IRR.APP.(EXT.) – PEREKLUCHENIE (CD by Beta-lactam Ring Records) *
ALVARS ORKESTER – INTERFERENCE (CD by Ash International) *
COLLEEN – MORT AUX VACHES (CD by Staalplaat) *
ECHRAN (CD by Small Voices) *
FABIO ORSI – OSCI (LP by Small Voices)
UNITED BIBLE STUDIES – THE SHORE THAT FEARS THE SEA (CD by Deadslackstring/Deserted Village Records) *
UNITED BIBLE STUDIES – AIRS OF SUN AND STONE (CDR by Deserted Village)
THE LOST ROMAN LEGIONS (CDR by Deserted Village)
WATIV – BAGDAD MUSIC JOURNAL (CD by High Mayhem) *
THE SAME GIRL – SPARE PARTS & THE IDEOLOGY TOOLKIT (CD by Schraum) *
BLACK TO COMM – RÜCKWÄRTS BACKWARDS (CD by Dekorder) *
HC GILJE – CITYSCAPES – (DVD by Lowave)
WANDER/ANDREW LILES – THE ASTRONOMICAL ENTOMOLOGIST (Picture 7″ by Beta-lactam Ring Records)
PAL ASLE PETTERSEN – SKJEGG (CDR by Zang) *
NOISEWERRRRK – MISANTHROPIC ATTITUDE (CDR, self-released) *
IDYL – ETERNAL ICE (CD-R, private)
SONIC KITCHEN – EP (CDR by Naiv Super) *
CHRYSALIS/AGIT 8 – SACRED SILENCE (3″CDR by Cipher Productions)
KA – WATER MERTZ (CDR by Cipher Productions)
AMES SANGLANTES – LE CRI DU PENDU (CDR by Cipher Productions) *
TOTSTELLEN/EVAPORI – DRIFT (double 3″CDR by Anti Information Conspiracy)
[-HYPH-] – <BREATHING GADGETS> (CDR by Anti Information Conspiracy) *
AALFANG MIT PFERDEKOPF – ICH HABE NUR NOCH 12 SEEPFERDCHEN IN MEINEN TEMPEL (CDR by Einzeleinheit)
FEU FOLLET – TOI ET LE SON (CDR by Einzeleinheit) *
ROBERT NEITELER – IHBAIKLHIKÖ (CDR by Einzeleinheit)
STAPLERFAHRER – (FOR KATHARINA) (MP3 by Earlabs)
IRR.APP.(EXT.) – PEREKLUCHENIE (CD by Beta-lactam Ring Records)
As noted before: Irr.App.(ext.) kicks around since quite some time, but it’s only in the last few years that he has some releases out, which get picked up more and more. The last two major works reviewed here were drone works, Class A, but ‘Perekluchenie’ takes us back in time when Irr.App.(ext.) was under the influence of Nurse With Wound. The five pieces presented here show this influence quite clearly. In the title piece we hear women’s voices that could very well easily be Diana Rogerson’s, who also did similar things on some older Nurse With Wound records. The guitar lines of ‘Wretched Density’ are among the best Nurse Krautrock period. Is this a big problem? I really don’t think so. Even when Irr.App.(ext.) comes indeed close to the sound of his heroes, Matt Waldron (the mastermind of Irr.App.(ext.)) also takes his influences elsewhere, such as folk music but also The Hafler Trio, and executes everything with great care and skill. Acoustic guitar parts, door banging, voices, drones: everything passes by in a highly controlled environment, no hit (and miss) and see what happens here. Every second of this seems to be planned, proofed and then deemed alright. Irr.App.(ext.) may have a small catalogue of releases, there isn’t a weak brother in there. (FdW)
Address: http://www.blrrecords.com
ALVARS ORKESTER – INTERFERENCE (CD by Ash International)
The name Joachim Nordwall pops up more and more in Vital Weekly. Here as a member of Alvars Orkester, recently with the Skull-defekts and sometimes releases on his own Ideal Organisation label. The Alvers Orkester exists since 1987 when it was formed by Nordwall and Jan Svensson (among unnamed others), when they lived in Johannishus, south-east of Sweden and they had a cassette label called Börft. Back then they released a couple of things on small labels in Italy, Portugal, USA and sounded by like an ambient industrial band (moving away from the first line of inspirations such as Test Dept, Throbbing Gristle and SPK). The band was in active for a couple of years, when Nordwall wasn’t living in Sweden and Svensson moving to acid house. But they reformed and recorded this album in April 2005. These days they balance the lines between the strictest darker ambient corners and the highly aggressive noise version of music. The basic stuff of the four pieces here, selected by Ash-boss Mike Harding and Philip Marshal, were recorded between 1987-2005. Highly atmospheric in the opening piece ‘Johannishus’, going through a pretty mean noise slab of ‘Cobra Mist’. Although the noise of the Alvars Orkester is a controlled one. It doesn’t bounce into all sorts of directions, but works as a true wall of sound. Tape experiments with voices open up ‘Reality Distortion Field’, and feedback/sine wave like sounds drop in. The final piece, the longest, is ‘Field Grey’, and that is exactly what it is: a grey field of sound that is cut somewhat softer, but if you crank up the volume, all sorts of nasty frequencies become apparent in this piece. Quite an intense work altogether, that may also be somewhat of a surprise for the label-spotters out there. It moves into the field of drone/ambient/noise but picked out an interesting classic to explore the field with. Quite nice. (FdW)
Address: http://www.ashinternational.com
COLLEEN – MORT AUX VACHES (CD by Staalplaat)
Behind Colleen is one Cecile Schott from France, but perhaps you knew this. She has two widely acclaimed albums for The Leaf label, ‘Everyone Alive Wants AnAnswersswers’ (from 2003) and ‘The Golden Morning Breaks’ (from 2005). The recordings made at the VPRO studios stem from 2004, so in between the two studio albums. Unlike others, Colleen insists on playing new material, not songs from the albums. Furthermore she doesn’t want to use any prerecorded elements or samples from others. In stead she concentrates solely on playing instruments, such as guitar, zither, ukulele, cello or the thumb piano. On her album she explores these instruments, per track. There is ‘The Zither Song’, ‘The Bowing Song’ and ‘The Cello Song’ – you get my drift. She feeds her playing through a bunch of effect pedals, which only have the function to repeat the sound and make a little bit more denser. Each track thus starts out quite sparse, but of the course of the piece, small sounds are added and thus something bigger arrives in the end. That is roughly the working procedure for six of the eight tracks. The opening and closing piece leave more to guess, although the music box in the first piece is fairly easy, but whatever happens in the last we don’t know. Here the electronica is more obscure. But each of the eight tracks are delicate and warm, chamber music of the first order. Probably not as complex as the studio albums, but surely a very fine example of how these things sounds live. Very nice. And a very nice book-like cover. (FdW)
Address: http://www.staalplaat.com
ECHRAN (CD by Small Voices)
FABIO ORSI – OSCI (LP by Small Voices)
This is a new name from Italy, of two guys that have made their own history in Italian underground: Davide Del Col of Ornament and Fabio Volpi of Otolab. They merge two different interests in this project: the darker edges of ambient and the noise based psychedelica. Although the press release mentions influences of Pan Sonic and Basic Channel, it’s influences that I found hard to detect. In most of the six pieces there is indeed some sort of rhythm going, usually a pulse floating of analogue synths, but the other synths play a much more sinister sound than the more house related experiments by Pan Sonic and Basic Channel. It’s rather a slowed down and stripped down version of Suicide, but perhaps also like many more experimental synthesizer music that was released on cassette in the mid eighties, like Die Form or some such. It has only faint traces of Pan Sonic, but lacks the aggressive rhythm side of the Fins. It’s fairly OK release, nothing spectecular, but should go well with those who love their music to be dark, cold, sinister and yet with a sense of rhythm, one not coming from a rhythm-machine.
Likewise I never heard of Fabio Orsi, an Italian artist. He plays guitars, samples, laptop and field recordings. The latter he seems to have made at various folk music festival in the Apulian folk tradition, but also outside in the country side. No big city mayhem here. For reasons unknown Orsi ‘composed and processed’ the music, but Kinetix ‘reworked and produced’ this LP. Wasn’t Orsi not good enough? Upon hearing this LP I’d be curious to hear his version of the story, as what he hear sounds quite interesting, even when Kinetix may provide us with a more reduced part (as he is known for his love of the more minimal side of music). We are delicately lead around in the country-side: faint drones, clicks, church bells, people and folk music, but there is still a lot of peace in this country-side. This happen with great slowness. Slowfood cooking was Italian too, right? The music is something similar. Moving about in a slow manner. The second part has more subtle drones than the first part, but in a melancholic, Basinski kind of way, until it bursts into the most stripped down click rhythm (no bass?) ever. Quite a curious record. (FdW)
Address: http://www.smallvoices.it
UNITED BIBLE STUDIES – THE SHORE THAT FEARS THE SEA (CD by Deadslackstring/Deserted Village Records)
UNITED BIBLE STUDIES – AIRS OF SUN AND STONE (CDR by Deserted Village)
THE LOST ROMAN LEGIONS (CDR by Deserted Village)
Following Daniel Padden’s recent folk excursion, here is another, by United Bible Studied, from Ireland. Originally formed as a duo, these days they are a collective of up to twelve members at a time. They play folk music but with a strong twist into the world of improvisation. Free Improvisation, with twice a capital! The instruments include guitars, theremins, banjo and accordion, and they scrape their way along instrumental tracks as-well as some with vocals. The influence of say Current 93 or Sol Invictus is there, but there is a general lack of percussion, making this much more intimate and even more melancholic. It’s in a way close to Vital Weekly when it comes to the improvisational parts of various tracks, but when it’s guitar playing and singing it’s perhaps to far away. It’s music that is hardly heard here, and therefore quite nice.
The live CDR is something different. First of all it’s just one, forty minute piece and there is no singing, but just free improvisation of guitars, piano tinkling, banjo, some percussive sounds and a major part is reserved for the harp. This release comes much closer to the world of improvisation (and much of the daily digest of music here) and moves away from the folk elements, although I believe this is only temporarily for ‘just’ a concert and that the ‘The Shore That Fears The Sea’ release is the ‘real’ full sound of United Bible Studies, but the live version is quite nice.
Still moving along similar lines is The Lost Roman Legions, a band formed by Pomice and some members of United Bible Studies. It’s not too difficult to see the similarities between this and the studies, but it’s rather a cross between the live sound and the studio sound of United Bible Studies. It carries more the improvisational feel of the live sound, even when The Lost Roman Legions probably do a studio improvisation here. I played all three CDs in a row, which wasn’t a good idea: the similarities are too striking whereas on an average night I would have digged this last one much better. A curious mixture of improvisation and folk music. Quite strange, all of them, but captivating. (FdW)
Address: http://www.desertedvillage.com
WATIV – BAGDAD MUSIC JOURNAL (CD by High Mayhem)
A few days ago I asked myself what tune I was whistling. After a few seconds I knew it came from the CD by Wativ: A record to whistle by? Well, not exactly. This is a very remarkable CD in more then one sense. First it is composed and recorded by somebody while serving as an american soldier in Iraq. Just try to imagine…! Second it is music of a considerable quality and of great imagination. William A.Thompson IV or Wativ is the man behind it, who produces his first cd with this one. Feeling rooted in the New Orleans jazztradition, Thompson started studying jazz at the University Of New Orleans. In order to pay his studies he joined the army. Because of the war in Iraq he was not able to finish them but was sent to Iraq instead. “Upon deployment, Will quickly purchased a power book G4 and all necessary music production software. With MIDI, Samples and imagination Will has begun and continues to compose music reflecting his experiences in this unfortunate war.” With him he took also recordings he made with his musical mates. We hear them on several tracks. Track four ‘Golombisky’ for example, is centered around a sample of a bass-line played by his favorite bass-player from New Orleans Golombisky. Wativ plays a virtuoso non-swinging solo on keyboard. I especially like the sound of his keyboard playing. There is some pain in it. During a two week leave Wativ recorded with his trio III.IV.I Kollective: Matthew Golombisky (bass), Milton Villarrubia (drums) plus Wativ. These recordings make up the starting point for the last three tracks on this CD (‘Mid Tour Prelude 1-3’). Dark and intense improvisations that are heard as played I think. Influences of classical music can also be traced on this album. Just listen to the end of ‘Golombisky’. The piece ‘CP FX’ is structured very obvious in a classical music-like style. Also the second piece ‘Pasteur Peace’ where Wativ uses organ-like sounds, breaths a classical atmosphere . At moments you feel like being in a church.
‘Follow our orders’ is something totally different. Arabic dialogue speech samples are looped, and transposed to music. “It is primarily based on one conversation in which an Iraqi male explained to me the problems with the current conflict in the Middle East”, Thompson explains. This quote illustrates that music is for Thompson a way of reflecting on his experiences in the war, in order to remain as healthy as possible.
There is also a very nice song on the album: ‘Dim Blue Eyes’, the one I whistled. A very friendly and melodic piece. Most of the tracks are drenched carefully in a bath of sampled sounds and voices Wativ recorded in Iraq.
All together this is an original and successful mixture of jazz and classical music combined with an interest for noisy layers of sound. A blend of prerecorded acoustic music and electronic treatment, made by a composer and musician with a vision, under very difficult circumstances. A record that deserves our respect and appreciation. (DM)
Address: http://www.highmayhem.org
THE SAME GIRL – SPARE PARTS & THE IDEOLOGY TOOLKIT (CD by Schraum)
Gilles Aubry and Nicolas Field met in 1995 when they tried to seduce the same girl, but in 2003 they played their first concert in Krakow. That was something they liked and they decided to form a duo under the banner of The Same Girl. Field plays percussion and Aubry plays computer and both have a solid reputation in the world of improvised music, although Aubry has also done a lot of sound installations. The pieces on this CD are divided in two groups: a series of improvisations (‘Spare Parts’) and a series of field recordings (‘The Ideology Toolkit’). It’s hard to see what they think of when they use the word field recordings. When I first played this CD, I didn’t look at the cover and found it hard to tell the difference between the field recordings and the improvised pieces. I assume the field recordings are still loosely based on improvisation of the percussion and a little bit of the computer sound. In the improvised pieces, the computer is fed through bass and guitar amplifiers to get a more in-depth sound. It surely pays off, since this is quite a raw sounding affair, when when it concerns the ‘softer’ pieces such as ‘Tombstone Zigzag’. The two play quite energetic music, which works well. Intense playing in sometimes a traditional way (certainly when it concerns the percussion), but throughout it’s a menacing, uneasy affair that is demanding a lot of the listener. One to play loud so that one can take it all in much easier. But rest assured: you will leave breathless but satisfied. (FdW)
Address: http://www.schraum.de
BLACK TO COMM – RÜCKWÄRTS BACKWARDS (CD by Dekorder)
First of all this CD is beautifully packaged with a tri-fold disc holder. Each picture bears its own character (blurry forest with handscrawled text, a sleeping cat, and what appears to be an old wallpaper pattern) But on to the music. Black to Comm (aka Marc Richter who also runs Dekorder) knows how to keep it short and sweet with 8 songs clocking in at under 37 minutes. Ruckwarts Backwards opens with the aptly titled ‘Bees’ some gentle buzzing of said insect is later accompanied by some child-like hums, this gives way to the second song ‘Levitation’ which is a gentle soundscape of rising and falling organ tones backed by a field recording. ‘Lucifer Lacca’ ushers in an operatic vocal loop that reaches crescendo and ends with another bit of children’s singing. The feel is still subdued and continues throughout the record, I’m reminded at times of Tape, not so much in sound but in how I feel while listening to them. The title track is a series of interlocking vibraphone melodies that are augmented by computer processing. The computer treatments are more of an enhancement rather than something that would radically alter the source sounds. Track 5 is my personal favorite with a minimalist and slightly buzzing drone that cross-fades with a quieter drone. The remainder of the album hits just the right drone spot! Minimal loops with a somber feel, that guides you right to the end. The credits list microphones, voice, and kitchen gamelan, and Marc is good at assembling seemingly unrelated segments into gently blurred landscapes that roll by with an ease and comfort. In a few words….. simple, and elegant. Ruckwarts Backwards follows a self titled 10″ also on Dekorder. Very curious to hear to more from this project (CJ)
Address: http://www.dekorder.com
HC GILJE – CITYSCAPES – (DVD by Lowave)
Gilje is a norwegian video artist who has been working with musicians for a long time now, mostly in live situations. This release contains four video’s, three of which are collaborations with other artists. Gilje’s work is based mainly on footage shot in cities (which is suggested correctly by the title). His reworking of the material is quite stunning. There is never really this uncanny situation that the software seems to run away with the artist. Gilje has a firm grasp of the material and knows how to work with it so that it does not start to lead a life of its own. His choice of collaborators strengthens this position. Jazzkammer are known for their uncompromising sound experiments and Kelly Davis does not fit the easy listening category either. Despite my personal trouble regarding combinations of images and sounds, these works work out very well for me. I would say that this DVD represents the best that Vjing has to offer right now. (MR)
Address: www.lowave.com
WANDER/ANDREW LILES – THE ASTRONOMICAL ENTOMOLOGIST (Picture 7″ by Beta-lactam Ring Records)
Wander does not another introduction here of course. But this 7″ may need scrutiny: not the usual drone music, but a synthesizer sequence to which other synths have been added. Strangely reminiscent of seventies german synth gods like Tangerine Dream and others really. And quite funny. The other side seems to be a collaboration with Andrew Liles, I am guessing he is playing along with the Wander recording. And this is even more fun: the synth sequence is overruled by a drum computer beat to which guitars are added in several, mostly rhythmical ways. Reminiscent of early eighties punk/rock like nothing I have heard before. Very refreshing this little disc! (MR)
Address: http://www.blrrecords.com
PAL ASLE PETTERSEN – SKJEGG (CDR by Zang)
From the lively scene in Stavanger comes a
release which can best be described as maximum brain damage one: Pal Asle Pettersen’s schizophrenic ‘Skjegg’ album. No less than fifty tracks in twenty-five minutes. And it’s not the first time that he goes all the way. His previous solo record ‘Spor had twelve tracks of one minutes (and was pressed on a 8″ lathe cut record – see Vital Weekly 382). Does that sound easy? Perhaps it does, but sit down and try and make something solid of thirty seconds. And repeat that fifty times. The whole stuff is sampled together from many different sources: popmusic, radio, electro-acoustic music, drones and served up in this ultra fast fashion that is of course part of the thirty second schematics at hand. Pettersen does his best not to make tracks sound alike, doesn’t always succeed, but throughout he has done a really fine job in doing the best thing possible. Quite enjoyable! (FdW)
Address: http://www.kunst.no/paal.asle/
NOISEWERRRRK – MISANTHROPIC ATTITUDE (CDR, self-released)
What else can you expect than ‘noise’ if you call yourself Noisewerrrrk. Apparently it’s the off-shoot of someone who is currently involved in the death metal scene (but no names are given), but ‘in need of another way to express a darkening outlook on today’s world resulting in a mood of rage, hate, anger and fear and a growing cynicism looking on what’s going on I decided to form Noisewerrrrk in October 2005’ and ‘Misanthropic Attitude’ is the first result, released in an edition of 26 copies. It’s a very typical noise release. Distorted sounds played on an organ, sometimes leaping into feedback, tape-loops, an occasional scream. A mixture of Whitehouse, Ramleh, Consumer Electronics and Sutcliffe Jugend and about every copy-cat that came after that, including titles such ‘Random Violence’ and ‘Piss On Your Grave’. I don’t understand the whole ‘noise = negative’ thing, why not something as ‘noise = fun’? I like a fair bit of noise, but the negative connotations are not well spend on me. (FdW)
Address: http://www.noisewerrrrk.de
IDYL – ETERNAL ICE (CD-R, private)
A short collection of “arctic ambience”, a home-produced CD-R in a plastic wallet with black and white printed inserts. It opens with “All and Ever”, a blending of lonely guitar and sampled voices punctuated by bursts of cold, foreboding bass. Next we have “In Autumn”, a dark brooding drone-based piece with the guitar taking the role of the gentle dripping of slowly melting ice, coupled with a distant and subtle calling of crows. The third track is “Nebel Lichtung”, a lighter more subtle drone which evokes the biting arctic winds and the ever present blanket of ice. “Dis” returns to darker drones, still layered with the spectre of the arctic winds, this is coupled with the call of a distant church organ recalling the norse myths of the world ending in ice. The last track is “Is Vann” and highlights the contrasts throughout the disk. It starts with a dialogue between lighter and darker drones, which are then joined by a simple and very suspenseful guitar line.
If I HAD to make some criticisms, I would say that the tracks are a little short, and each tend to end rather abruptly. But all in all a very evocative release, with an excellent contrast between lighter and darker moods. (AP)
Address: http://www.eternalice.de
SONIC KITCHEN – EP (CDR by Naiv Super)
If I read the name Sonic Kitchen and hear their release, then I can’t help to think that Dennis Tan and Marc Pira turned over the kitchen into a sonic workplace, even when it is nowhere mentioned in the press text. ‘Amplified Objects On Table, guitar’ is what Pira plays whilst Tan plays ‘field recordings, sine, laptop live sampling’. Two tracks here are studio tracks and two are live recordings. To a large extent Sonic Kitchen are a somewhat raw musique concrete group, taking electro-acoustic sounds as their basic materials, and feed them freely into the laptop to make all sorts of alterations and processing. In the studio cuts this is done rather nicely, in a more subtle and softer, a bit microsounding way, whereas the live pieces are more chaotic, disturbed and sometimes less concentrated. Sounds bounce around, collide to each-other and sometimes are shot away into the deep far end. I’d say it’s all together lesser in the areas of micro-sound, and more on a cross-road where improvisation, composition and electro-acoustics meet up. Quite intense at times, sometimes they miss the point, but with original intentions. (FdW)
Address: http://www.naivsuper.de
CHRYSALIS/AGIT 8 – SACRED SILENCE (3″CDR by Cipher Productions)
KA – WATER MERTZ (CDR by Cipher Productions)
AMES SANGLANTES – LE CRI DU PENDU (CDR by Cipher Productions)
Vital Weekly likes to concern itself with the latest craze and not per se with things that aren’t as fresh anymore. In different ways these three are not fresh.
The oldest release is by Chrysalis, aka Chris Groves (the man behind Cipher Productions) and Agit 8, aka Mike Bailey. The two cuts by Chrysalis are straight opposites: ‘Apocrypha’ is a dark, somewhat silent ambient excursion, whilst ‘Pseudepigrapha’ is a straight forward noise piece. I preferred the first… Agit 8 takes with one track the other half of the release, and he does the same thing as Chrysalis, but now inside one track. ‘Sacred Silence’, as it is called, has nothing to do with silence, or perhaps that silence is not sacred with these boys.
KA is a trio of Norwegian sound artists: Kai S Mikalsen, Kjell ø Braathen and Tore H Boe, the latter seems to have returned to the world of music. As Ka they played music, in 1999 (!) for the ‘H20 mail art exhibition’ in Oslo. As you can imagine with such a thematic approach they use solely the sound of water. It’s not easy to tell but it seems to me that hardly any electronic sound processing has been used, and that the three boys each play their own collage of water-like (rivers, oceans, shores, water tap) sounds, into a nice blend of soundscaping, which may not entirely be pleasant if you have a weak bladder.
The final release is by Ames Sanglantes, aka Pierre-Marc Tremblay, whoever that may be. That is pretty recent release, but the recordings are from 1999. His release can be described as a catalogue of noise possibilities. Ames Sanglantes plays all sort of noise, ranging from rhythmic excursions along the lines Esplendor Geomtrico in ‘Les Dernieres Minutes’ to several tracks in which the pure noise distortion feedback walls in which the hand of God, that is Merzbow, is never far away and all sorts of variations in between, with various degredations of what is present: the rhythm or the noise. Some tracks are a bit Masonna/Endo-like when the voice is used. One could say that Ames Sanglantes doesn’t know which way to go, but I prefer to look at things in a different way: there is enough variation throughout this disc, to keep things interesting for the full eleven tracks, say almost an hour. (FdW)
http://www.iheartnoise.com/cipherproductions/
TOTSTELLEN/EVAPORI – DRIFT (double 3″CDR by Anti Information Conspiracy)
[-HYPH-] – <BREATHING GADGETS> (CDR by Anti Information Conspiracy)
The package of the double 3″ CDR by Germany’s Totstellen and Evapori reminded me of the more daring packages of the cassette culture at it’s height: a supermarket meat package with very grey packaging material that looks like rotten chopped meat. The theme of this is ‘drift’ and has a quote from the ‘Murder In The Rue Morgue’ by Edgar Allen Poe on the cover. Otherwise not much information. Before this he/they had a CDR on Reduktive Musiken (see Vital Weekly 456) and despite the industrial name, this is not really industrial music of the louder kind. Again Totstellen uses field recordings and sound processings to create a dense and dark pattern of sound of slowly shifting and colliding sound material. No big surprise, but quite nice throughout the twenty-two minutes.
Evapori from Hamburg is Oliver Peters, who also runs the Anti Information Conspiracy label. His own music is a rougher and rawer, but certainly nothing less than the likes of Meelkop, Chartier or Gunther. They are quiet, Evapori is a bit more raw, maybe a little less refined in his own processing of field recording and adding all sorts of additional sounds to the palette. Quite a bit here dwells on the borders of microsound, most certainly in the second piece, but Evapori carries enough of it’s own to make things quite interesting. Well structured and thoughtfully played.
On the same we find [-Hyph-], aka Nicolas Wiese, the other labelowner. The three pieces on this release were made as part of ‘one hour as’, the radio show by Ben Green. [-Hyph-] plays bass clarinet without mouth piece, breathing, various kitchen devices, disturbed synth signal, feedback, cello, piano strings, splintered glass on wet concrete, pneumatic brake of a freight train and some more. [-Hyph-] has put of all of this together on his computer and make quite an energetic movement of sound with all this by means of sound collage. Silence is hardly an option for him. His collages reminded me a bit of the good ol’ Brume work. Constant shifting the sounds backwards, forward, upside and reversed, with voices swirling in and out. Very much a work of musique concrete and electro-acoustic. Sometimes things stay a bit too much on one side of the affair, before moving on, but throughout it’s a very fine work. Good to see this released and not just roaming the radio waves. (FdW)
Address: http://www.0000-anti.info
AALFANG MIT PFERDEKOPF – ICH HABE NUR NOCH 12 SEEPFERDCHEN IN MEINEN TEMPEL (CDR by Einzeleinheit)
FEU FOLLET – TOI ET LE SON (CDR by Einzeleinheit)
ROBERT NEITELER – IHBAIKLHIKÖ (CDR by Einzeleinheit)
A new label for me is Germany’s Einzeleinheit (meaning lonely unity). Two new artists on this label and the already somewhat known Aalfang Mit Pferdekopf, aka Mirko Uhlig’s project. The previous release, for Mystery Sea, had to do with dark ambient music, but here it’s something different. Various of his friends supplied sound material which he puts together. The guitar plays an important role, and not just those who drone away. Simple strumming along Current 93 in ‘Jaja Ungarinyin Und Nun Zur Leiche Am Ufer’ (the titles are to be translated, but it’s spoils the fun) but throughout the idea of a sound collage is the main thing. Field recordings of voices do their thing and sometimes things move below the threshold of hearing. Sometimes it’s related to Krautrock, but Aalfang Mit Pferdekopf plays seven fine tunes. Tense, funny and surprising throughout. A bit like good HNAS, at least carrying the same sense of German humor.
Behind Feu Follet is Tobias Fischer, the man behind the label. He played with Aalfang Mit Pferdekopf a couple of times and was introduced to the music of Nurse With Wound and Mirror by Mirko Uhlig. Soon after that he started his worn work in the realms of drone music. More Mirror than Nurse With Wound (despite the various works of the nurses in this direction). Of the two pieces on ‘Toi Et Le Son’ is the first the most minimal drone music, and the most Mirror like. A single drone sound is expanded over the course of the piece, and gradually grows in intensity. The second piece is more a cascading sea wave piece with lots of harmonizing sounds, making this is into a piece with more sudden changes, or rather sudden shifting movements. Both pieces are quite nice, but also quite standard in the known paths of drone music. But he could easily be next up in the Mystery Sea catalogue.
Of an entirely different musical order is the release by Robert Neiteler, one half of the for me unknown Naarmann and Neiteler. This oddly titled release is his debut solo release. Six pieces of computer generated techno music, like a stripped down, naive version of many of the more known UK counterparts. Bubbling about, using software versions of various rhythm-machines and synthesizers, this is a rather too naive attempt at creating non-danceable dance music. Pretty chaotic in it’s approach, with all sorts of rhythm and melodies running at the same time, this is more like someone exploring Magic Music Maker 1.1 than a coherent attempt to create good techno music. Not my thing for sure. (FdW)
Address: http://www.einzeleinheit.com
STAPLERFAHRER – (FOR KATHARINA) (MP3 by Earlabs)
Okay, the site already mentioned Staplerfahrer as someone to watch out for and they are right. This stuff is something quite stunning: four tracks of noise at first listen, but getting closer one discovers tons of interesting little details, almost hidden away in a wash of plain noise. This is pretty strange, as if Merzbow meets Bernhard Guenter. Mind you, Merzbow will obviously have the upper hand, but Guenter will be the one that keeps you listening. Having made this comparison, I must say that Staplerfahrer is in a category of his own without doubt. The comparison just might give you an idea of what to expect, but be prepared to be completely convinced yourself! Download now. (MR)
Address: http://www.earlabs.org
Correction: Benjamin Gwilliam and Lee Patterson would like it to be known that they don’t use any laptops or any form of digital processing on their ‘Collaborative Impositions’. They use ‘in general, our instrumentation has included amongst other things, electric toothbrushes, springs, contact mic’d surfaces, bottles, glasses and field recordings’.
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All written by Frans de Waard (FdW), The Square Root Of Sub (MP <sub@xs4all.nl>), Dolf Mulder (DM) <dolf.mulder@hetnet.nl>, Meelkop Roel (MR), Gerald
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