SOFTLAND – WAR AGAINSTT ERROR (CD by Spezialmaterial)
AOKI TAKAMASA/TUJIKO NORIKO – 28 (CD by Fact Cat) *
IGNATZ (CD by Kraak)
RM74 – EXKURSION (CD by dOc Recordings) *
KSCHZT – THE EARTH’S HUM (CD by Blase Records)
DIEB13/TOMAS KÖRBER/JASON KAHN – ZIRKADIA (CD by (1.8)Sec.Records)
DOMENICO SCIANJO/KIM CASCONE – A BOOK OF STANDARD EQUINOXES (CD by (1.8)Sec.Records) *
ANDY HAYLECK – THE DISAPPEARING FLOOR (CD by Recorded)
CONFUTATIS – BUILT IN ANGER (CD by AI Records)
AEMAE – THE HELICAL WORLD (CD by Isounderscore)
GRAHAM HALLIWELL – FEEDBACK SAXOPHONE (CD by Confront Series)
PIERS WHYTE (CD by Ache Records)
VORPAL – AN INCOMPLETE GUIDE TO VORPAL MUSIC (CD by Cock Rock Disco)
DAVID KRISTIAN – RHYTHMS FOR A RAINY SEASON (CD by Apegenine Recordings) *
TU M’ – JUST ONE NIGHT (CD by Dekorder) *
LOKAI – 7 MILLION (CD by Mosz)
VARIOUS – ESSAYS ON RADIO: CAN I HAVE 2 MINUTES OF YOUR TIME? (CD by Cronica)
MIYA MASAOKA/JOAN JEANRENAUD – FOR BIRDS, PLANES AND CELLO (CD by Solitary B)
HANS OTTE – MINIMUM:MAXIMUM/ORIENT:OCCIDENT (CD by Pogus Productions) *
DIY CANONS (2CD by Pogus Productions)
ANGEL OF DECAY – COVERED IN SCARS (CD by Desolation House) *
GREG MALCOLM – SWIMMING IN IT (LP by Kraak) *
CADUCEUS – FACTORY SOUNDS VOLUME 3 (12″ by Caduceus Music)
BOUDEWIJN BETZEMA/RUTGER ZUYDERVELT – SAMENGEDAAN (3″ by Machinefabriek)
ANOTHER HEADACHE – PUSHING THE ENVELOPE (miniCDR by Thisco) *
SOFTLAND – WAR AGAINSTT ERROR (CD by Spezialmaterial)
This is my first encounter with Christof Steinmann’s project Softland, who presents his second CD ‘War Againstt Error’, following ‘One Is A Very Small Crowd’ from 2003 on the same label. Steinman, from Switzerland, studied both music and visual arts. Six pieces on his second CD were composed between 1997 and 2005, to which he added a bunch of new ones. Steinmann plays various instruments such as double bass, harmonium, recorder and voice) and adds those to a blend of analogue and digital sounds. He’s not, his own claim, greatest player of the instruments, but the computer knows how to fix this. It’s there where Steinmann creates his music mostly and he is quite good at his job, but it’s seems to be hard for him to make a decision what he wants: his music is all over the place. From lounge-like tunes to more techno inspired pieces and even a bit of folk music here and there. Plus there are seven pieces of ‘field recordings’ (indicated by their GPS positions). This CD has a couple of very nice tracks, save maybe for the ones in which he tries his voice, and has cinematic qualities. It’s all a bit scattered over the place, but certainly a very nice album. (FdW)
Address: http://www.spezialmaterial.ch
AOKI TAKAMASA/TUJIKO NORIKO – 28 (CD by Fact Cat)
Noriko is of course well-known to the readers of Vital Weekly, but Aoki Takamasa probably not, despite having four albums on Progressive Form and one on Cirque. Both artists are 28, hence the title. Their collaboration started in some three years ago, but since the two didn’t live close by each-other, they exchanged material through the post. Aoki’s electronica and Tujiko’s voice make a nice album, for those who like this kind of voice-electronic-beat stuff. Over the years I have not been the greatest fan of Noriko’s work. Her sweet voice is sweet indeed, but at times I find it irritating after a couple of songs and her compositions aren’t always great, usually three minutes of a ‘song’ and then another three minutes of instrumental outro. That is better here: Aoki’s instrumental backing is much more imaginative, expanded and full of small surprises. It embeds the voice of Tujiko in a much richer field of music, and thus benefits strongly from it. Even when I am still not always fond of Tujiko’s singing, I think this is a pretty strong album, a good collaborative effort that surely needs a follow-up. (FdW)
Address: http://www.fat-cat.co.uk
IGNATZ (CD by Kraak)
In 1910 George Herriman created Ignatz, a mouse that would throw stones to Krazy Kat, who would think that it was love declaration. Apart from this comic character, Ignatz is also the name choosing by Bram Devens for his solo work. He used to love old blues, lo-fi and folk and he calls himself a lo-fi fascist. Now he plays guitar himself in a folk-like manner, adding distortion and other effects, and even adds a bit of lyrics here and there. Ignatz does this in a true improvised manner, keep the spontaneous of the music alive. This doesn’t always lead to great compositions (erm, that should of course be ‘improvisations’) such as ‘I Look At Her With The Euh’, which is too much of a hit and miss, but ‘The Gloom Of The Darkest Day’ is an intense drone rock guitar noise piece. The album is a bit up and down the road, with different stylistically approaches, noise and folk being the two most opposites of the coin. But overall it left a good, lo-fi impression. Not brilliant, but very much alright for what it is. (FdW)
Address: http://www.kraak.net
RM74 – EXKURSION (CD by dOc Recordings)
It’s been a while since I last heard a proper release by RM74, aka Reto Mäder. ‘Exkursion’ is his third full length release, following ‘Instabil’ (Vital Weekly 350), and it’s a major leap forward. Whereas the previous CD was a cold, microsounding affair, RM74 is on a camp trip here – camp as in camp and camp as in camping. He pulls a joke here. ‘Pocket-life’ has nothing to do with microsound, as it’s a nervous almost techno like piece and ‘Baumrinde II’ has an almost new wave bass loop. Is nothing sacred? Yes, of course, as RM74 pulls also out his usual trickery on the computer, but it’s, as the title already suggest, an excursion. We are out in the woods, digital woodpeckers wake us up in the morning and RM74 plays a song as we move on. Sometimes RM74’s music cold and chilly, but sometimes it’s warm and intimate. RM74 tries to expand from the common grounds of microsound and comes up with a concept album: great! And within his concept he expands the music of microsound by adding music with an entirely different perspective and it still makes sense: great! A damm fine album! (FdW)
Address: http://doc.test.at
KSCHZT – THE EARTH’S HUM (CD by Blase Records)
For me this is my first encounter with KSCHZT and the Blase label. Apparently he was called MD before and released his stuff on Merck Records, but that is also a mystery to me. KSCHZT’s music is about electronica, and like Softland (see elsewhere) it’s also in various directions. Sometimes techno, sometimes breakbeat and even rock dance. The twelve tracks are well entertaining, but none of the pieces leaves an ever-lasting impression. It’s nicely made, played with care, but but but the compositions are a bit empty. Great music while doing the dishes. (FdW)
Address: http://www.blaserecords.com
DIEB13/TOMAS KÖRBER/JASON KAHN – ZIRKADIA (CD by (1.8)Sec.Records)
DOMENICO SCIANJO/KIM CASCONE – A BOOK OF STANDARD EQUINOXES (CD by (1.8)Sec.Records)
From the world of digital improvisation (or
perhaps the world in which real instruments are digitaly transformed) two discs with a total of first class players in the field. The first one is a trio disc of Jason Kahn (a former drummer now playing laptop only), Dieb13 (a turntablist who works as Takeshi Funimoto sometimes to confuse the reviewers, and who plays solely laptop too) and Tomas Körber who plays guitar and electronics. The eight tracks on ‘Zirkadia’ were recorded on April 14, 2004 and later mixed and mastered by Kahn. Therefore it’s a bit hard to tell to what extend stuff has been improvised and what is post-produced. The eight pieces all seem dwell around a bath of sizzling, crackling and foremost continuous hiss, like eight variations of oil boiling. If you throw in, say a vegetable, the sound of the oil changes. That is what is going on here: once the pattern has been made, each of the players add their own spices to the mixture, a bit like the Swiss fondu. To stay in the analogy of food: it’s a good meal that is surely tasty and finely spiced, but it’s not that once in a year treat, in other words, it’s a a bit too normal to stand out from the rest, especially some of Kahn’s previous collaborations (with Steve Roden or Günter Müller).
If the Kahn et al CD is a variety of eight dishes, than Scianjo/Cascone is just a one course meal, but a heavy one. Here I can safely state it is entirely live in concert, brought to you without cuts or edits. Scianjo has a couple of releases on labels such as Leo Records, Fringes, Bowindo and Erstwhile and he has performed with everyone from Andy Ex to Zbigniew Karkowski. Here teaming up with Kim Cascone, who stands for twenty-five years of passionate experimental music, from PGR to the Heavenly Music Corporation and since a decade or so his own name (including a number of improvised duets with people like Taylor Deupree and Tony Conrad, to name but two diverse ones). Laptops a gogo here. In a good, solid hour these boys wander from ambientesque patterns and textures to more noise related outings (which may strike as odd for someone like Cascone, but noise has played a role before in his work), although the latter are in a minority here. Processed field recordings of small water streams burst out in cascading rivers of sound, and it happens before your very own ears without you noting it. The recording is particularly raw (sounding to me like a combination of a line and microphone recording), but it shapes the recording more but taking out the smooth edges. Of the two, the one with the most changing activities. (FdW)
Address: http://www.1pt8.tk
ANDY HAYLECK – THE DISAPPEARING FLOOR (CD by Recorded)
This is the first ‘real’ CD for Andy Hayleck, from Baltimore, Maryland, who has released ‘Various Recordings Involving Ice’ on HereSee in 2003 and Gong/Wire on Earlids, his own CDR label. Like many others his interest lies within the use of field recordings (used are ones from the subway car under Budapest, a carpenter and a winter-roar in a Canyon), but also ‘real’ instruments such as guitars, gong, cymbal and computer, aswell as few pieces using sculptures by Harry Bertoia. Rather than wanting to create imaginary soundtracks, Hayleck wants us to listen to the sounds, and use these sensory organs, but without any respect to their origin. In the ten pieces, which are all relatively short (except for the last), he plays around with overtones, either in a natural way, or by using all sorts of filtering to take out and amplify resonances. Carefully made, but each of the pieces are particularly dense in approach, playing around with the notions of ‘minimal’ and ‘drone’. And even when this is apparent in most of the tracks, this is a well-varied disc of music, using different angles to gather similar results. That’s what makes this into a fine, yet not always surprising disc. (FdW)
Address: http://www.recorded.com
CONFUTATIS – BUILT IN ANGER (CD by AI Records)
If you watched ‘Amadeus’ you know that Confutatis Maledictus (when the wicked are confounded) are the opening lines of his requiem, but Confutatis is the also grim name of Bernard Pucher, once from Vienna now in Texas. Grim is also the keyword in his music, as the eleven tracks are dark, atmospherical takes on techno music. But that’s not the only thing that is different here: Pucher plays bass and saxophone alongside the electronic side of the music, adding an organic side to the music, which would have been otherwise a bit clean (even when that sounds in contradiction to the word ‘dark’). Sometimes the beats are hip hop inspired, but are techno enough not to fall inside the traps of trip hop: there is more to enjoy here than ‘just’ a slow rhythm with ‘just’ a few sounds. ‘Built In Anger’ breaths warmth, space, organic sounds and minimalism, but they are covered in darkness, without being claustrophobic. Its music out of the areas of Kompakt, but with a very strong twist of it’s own, breaking down rigid barriers in that music. (FdW)
Address: http://www.airecords.com
AEMAE – THE HELICAL WORLD (CD by Isounderscore)
The fact that the previous ‘Dialectric Minimalist All-Stars’ was selected in The Wire’s top 10 releases of 2004 but was unheard here, means that I also didn’t hear the two tracks by Aemae, the name chosen by 23-year old Brandon Nickell from Oakland. Before he experimented with ‘vocal resonance and digital formant manipulation employing a wide array of synthesis techniques using self-written software’, but this new one is a ‘pure exercise in synthesis without the use of field recordings, vocals or samples’. The eight tracks are all pieces of self-generating music: things seems to start out of nowhere and over the course of a piece (which are lengthy in general), they evolve, spiral, bounce back and forth and never seem to reach their final shape, they just vanish into thin air again. The sounds are in general dark and atmospheric with small variations in the darker corner of the sound spectrum. A more academic Lustmord if you want, because of the ties this has into the more serious music world, with traces of the ambient work of Arcane Device. Dark microsounding music; a nice change in a what is sometimes a dead-end alley. (FdW)
Address: http://www.aemea.com
GRAHAM HALLIWELL – FEEDBACK SAXOPHONE (CD by Confront Series)
If you hear ‘feedback saxophone’ and think of Borbetomagus, you know it’s vicious loud. If you hear ‘feedback saxophone’ and think of Graham Halliwell, then you know we are in a totally different field of music. On this CD there are three collaborative tracks, of which one is actually a live improvised piece. The other two contain collaborations through mail. The first is with harpist Rhodri Davies, whom recorded his harp played with ebows and the second uses ‘Resonantlightones’ by Steve Roden (from his CD ‘Four Possible Landscapes’. The live piece is with Mark Wastell on tam-tam (and with whom Halliwell recorded as Plusminus, with Bernard Gunther). In each of the pieces it’s hard to recognize any saxophone or feedback. Halliwell manages to sound like drone composer, but is resonating saxophone reminds also at times of some of the work of Alvin Lucier. Especially his piece with Davies is along these lines: a finely knitted string of sounds merges together, whereas the feedback in his piece with the Roden soundmaterial is somewhat higher in tone, and fits along well with the sounds on tape. No noise, no loudness that is what the feedback saxophone is all about. Each of the pieces is played with great care and concentration. For lovers of drone music and of the more serious academic music alike, and perhaps also for those who love improvisation, although this is all less improvised. (FdW)
Address: http://www.confront.info
PIERS WHYTE (CD by Ache Records)
The press-text gives us no information as to who Piers Whyte is or what his background is, but I do believe that this self titled CD is his debut. Whyte is a glitch artist: working on his laptop with software, probably Reaktor (as indicated by the text), running amok. Amok, not in the sense of Merzbow, but rather in the sense of free style. Sometimes chaotic as in the opening piece or semi-ambient in ‘Winter, 03’. Adding field recordings in the form of processed children singing in ‘Waxing Sentimental’. It’s music that is quite nice at times, not all the times, but the same time it’s also music that hasn’t been unheard by others yet, and of course the unavoidable Fennesz comes to mind when comparing. That’s not a big deal, it’s not easy to be full of surprises and Piers Whyte does his job reasonable good. On a scale to ten, I’d rate this with a solid seven. (FdW)
Address: http://www.acherecords.com
VORPAL – AN INCOMPLETE GUIDE TO VORPAL MUSIC (CD by Cock Rock Disco)
Jason Forrest, once known as Donna Summer, started his label Cock Rock Disco to promote similar crazy breakcore music as his is playing himself. Here he introduces us to the music of Vorpal, nom de plume of Andy Kozloski, who tells us that music was made with Reason 2.0 and Acid 4.0 and that the software was ‘generously provided by a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts’. Although many of the thirteen tracks operate in the areas of breakcore, I think this album has more to offer than just that. The same of the first Gymnopedie from Satie might sound like an old trick, but Vorpal gets away with it. And there are more of the contemplative moments of this CD, which makes this a much more varied bunch than many others in this area. Being myself not the greatest follower of breakcore, I thought this was a most pleasing album, the variety of the music getting thumbs up. (FdW)
Address: http://www.cockrockdisco.com
DAVID KRISTIAN – RHYTHMS FOR A RAINY SEASON (CD by Apegenine Recordings)
Apperentely this is the last David Kristian CD that we will see, at least under his own name. As of now Kristian moves towards a career as a film soundtrack composer. The material on this album was recorded from 1999 to 2001, and it’s described in detail in the booklet how these pieces were made. It takes too far to rewrite the process (and besides it’s all a bit technical for me to fully understand), but let’s say that Kristian uses a bank of sounds which are controlled by the use of 127 midi notes, allowing to freely play around with them. Each of the tracks is mapped and then recorded almost in real time. My main objection against Kristian’s previous record ‘Sweet Bits’ (see Vital Weekly 458) is covered here: the tracks are shorter, develop quicker and have therefore more tension among them. The rhythm box ticks away in mid tempo, piano’s and synthesizers wave along in melancholiac mood. Some of these pieces have a strong minimalist yet groove rhythm, much alike some of the best Pan Sonic material, like ‘Chorithm’ that, along with some of the more introspective movements here, make this is into a well-varied bunch of musics. A strong end I’d say. And hopefully some of his soundtracks will see the light of day on CD too. (FdW)
Address: http://www.apegenine.com
TU M’ – JUST ONE NIGHT (CD by Dekorder)
Tu M’ have been around for a little while now, but I can’t say that I’ve seen a lot of releases by them (in contrast to the amount of demos that labels have been getting from them). They don’t really have their own sound, though they seem to be willing to experiment, even if they mostly end up copying something instead of coming up with something new. “Just One Night” is no exception to that, but the songs are all such a treat that it doesn’t really matter. Opener ‘An Afternoon In The Country’ is pure Oval-territory, but from there on it starts to get more and more interesting. ‘Blue Blur’ is almost jazz with it’s hazy drums and treated piano, to which a saxophone is added. ‘Rain Turning To Sleet’ sounds like a church organ with the faint sound of gamelan in the backdrop, ‘Strange Sleep’ is acoustic guitar glitch music… and I could go on as every track seems to be based around a different set of instruments. Apparently everything is improvised by themselves on guitars, saxophones, flutes, flugelhorns, harmonica and others, and then looped and layered into sweet melodies. I wonder how much of the music is already complete once they finished playing their instruments and start dragging them through the computer, as it’s never sure where the melodic element comes from. It certainly lives in this quite exciting border area between analogue and digital. Nothing new, but I enjoyed this quite a lot. (RM2)
Address: http://www.dekorder.com
LOKAI – 7 MILLION (CD by Mosz)
Lokai is a new duo of Florian Kmet and Stefan Németh, both Austrians. Kmet was unknown to me but Németh is mostly known from playing in Radian, and he also co-runs the Mosz label on which this album is released. Kmet plays guitar, and Németh adds all the electronics on ‘7 Million’, a short album with 6 explorations of combining the two. There is sometimes a heightened awareness of each other at play here, as the plucking of the guitar sometimes breaks through the electronic frame in delicate ways, but also other moments where it seems that Németh went out by himself, almost forgetting his partner. It could be considered improv in the sense of a lot of Erstwhile releases with their duo recordings, but it holds too many little melodic or at least song-structured elements to fall into that scene. Actually, although I know it’s not the most original comparison, it’s much closer to Fennesz, when the guitar sounds are looped and the electronics float all around it, like on the last part of ‘Mikrostekon’. Best tracks are those where the guitars are not recognizable as such, as on ‘Chuuk’, a 13-minute almost-noise epic. Looking forward to hearing more from them. (RM2)
Address: http://www.mosz.org
VARIOUS – ESSAYS ON RADIO: CAN I HAVE 2 MINUTES OF YOUR TIME? (CD by Cronica)
The Portuguese label Crónica is now 2 years old, and they’re celebrating this with a new release which is available as a CD and a DVD. The CD (can’t say much about the DVD) has 39 tracks that are each 2 minutes long. In a time of webcasts and internet-based information traffic it’s a very nice idea to have a compilation dedicated to the good ol’ radio. As can be expected a lot of the artists use this a little too literary (lots of radio hiss, frequency hopping and short attention span sound trickery) but it does make for a coherent listen and there’s more minimal electronic tracks then could be expected. Not sure what the point is of collecting tracks on the theme of radio though, and the small essay in the booklet doesn’t clarify it much either, though it does give a sympathetic impression of the people behind this. Includes some very nice tracks from Random Industries, General Magic, Stephan Mathieu and Freiband, as well as many other ones that aren’t really memorable. (RM2)
Address: http://www.cronicaelectronica.org
MIYA MASAOKA/JOAN JEANRENAUD – FOR BIRDS, PLANES AND CELLO (CD by Solitary B)
This is very much what it is: music made with recordings of birds, planes and cello. Composer Miya Masaoka went out in the early morning to the San Diego Canyon to make a fifty some minute field recording of birds and planes. As morning breaks more and more birds can be heard, and the planes get louder too (don’t know if there is a relation there). Masaoka then recorded Joan Jeanrenaud playing cello, while the latter was listening to the field recordings that ‘resembled certain frequencies and that timbres that I wanted to emphasize in the recording’. Clear concept, and it sounds probably exactly like one could imagine: stretched out sustained cello sounds, bird calls and planes passing. The cello however is a bit far away in the mix, muffled, hidden, which is strange. The field recordings are normalized, thus amplifying the hiss and hum. Probably this best played at a low volume, taking the risk that the cello might entirely disappear, but played loud it all sounds less engaging than the concept on the paper. Relatively flat, sounding like so many others already done in the line of work. (FdW)
Address: http://www.solitaryb.com
HANS OTTE – MINIMUM:MAXIMUM/ORIENT:OCCIDENT (CD by Pogus Productions)
DIY CANONS (2CD by Pogus Productions)
First let me take the oppurtunity to correct another reason error: Pogus is run by Al Margolis, of If, Bwana (see also Vital Weekly 488) and in the review it was mentioned that he also worked for New World Records, however not for some time now. He is a labelmanager these days for labels such as XI Records, Deep Listening and Mutable Music. Record set straight. On his own Pogus label he always comes up with the ‘older’ statemen/women of experimental music, who may or may not have releases at hand. Hans Otte is one such person. Born in 1926, raised as a composer and pianist, and from 1959 to 1984 director of the music department at Radio Bremen. A number of his works are experimental, including speech, objects and spaces.
Otte’s CD has two pieces, both composed in the seventies, but one is a recording from 1986. The first, composed and recorded in 1973, has ‘texts/sounds/pictures’ and is ‘an environment’ and is a simultaneous concert held in Bremen and Stockholm (how they emerged together back then is not told) for two organists. Wether these two are also responsible for the spoken word bits is also unclear, but perhaps they were. The piece starts out with two voices, one is Swedish and one in German, and organ notes (staccato rather than sustained) drop slowly in, until they take over. Then, after a while, the voices return and the proceedings are repeated again. It’s hard to follow if this is about anything, or that the voice is just another instrument. With this length, forty-one minutes, this is a too lengthy piece, me thinks. The second piece is only one-third of this length and is for an oboe and clarinet and ‘tape’ (common practice in the world of serious composing: live instruments and tape). The woodwind instruments play long sustained notes which are set against arrepegioed electronic sounds. This is a very nice piece, with the contemplating sounds from the real instruments creating a rather subdued atmosphere.
The other new release by Pogus is a compilation based around Larry Polansky’s ‘Four Voice Canon #13 *DIY Canon)’. Polansky’s canons ‘are usually ‘mensuration canons’, which means that the tempi of successive voices is proportional to their start times, so that voices end together’. Polansky’s own ‘Four Voice Canons’ was reviewed in Vital Weekly 346. With the Do-It-Yourself canon he encourages people to create their own canons, using his score. This canon was delivered at speeches and on the internet. Curated by Simon Wickham-Smith comes a double CD with fourteen different artists, each performing the piece in his own, serious or less serious way. From a canon with cat sounds, barbie phone and ringtones, to studies in filtering sounds and screams. Basically what everybody does is looking for four sounds that can run together for a while, all ending at the same time. Not unlike Steve Reich’s phase patterns in his early days, the music is a bit more simpler and stripped down here. As one can guess this is pretty varied bunch of musics here, but each with a clear idea behind it, and that’s ever so nice. And if one doesn’t get what it is about: almost all pieces are described in the booklet, except, and that is a pity, Polansky’s DIY score. As you may guess this is a varied bunch, and even when some of the sounds are not as serious (ring tones, barbie phones and metrocards), it seems that everybody has set out to perform the piece with great care. Among my favorites are the drone and pulse pieces by Steven Miller, the piano piece by Drew Krause, the lengthy drones of Philip Corner and Mike Winter and the shorter pieces of Stefan Tomic (‘Ringtone Canon’) and Ross Craig (“Barbie’s Phone Canon’). The oddest thing however is Simon Wickham-Smith’s piece in which the idea of a canon is the hardest thing to discover, but then so are the sounds from his description: samples of traditional Finnish music and the sounds of a wooden flute. Maybe a very apt description of feedback? (FdW)
Address: http://www.pogus.com
ANGEL OF DECAY – COVERED IN SCARS (CD by Desolation House)
A while ago I reviewed a CDR by The Urge Within, aka Jonathan Canady who is otherwise known as Deathpile, but recorded before as Dead World and Torture Chamber. Death Pile exists since 1995, but in 2002 Canady started the project called Angel Of Decay for his more darker shaped electronics and less noise based electronics. He uses ‘vintage analog synths and other out of date equipment using very primitive methods’, which is something that is not very present in these recordings. His darker alley music takes the best of Cold Meat Industry’s death ambient, adds maybe a little more reverb, some chilling sounds, some Lustmord and the parameters are set to ‘deep’, ‘down’ and ‘dark’. Newness or innovation is certainly not something that is can labeled to this CD, but Canady executes his stuff with care and detail. Sounds move in and out like under-worldly plate tectonics, with small collisions all along. Probably not the most pleasing music around, but most definitely the better soundtrack to your home made horror movie. (FdW)
Address: http://www.desolationhouse.com
GREG MALCOLM – SWIMMING IN IT (LP by Kraak)
As a regular concert-goer I saw some (to avoid many) concerts, and the ones that rank among the best are Arm, Taxi Val Mentek and Greg Malcolm. That’s three entirely different kind of musics, but they were all in one word great: in the experimental form, pop form and solo guitar form. Malcolm plays acoustic guitar with his hands, and two on the floor, which he plays as percussion with one foot, and the other with e-bows or mini fans to create a background drone. To watch these proceedings is a great pleasure, the busyness to keep everything in control and at the same time the great concentration to play his ‘tunes’ carefully. Everything is then recorded live, without overdubs. The five pieces on this LP are based on ‘an ancient Greek melody’, ‘an Armenian melody’, ‘a Vietnamese melody’ and a tune by Ornetartifactste Coleman. Malcolm’s music is not improvised, but all planned out. In a slow and peaceful manner, Malcolm plays, strums and picks his guitar, while on the floor the artifacts rumble, drone and shake. The five pieces on this LP are simply great. Lucid, partly experimental, partly folk music like and totally beautiful. And that’s about all there is to say. Get out and get it. Definitely one for the top 10 of this year. (FdW)
Address: http://www.kraak.net
CADUCEUS – FACTORY SOUNDS VOLUME 3 (12″ by Caduceus Music)
In a short time span the duo Caduceus, aka Christian and Joanne Althoff, produced a couple of works. Two 12″s (see Vital Weekly 469), one CD (476) and a CDR (479) precede this third installment in their ‘Factory Sounds’ series. They recorded a bunch of sounds at a chain factory which they process into ultra minimal dance music. The main influence for them is the minimalism that comes out of the homes of Kompakt in Cologne, but they add their own sound to the style, with utterly dry samples (where’s the chain factory one could wonder). Groovy deep bass sounds and high end clicks, producing their own fine take on the genre. Influenced by Thomas Brinkmann, Radboud Mens, Profan and Audio.NL, this shows there is still life in minimal techno and that there new paths to go. Wonder what their next step will be. (FdW)
Address: http://www.caduceusmusic.net
BOUDEWIJN BETZEMA/RUTGER ZUYDERVELT – SAMENGEDAAN (3″ by Machinefabriek)
This new release by Machinefabriek is not really a new one, and it’s also a collaborative work with someone and therefore released as Rutger Zuydervelt (the factory worker behind Machinefabriek) and Boudewijn Betzema. Boudewijn Betzema is a poet and piano player. He wrote ten poems and then recorded piano improvisations to them. These recordings were given to Machinefabriek who added electronics and fieldrecordings. It turns away from the heavy duty ambient music of the recent Machinefabriek recordings or the somewhat haphazard recordings of his previous releases. These ten sketches are introspective piano works, with minimalist electronics which are woven through them, not in the foreground, but humming nicely in the background. Erik Satie is never far away but this time fueled with electricity. (FdW)
Address: http://www.machinefabriek.tk
ANOTHER HEADACHE – PUSHING THE ENVELOPE (miniCDR by This)
It’s been a long time since I last heard music by Another Headache: it must have been in the late eighties, early nineties. They released a split 7″ with a band called dROME and a couple of releases of compilation CDs. In 1997 the band was laid to rest, but recentely the band was revived and this four track mini CDR. The old style Another Headache could best be described as a cross-over between zoviet*france, Throbbing Gristle and the wall of guitar sound by Ramleh, and in some ways these influences are still present, such as in ‘Lunar Water’, but the open strummed guitar playing on ‘Near Death’ proofs that Another Headache, basically an one-man band, has a keen ear for more traditional instrument playing, but maintaining his interest in drone rock. ‘Flux’ on the other hand is more Steve Reich inspired minimalism in a too short of a track and the final ‘Contact’ even employs a rhythm. Four different tracks, that somehow sound quite coherent and a promising restart. (FDW)
Address: http://www.thisco.net