and didn’t start out themselves by now – once they
do, they will loose their interest in the other noise heads and work
towards their own fifty CDR set. As said, just for the real
die-hards. (FdW)
Address: http://www.gmby.net
DYLAN NYOUKIS & CAREN CONSTANCE – HERE COMES BLOOD STEREO (CDR by Absurd)
This release by two people I never heard of, is supposed to be a
soundtrack to a short movie in four parts as a hommage to the
brigandage period of modern Greece. This work was supposed to be out
for the seventh birthday of Absurd (in August 2003), but the master
was lost, so it is now released with some delay. I can’t say that I
liked it very much. Brash sounds made out of simple rhythm machines
and likewise synth noise with some voice muttering. Not a very long
release, clocking in at just under twenty-nine minutes and that’s
even too long for my taste. (FdW)
Address: <absurd@otenet.gr>
ZVUUK – FOR DAVE (CDR by The Egg And We)
I have no clue who is Zvuuk, but I do know it’s his debut release.
It’s dedicated to Dave Phillips of Ohne and the sounds were taken
from the CD ‘IIII’ Dave did for Manufracture. These sounds are
remixed two tracks of repeating loops with the addition of some sound
effects. In the second track machine like sounds take over against a
cry of a flock of seagulls. Neatly produced experimental music of a
darker experimental kind, but I wonder why this had to be so short?
With only thirteen minutes of music, it doesn’t leave much impression
but a longing for more. (FdW)
Address: http://www.eggandwe.org
MELODIUM – PARTHENAY (MP3 by Autres Directions In Music)
DUDLEY – SEASONNAL (MP3 by Autres Directions In Music)
DEPTH AFFECT – MESQUIN EYE (MP3 by Autres Directions In Music)
HARPAGES – SIMPLES VISIONS (MP3 by Autres Directions In Music)
Another MP3 label, this time from France, with a whole bunch of
releases, and again by people I never heard of. The first one is by
Melodium, aka Laurent Girard, who has been releasing music through
Static Caravan and Active Suspension since 1999. And if one hears his
music than that’s no surprise really. Keyboards play melancholic
tunes and the rhythmbox ticks away like a coffeemachine. The smell of
coffee fills your space like a warm rush and so is this music. Just
very pleasent stuff.
Something similar can be said of Dudley, who is one Stephane Bossard,
of whom I don’t know anything else. Even more than Melodium his music
is about melancholy but also at the same time more popbased with nice
guitar tunes and vocals. As a whole, his album is a more coherent
piece of music. The nine tracks are undoubtely of singer-songwriter
quality and come across like someone who knows what he is doing. A
cover of Low’s ‘Point Of Disgust’ is part of the deal.
Also never heard of Depth Affect, who offer four tracks. Depth Affect
is a duo of Remy Charrier and David Bideau. Their pieces are more
inspired by hip hop rhythms but they give the material a rather odd
twist, making it even for a non hip hop lover like me easier to
digest. Maybe at four tracks a bit short, but it’s nice enough. (FdW)
Address: http://www.autresdirections.net
correction: the right website address for Fat Cat (see Black Dice CD
in last week’s issue) is http://www.fat-cat.co.uk