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SHINEYVILLE – NO SLEEP TILL BABYLON (CD by Public Eyesore)
MIGHTY VITAMINS – TAKE-OUT (CD by Public Eyesore)
ALESSANDRO BOSETTI – HER NAME – (CD by Crouton)
ILIOS – LOVE IS MY MOTOR (CD by Antifrost) *
PHARAOH OVERLORD – LIVE IN SUOMI FINLAND (CD by Vivo Records) *
DIMITRI VOUDOURIS – NPFAI.1/PALMOS/NPFAI.3/PRAXIS (CD by Pogus)
RM74 – FIREPROOF IN 8 PARTS (CD by Hinterzimmer Records) *
DR. BOB – DARK TIMES (CD by Edgetone Records) *
ANLA COURTIS & RALF WEHOWSKY – RETURN OF THE STONE SPIRITS (CD by Beta Lactam-ring Records)
NUCD#1 (CD compilation by Nu Music)
HYSTERESIS – MEASURE CHAOS (CD by Spectre) *
DEVIN SARNO & G.E. STINSON – HEART CELL MEMORY (CD by Squirrelgirl Records)
ROBOT VS. RABBIT – DOS (CD by Squirrelgirl Records) *
FRANCISCO MEIRINO / TIM OLIVE – EAGLE KEYS (CD by Evenstilte) *
NO NOISE (CD compilation by Evenstilte)
TAKUMI SEINO – RIPPLE (CD by Voice Of Silence Records)
TAKUMI SEINO – DARK SHAPE (CD by Voice Of Silence Records) *
EFFICIENT REFINERIES – EPINERVIO (CD by Menstrual Recordings) *
M.B. & M.D.T. – PSALMODIAM (CDR by Menstrual Recordings)
SAMARKANDE/OBLIVION ENSEMBLE – FONDATION.02/I FALL, SOUND[IN]G HER DREAM (CDR by Samarkade Records/Static Signals) *
FEU FOLLET & MIINA VIRTANEN – THE ICICLE LECTURES VOL. 1 (CDR by Ex Ovo) *
JLIAT – NOW THATS WHAT I CALL NOISE VOL.1 (CDR by Larks Council Of England) *
CASSETTE CULTURE COMPILATION (2xCDR compilation by Cassette Culture)
ILLUMINATI – META MEDICA (CDR by Lotta Continua Recordings) *
ILLUMINATI & KING DICE – ESPIONAGE (CDR by Lotta Continua Recordings)
FRANK ROWENTA – KLÄNGE SIZILIENS (3″CDR by Field Muzick)
SHINEYVILLE – NO SLEEP TILL BABYLON (CD by Public Eyesore)
MIGHTY VITAMINS – TAKE-OUT (CD by Public Eyesore)
Over the top pop from a trio from Nebraska that hides their identity behind strange names: Mr. PanTastic (vocals), Dr.Tao Honeybunsen (drums), Popo-bot 2012 (guitar). The photo on the cover also shows they love to cloth themselves in a strange outfit. But is the music as weird as their presentation? No, to be short. We hear three capable musicians at work on this CD. They mix a diversity of ideas in 12 eclectic pop songs. As their influences they list: Beck, Prince, Mr.Bungle, Bjork, Nick Cave, Tom Waits, Violent Femmes and John Zorn. An honorable list, but Shinyville doesn’t come near the standards of their heroes. Not that they are no more then flat lookalikes of their heroes. They do succeed in creating 12 very different songs around clear ideas. Yes, these guys do have a clear vision with some original ideas. And sometimes the blend is absolutely puzzling and amusing. Special attention deserves the singing by Mr.PanTastic. He sings with a pathetic and dramatic expression that was very common in symphonic music before punk entered the scene at the end of the 70s in. But all in all it didn’t convince me for some reason. As there are also several moments where the music remains a cliche and the sense of humor definitely isn’t mine.
The Mighty Vitamins, also from Nebraska, walk in a altogether different direction. Like Shinyville they are a weird combo (Jerry Johnston, Jay Kreimer, Brad Krieger and Luke Polipnick), but they don’t mingle their madness with popmusic, but with improvised music. In open and loosely improvised ‘song’- structures they tell their story without much pretension.
Or to put it differently, they are lacking the musicality that is needed to make free improvised music worthwhile. No focus, sense of direction or necessity. So, it didn’t grab me. Only in the noisy and concentrated sound improvisation ‘Nakatani’ I had the feeling it works. (DM)
Address: http://www.publiceyesore.com/
ALESSANDRO BOSETTI – HER NAME – (CD by Crouton)
Once in a while, after listening to a new cd, I find myself exclaiming: ‘this one is really absolutely fantastic! Everything is on its place here!’ This happened to me while listening to Bosetti’s new cd. I know Bosetti as a saxplayer, but on his new cd he also touches acoustic and electric guitars, electric piano, cello, piano, harmonium, electric organ, electronics, shortwave radio and voice. He is assisted by Koen Nutters (doublebass on track 3 and 5), Ernst Karel (trumpet on track 3) and Morten J.Olsen (drums on track 3 and 4). Plus a whole bunch of people who lend their voice. Recordings were made during 2006 on several places on planet earth. He was helped out by Guiseppe Ielasi a.o. ‘Her Name’ is a work that crosses many borders: music, audio play, collage, soundpoetry, etc. It is a bit of it all, but the result is more then the sum of its parts. It is evident that creative forces are at work here. Most pieces are built around the voices Bosetti recorded. He explores the musical qualities of these speaking voices and uses them with vision. Here Bosetti seems to operate in a way René Lussier did on his album ‘Tresor de la Langue’, where Lussier transcribed spoken voice and orchestrated it for instruments. Anyway, each piece results in a very musical collage of voices on the one hand, and all kind of sounds and playing on the other. The soundsources are not extremely manipulated by Bosetti. Also he didn’t choose for an overkill of effects or heavy processing techniques. The pieces are very open and natural. Every nuance and detail can be distinguished very good. Each track shows a good sense for proportion and color. It is also a very emotional work, made with great care and dedication by Bosetti. A very enjoyable work!(DM)
Address: http://www.croutonmusic.com/
ILIOS – LOVE IS MY MOTOR (CD by Antifrost)
Throughout the many years that Ilios is active, the man is a little mystery for me. Having never met him is not it (he isn’t the only one I never met), but his work is a bigger mystery. For his new work, with the strange title ‘Love Is My Motor’, he uses field recordings from Lima, London, Santander, Santiago and Asuncion, although it’s hard to tell what those field recordings consist of. Wind recordings? Rain? It’s all highly and heavily processed through the computer. Nikos Veliotis plays a bit of cello on ‘The Sight Of You Leaves Me Weak’ (all of the track titles show us a man deeply in love). Divided in eight pieces this is yet another strong piece, but hermetically closed (what is the relation between the music and the titles for instance?). Dark, moody, but very much along the lines of especially Francisco Lopez, but also M. Behrens and Roel Meelkop, Ilios leaves me once again puzzled behind. Perhaps I should just undergo this music, not look at the cover and play this at a somewhat louder volume and let the whole thing come through. Perhaps there is just nothing to understand and it’s all about beauty. (FdW)
Address: http://www.antifrost.gr/
PHARAOH OVERLORD – LIVE IN SUOMI FINLAND (CD by Vivo Records)
It’s been a while since we last listened to some stoner rock, but Pharaoh Overlord is a straight shot in the heart. This big band contains members of Plain Ride, Avviko and Hans Joachim Irmler from Faust. “Live In Suomi Finland” doesn’t much information, other than that it was recorded in May last year in Helsinki. It’s one blast of guitar noise. The cover doesn’t give much information as to who plays what, but I imagine one plays drums, one bass, one keyboards, thus leaving three others to play guitars. Loud guitars, fed through distortion pedals, but always there to keep the solid concrete and above all thick wall as solid as possible. Despite the fact that there are five separate tracks to be found here, it’s best to see this as one long session that has been cut for easy sake (?) into five smaller parts. Like good stoner rock there is seemingly no end to this journey, even when it lasts fifty minutes. At times it lacks all sort of refinement and things are on the edge of distortion, but that’s of course part of this all freak out music. Certainly something to experience live, but also on CD it sucks out all the energy. A true blast. (FdW)
Address: http://www.vivo.pl
DIMITRI VOUDOURIS – NPFAI.1/PALMOS/NPFAI.3/PRAXIS (CD by Pogus)
Voudouris is composer living in South Africa, but with his roots in Greece, which is evident with such a name. He began his composing activities in the 90s. He writes for acoustic instruments as well as electronic ones, for multimedia events, dance productions, etc. His work originates partly from very intellectual and theoretical considerations: “Voudouris bases his technical and theoretical compositional approach on research of cognitive psycho-acoustic behavioral patterns in humans, and the behavior of sound in relationship to continued environmental changes. These theories help to create moments of isolation allowing for the morphological study of each individual sound source,. ..” Just to give you an impression of the language that is used in the included booklet. Voudouris seems to be interested mainly in technical and theoretical aspects of music. There is no mentioning of esthetic criteria. Is that enough basis for creating music? Well, in the case of Voudouris it is, as this cd proves.
It contains some beautiful compositions, or compositions with many beautiful moments, to say the least. Pogus selected four electro-acoustical works from this unknown composer. The first composition carries the prosaic title ‘NPFAI.1’ (New Possibilities for African Instrument), a work for kundi and m’bira with computer assisted processing. The m’bira is a finger piano made of wood and metal strips used in ceremonial music. The kundi is a bowed harp is a ceremonial instrument originating from the Mangbetu tribe of the Congo. For the second work ‘Palmos’ Voudoris chose three Western instruments (Hammond organ, oboe, bandoneon) and experiments with their overtone and harmonic capabilities. It is followed by ‘NPFAI. 3’ a study on the African marimba and computer assisted processing. The CD closes with ‘Praxis’ a piece using a recording of Christian Orthodox Greek male choir and computer assisted processing. All the works can be appreciated also when you – like me – can’t understand all the theoretical and technical insights that led to these works. (DM)
Address: http://www.pogus.com/
RM74 – FIREPROOF IN 8 PARTS (CD by Hinterzimmer Records)
You could have fooled me: ‘Fireproof In 8 Parts’ is RM74’s fourth solo album – I could have sworn there were more. Maybe I am just confused. Confused with the various releases he made with others, such as the recently released collaboration with Ralf Wehowsky (see Vital Weekly 555). As noted with his previous solo release ‘Exkursion’ (Vital Weekly 490), RM74, nom de plume from Reto Mäder from Switzerland, can no longer be lumped in with the world of microsound. The ‘campy’ sound of that album is also no longer part of the RM74 book. For ‘Fireproof In 8 Parts’ he works along the lines of Ralf Wehowsky: recording acoustic instruments and treating them with analogue and digital means. There is an organ, or a piano, a bassguitar and a harp at hand, and some of these can be recognized, but sometimes, such as in ‘Part 6: Orchulence II’, not at all. These days the work of RM74 is more in musique concrete territory than in microsound. It’s louder, perhaps even a bit more aggressive than before, but also intense and more varied. Careful working his way through the material is still there, but it works on a totally different level. The carefulness has to do with making the composition into a composition and not a mere random bunch of sound. An even bigger surprise is ‘Part 9’ which comes on a separate bonus CDR. ‘Concentrating on his lofi inspired songwriter drafts’, it says on the info, and very much so indeed. The music here dwells more on the instruments played, piano, guitar, and lesser to processing the sounds. Seemingly recorded with a simple microphone to pinch that extra lo-fi recording quality. This could be very well a songwriter, less the vocals but on the other hand this could also be the original sounds that were used in the other eight parts. Both CD and CDR are excellent works, from someone who wants to change per release (and that’s something I can applaud) (FdW)
Address: http://www.hinterzimmer-records.com
DR. BOB – DARK TIMES (CD by Edgetone Records)
First I thought Dr. Bob is the brother of Doctor Phil, or perhaps creepy character from a slasher movie (taking the cover into account) but in fact it’s a duo of Bob Marsh on voice, electronics and cello and David Michalak on lap steel guitar. Edgetone Records announces the genre as ‘electronic/dark ambient’. Electronic, well yes but dark ambient? Hell no. Or unless they have an entirely different meaning of the word dark ambient. If the eleven tracks are something else than electronic, I’d say improvisation. Cello, lapsteel and voice are all doing their own thing and they are fed through an array of electronics, mainly delay pedals and kaos pad. Dr. Bob stay in all tracks on the same wave length: improvising in similar ways, sometimes a bit more rhythmically, sometimes a bit chaotic, but the dynamic range of the release stays very much similar through out the pieces. That is a pity since not every track succeeds well. Some are just too much based on loose ends and lack any form of structure, tension and other things that could make it worthwhile. At least half the tracks are like that and can easily be skipped. The tracks that are interesting are still not really top, but work at least a little bit. It’s a pity since it could have been so much more. (FdW)
Address: http://www.edgetonerecords.com
ANLA COURTIS & RALF WEHOWSKY – RETURN OF THE STONE SPIRITS (CD by Beta Lactam-ring Records)
For Ralf Wehowsky the collaboration is the prime method to work. More and more, so it seems, he works with people in his home studio in Germany’s Eggenstein, such a November day in 2005 when Anla Courtis of Reynols fame came, armed with coils, guitar, argentinian violin, ‘stuff in a plastic bag’ and sampler to do some ‘quasi-live’ recordings with Wehowsky (coils, guitar, cambodian violin, kalimba, cappuccino shaker and CD scratch). In the time after that some sound transformation was done. As with other collaborations of this nature by Wehowsky, this too is more a work of improvisation than of careful post production, a bit like his work with Bruce Russell. The pieces are improvised and perhaps cut short, or edited, but throughout the pieces the element of improvisation prevails. Both gentleman know how to make a fire, as their work is not really careful or detailed. Sound effects, used in real time, are applied to quite some extent, such as distortion. This makes this work into a more harsher one than what we commonly think when we hear music by Wehowsky (although the third track shows a bit of detailed sound and takes matters a bit more into control), but it’s certainly a solid and strong work by the both of them. Maybe a bit of an odd ball for Wehwosky, but fans of Courtis should be pleased. (FdW)
Address: http://www.blrrecords.com
NUCD#1 (CD compilation by Nu Music)
Spring comes early this year judged by this first compilation by Norwegian label Nu Music. The album titled “NUCD#01” is a great documentation on the growing new wave of electro pop rising from the experimental scene at the moment. Norway has certainly been part of that tendency, especially after the release of the excellent album “Unrest” by Erlend Øye (from Kings Of Convenience) back in 2003. This first, very promising compilation by the Nu Music-label, changes between up-tempo and more downbeat to pure ambient contributions – there is a pleasant mixture of left-winged club-tracks and more experimental and mind-altering moments. Representing the first category, the project Sunday Productions opens the show with the catchy track “Factory” of electro-pop reminiscent of early 80’s Gary Numan with an excellent vocal track. Following track “Charlize_PSP” by Elektrofant, is a very club-friendly experience with excellent Saxophone-samples, upbeat tempo, melodic hooklines and perfect female vocals. Other excellent moments comes with the beautiful minimalism of Jan-M Iversen’s “Hafrsfjord by night”, the sweet musical box-like tune with the aggressive title “Path of blood” by Fistfight. Whether it is a coincidence is unknown to me, but the compilation contains another track titled “Path of blood”, but as opposed to the aforementioned track by Fistfight, this track by QRT stays true to the harsh meaning of the title. QRT delivers a track that can be described as a bloodthirsty mash-up of club-oriented dance and noise with excellent trance-like elements swirling inside. The artist calling himself “.P” continues the harsh lane with his track “Hellraisers” – a great Industrial technoid EBM-work consisting of great excellent samples of thrash metal guitar-riffs and some grinding noise-drones in-between. The compilation closes with Czechoslovakia’s beautiful electronic-ballad “Make it easy on yourself” that includes some amazing vocals reminiscent of David Sylvian. And this very organic and hyper-energetic compilation ends in the most beautiful manner. “NUCD#1” will become your greatest sonic party friend as you walk into the soon flourishing spring and a long hot summer. Excellent! (NMP)
Address: http://www.numusic.no
HYSTERESIS – MEASURE CHAOS (CD by Spectre)
“Measured chaos” is the title of the album from Belgian project Hysteresis out on compatriot label Spectre. Hysteresis impressed a lot with their excellent contribution “Noadrenaline” to the amazing compilation “Angst” released on Spectre in 2003. This debut album continues the mission and it certainly delivers the goods if you are searching for the harsh side of Industrial. With a great atmospheric opening “Measured chaos” literally spoken opens in full throttle chaos on the opening track “Deepthroataches”. The intense mixture of harsh electronics, Power Noise and bizarre sci-fi synth-lines continues on second track “Anni Liquidi”, this time the mixture has been added some great guitar works reminiscent of early Godflesh (from the “Streetcleaner”-period” (1989) that later in the track continues with heavy guitar-riffs that would make any metal-guitarist proud. Hysteresis uses some excellent vocals on the album, spanning from deep mumbling to desperate screaming. On the track titled “Psychedelic knowhow” Hysteresis creates a superb left-winged club track that combines the dark electronic drones and atmospheric guitar-works with catchy rhythms that moves away from the distorted noise beats and into more danceable rhythm-textures. “Measured chaos” represents its own personal approach to the Industrial / Power Noise-scene and I advise listeners of those scenes to check it out. (NMP)
Address: http://www.spectre.be
DEVIN SARNO & G.E. STINSON – HEART CELL MEMORY (CD by Squirrelgirl Records)
ROBOT VS. RABBIT – DOS (CD by Squirrelgirl Records)
These two releases on Squirrelgirl Records are opposites to eachother. There are a few things that they share, such as the presence of guitars, but that’s it. I must admit that I never heard of Devin Sarno nor G.E. Stinson, despite their long career in music, except that Sarno worked as Crib in the early 90s (a bass solo project). Both have played extensively with lots of people from the works of improvisation. Stinson won a Grammy Award, but the press text doesn’t say what for. In the four tracks on ‘Heart Cell Memory’ (lasting somewhere between seven and seventeen minutes) they improvise their way through ambient like textures. Sustained sounds, lots of effects, objects on the guitar: the more or less usual ingredients are present here to play textured, atmospheric music. But I wasn’t always too pleased with the result. Sometimes it seems to be lacking any idea or structure, and with nothing much going on, I thought: so, what now? It could perhaps have helped to edit some more, add something in the editing/mixes stages (although that might be perhaps against the idea of improvisation) but it seemed to me a bit based on not enough ideas, or not enough sounds and possibilities. Perhaps a release that comes too early.
At the other end of the musical spectrum is Robot Vs. Rabbit, a trio of Garrett Gentry, Mark Hepp and Tim Killough. They play drums, bass and guitar, and exist since 1998 and after some CDRs ‘Dos’ is their second album. The pieces are inspired by cold war era space race, the death of Kennedy and the American Dream. For what this is worth, since the music is instrumental, but o.k. the pieces have titles. Robot Vs. Rabbit’s music is best described as space rock. Pumping on end with the drums, and the bass and guitars to do a total freak out, but none of the players get a chance to play a solo. A wall to guard the bank, that is how this music sounds. All bricks are colored, but cemented together very well. A bit along the lines of heavy guitar rockers Skullflower or other less known UK counterparts from a decade ago. The sound quality could have been a bit better as some of these pieces sound a bit too much like rehearsal space recordings, but some pieces are recorded better. A large bath of sound which works nice, but leaves the listener quite tired behind. (FdW)
Address: http://www.squirrelgirl.com
FRANCISCO MEIRINO / TIM OLIVE – EAGLE KEYS (CD by Evenstilte)
NO NOISE (CD compilation by Evenstilte)
Grazing contact microphones raise their heads as the passing linesman for the county hums, – but not a tune to be heard across the 50htz field, along the shore line feeding pnp transistors dart in and out of the pink sea which is about to set. Crabs of corrugated mental crawl over rocks which do not rock, silica seaweed twitches, the sun comes up like thunder over a vibraphone escarpment which might be fusing the lights… this is the music of A Thousand Years 1990 Steel, glass, flies, maggots, MDF, insect-o-cutor, cow’s head, sugar, water…. This is the music of Francisco Meirino (Computer & Acoustics ) who has collaborated with aritsts such as Dave Phillips, Brent Gutzeit, Tim Olive (of course), Sickness, Guilty Connector, Cindy Van Acker, Manon Bellet, Filippo Leonardi, Takashi Tsuda, Kasper T. Toeplitz … (That’s 12?) and many more. And performed in Cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Tokyo, Kobe, Osaka, Geneva, Zurich, Barcelona,
Valencia, Rotterdam, Den Haag, Paris, Marseille, and many more – and – Tim Olive – Electric Bass .. who has made recordings with Phroq, (of course) Supernatural Hot Rug And Not Used (Nisikawa Bunsho), Jeff Allport, Fritz Welch, Nimrod, Soap-Jo Henshi. (is this 6?) and live action in Europe, Japan, North America with the Phroq(!) and Otomo Yoshihide, Martin Tetreault and many others.
On the other CD we have even more friends – as it’s a compilation! -10 tracks of various artists who collectively spiral around more electronic noodlings with ‘surprising’ ingredients, like Myspace pages which are all different, and surprising, yet all feel the same, animated gifs and smart stuff, yo’s and respects from friends (again!), like the MacList menu which itemizes differences which are safely all the same, ultimate choice, ultimate selection, and ultimate security in the universality of life… Even Stilte’s Friend Space Even Stilte has 65 friends.. Gangpol & Mit . norman bambi.. Dave Phillips, Dustbreeders, Junko et al all have 1,789 thousand friends. (jliat)
Address http://www.myspace.com/evenstilte
TAKUMI SEINO – RIPPLE (CD by Voice Of Silence Records)
TAKUMI SEINO – DARK SHAPE (CD by Voice Of Silence Records)
Colleague Dolf Mulder reviewed the previous release by Takumi Seino, which he recorded with Antoine Berthiaume ‘Arc Beneath The Surface’ (see Vital Weekly 517), here he returns with a two solo CDs, recorded in the time span of one month (November and December 2006), in two different locations in Japan. Takumi Seino plays guitar: acoustic and electric (I assume not at the same time). Both places were this was recorded are part of the jazz scene and perhaps one could say that Seino plays jazz. I don’t know as I am not really known to love jazz. ‘Ripple’ with it’s one piece spanning almost an hour is perhaps the more jazzy one of the two. But the jazz of Seino is not really jazz of course. The tones are spun out, creating circular textures of sounds, small recurring melodies that over the hour grows in intensity. There is either hectic playing or the use of sound effects, like one of those foot pedal delay thingys to make loop the sound around. At least so it seems. On ‘Dark Shape’ we find five pieces, which are along similar lines, but more rounded off compositions and perhaps (I have to be careful not to run more corrections every week) a bit more electronics, certainly in ‘Vague Figure’ and ‘Convergence’. But throughout both CDs contain silent music, not as in inaudible, but quiet, peaceful music, at times even mediaeval sounding. A highly stripped down Robert Fripp. Excellent, lonely music – both the player and the listener. Calm and relaxing. (FdW)
Address: http://www.takumiseino.com/
EFFICIENT REFINERIES – EPINERVIO (CD by Menstrual Recordings)
M.B. & M.D.T. – PSALMODIAM (CDR by Menstrual Recordings)
Siegmar Fricke is a busy man these days. If not working on something solo himself, or with Maurizio Bianchi in collaboration, he works as Efficient Refineries, together with Miguel A. Ruiz. Both have a history in electronic music that goes back to the good ol’ 80s with their cassette releases. They work under this alias since 1995 and have released four CDs, none of which I heard. ‘Epinervio’ is their fifth release and it dabbles in the field of electronic dance music. Although it goes into various directions, the main direction is that of ambient house. Deep, atmospheric synthesizer patterns lay the heavy fundament of this music, and the rhythm ticks nicely away. A voice sample is thrown in, occasionally. While techno inspired, I doubt wether this will get many feet moving on the dance floor. The music is certainly too strange for that, too angular, too hooky and too dark. But perhaps in a more daring chill out room, this might work. At home it certainly works nicely, good entertaining music with a darker edge. Nice to play when you do the dishes.
Fricke’s partner Bianchi converted to Jehova witness’ in the 80s and still sings praise of god. Together with Museo Della Tortura (although the cover just says M.B. + M.D.T.) he made seven tracks, ‘psalmodian’, which on the cover is explained as an ‘experimental way how to interpret the psalms’. All pieces are about psalm 63, which is when King David was alone in the desert and God was still with him. This desolation is captured quite well in the music. Sometimes it seems like a heavily processed choir singing, such as in ‘During My Lifetime’, but throughout there is a heavy, dark cloud hanging over this music. Dark ambient music for sure, deeply atmospheric, and if I’m not mistaken, there is a fair amount of computer processing going on. M.D.T. is credited here with ‘sound source manipulation’. The music didn’t bring me much closer to God I must admit, so I can only say something from the perspective of a non-believer: it works well. It’s contemplative, dark and experimental. All good things mixed up to make a sincere piece of music. (FdW)
Address: http://www.menstrualrecordings.org
SAMARKANDE/OBLIVION ENSEMBLE – FONDATION.02/I FALL, SOUND[IN]G HER DREAM (CDR by Samarkade Records/Static Signals)
In January two bands performed two concerts, one in Rochester, NY and in Montreal. For this occasion they released a limited CDR, signed by all members. One band is the known Oblivion Ensemble and one is Samarkande. The latter is from Montreal and consists of Eric Fillion and Sylvain Lamirande, who played with John Zorn’s Cobra Game Player, whereas Fillion is a classically trained pianist and organist. As Samarkande they play synthesizers and electronics. At the core of the piece there is a drone based on a washing machine being fed through through a mini moog and on top there is mellotron, moog, hammond organ and some digital stuff. It starts out quite dark but is being gradually taken over by some more light hearted ambient synthesizers and likewise rhythm. Towards the end the darker edges take over again. It’s not a bad piece, but a bit directionless.
Oblivion Ensemble still do what they are at: creating dark atmospheric soundscapes through the extensive use of electronics (mainly samples it seems to me), guitars and percussion. As an extra element they added the voice of Joyce Chirachinda. They know how to create an intense piece that holds the attention throughout, where Samarkande fails a bit. Perhaps a bit too much in the areas where words as ‘pathetic’, ‘orchestral’ and ‘gothic’ have no positive meaning, but Oblivion Ensemble stay very much on the good side of things. (FdW)
Address: http://www.samarkande.ca http://www.oblivionensemble.com
FEU FOLLET & MIINA VIRTANEN – THE ICICLE LECTURES VOL. 1 (CDR by Ex Ovo)
Music by Feu Follet was reviewed before, as Tobias Fischer, the man behind the name, is also the man behind Einzeleinheit label, sending all of their releases to here. He also writes for the Tokafi webzine and is one half of an electronic duo called Suneaters. That’s a different story. Here however he teams up with one Miina Virtanen from Finland, now residing in Munster, Germany. She plays the piano and has released two albums privately of her work. She got hooked with Fischer and together they made ‘The Icicle Lectures Vol. 1’. It opens with a piece by Virtanen, solo on the piano. Music of stillness. Romantic but not kitsch. Satie meets Feldman. That sort of thing. The longest piece, thirty four minutes, is a collaboration between Virtanen and Fischer, which is by far the strongest work Fischer made so far. Chilling electronics that play a highly modest role in the music, with just a refined bit of Virtanen’s piano playing. A bit of reverb adds that extra ambience. I am strongly reminded of the two albums Brian Eno made with Harold Budd in his ambient series, ‘The Plateaux Of Mirror’ and ‘The Pearl’, but then captured in one long track. It’s a great melancholic and atmospheric music, perfect for a late night listening session. Curious about the next volumes! (FdW)
Address: http://www.exovo.org
JLIAT – NOW THATS WHAT I CALL NOISE VOL.1 (CDR by Larks Council Of England)
The career of Jliat is an odd one. Perhaps. His first few albums were highly ambient drone works, but after that he started to do all sorts of different things, making guitar like noise, highly conceptual records about silence, snippets of war sounds and recently his love is noise. On his own Larks Council Of England he releases a purposely badly designed CDR with a rip off cover of ‘Abbey Road’. ‘8 Tracks Of Noise’ it says also on the cover. Each track lasts three minutes and thirty nine seconds (the perfect length for a popsong?). That is the sort of concepts that Jliat loves I imagine. True noise is what we get here. Feeding sounds on a loop through a bunch of effect pedals, that is the best description of the noise from Jliat – a photo on his website shows this relative simple set up: a four track, some effect pedals and a computer to record it on. It reminded me of some of the older Merzbow work, but a bit more in lo-fi territory. Not every track worked well, but throughout I quite enjoyed this little onslaught. Exactly the right length to be entertained. (FdW)
Address: http://www.jliat.com
CASSETTE CULTURE COMPILATION (2xCDR compilation by Cassette Culture)
When we was young. When we were young we sat home, playing with a casio VL-tone keyboard, two cassette players and made music. Copying them to cassettes, xeroxing covers at the local supermarket and we all had our own record labels. No internet, no CDRs, no computers. Where did time go? Some people just never left the music scene and they linger in the pages of Vital Weekly. Some disappeared but returned with CDRs, computers and found their own name alive on the net. They group around www.cassetteculture.net to discuss well whatever: playing live, new gear, old cassettes and new music. Mental Anguish, who never left the music scene, compiled this lovely double CDR compilations with all the old dudes that once played on cassettes. Some of them certainly bought new gear, applied a new name but others just use their old name and old noise. What is surprising here that there is a lot of musical variety going on and the good thing is that you can skip a track you don’t like (unlike the old days). Noise and techno related synthesizer music run high, but also singer songwriters, dark ambient and drones. It includes well known names as Anla Courtis, Cheapmachines, Big City Orchestra, If, Bwana and Freiband, but also Praying For Oblivion, Black Saturn, Here Be Monsters, LivingWithAnAngel (great track!), Robin O’Brien and such like. Twenty-eight tracks spanning two hours of very nice mildly experimental music. Don’t miss it, this time around. Old but everything functions well. (FdW)
Address: http://www.harshrealitymusic.com
ILLUMINATI – META MEDICA (CDR by Lotta Continua Recordings)
ILLUMINATI & KING DICE – ESPIONAGE (CDR by Lotta Continua Recordings)
Lotta Continua Recordings took some time to release their third and fourth work, and perhaps out of economical reasons they switched to CDRs. However, you can only tell when you look at the discs surface. The rest of the release looks quite professional – good print on the CD and a nice cover. Perhaps the format of CDRs enables to make more releases. On both releases we find the work of Dave Clarkson, also known as Illuminati. One solo and one in collaboration with King Dice. On his solo release ‘Meta Medica’ he cites Dutch poet Willem Bilderdijk (1756-1831), whose name I think is hardly known by the majority in this country, let alone outside, who wrote in his letters a lot on his physical and mental condition, thus serving ‘as ‘meta-medical’ reflections by which he enhanced his self-understanding and ‘constructed’ his own self’. For Clarkson his music are ‘themes for personal survival in an an age of moving medical ethics’. Illuminati plays electronic music, that is partly based on instruments, partly on field recordings and partly on unusual techniques such as scratching CDRs. The latter is used with some of the bass sounds and adds a harsher texture to some of the music. Some of the music, since this album is quite a varied bunch of music, from soft melodic pieces to harsher, effect laden pieces. A bit of rhythm, melancholy and agony, it’s all there and makes ‘Meta Medica’ quite a nice album – except that I don’t see what the medical ethics do here.
Behind King Dice is one Paul King (no jokes about former popstars please) who plays music as such since 2001 ‘using primarily electronic means to produce utilitarian music’, i.e. in galleries and installations. Apparently in recent years he changed to more rhythms and other instruments. Together with Clarkson they play loops, guitar, keyboards, clocks, cellphones, electronics, and, obviously with such a title, surveillance devices. The nine tracks here are in indeed a bit more united around bouncing rhythms, chilling electronics and other means to create images of a police state. But the rhythm parts sounded a bit amateur like. Not a fat rolling bass drum or clicky-click rhythm, but a fairly normal rhythm machine banging. This album worked best for me in it’s more quieter moments, such as in the title piece and in ‘The Silent Age’, or when they touch upon real instruments. Throughout it was nice, but not as strong as the Illuninati solo album. (FdW)
Address: http://www.lotta-continua.co.uk
FRANK ROWENTA – KLÄNGE SIZILIENS (3″CDR by Field Muzick)
Hot on the heels of his ‘Raumstudien #1’ (see Vital Weekly 562) follows another work by Frank Rowenta, but of an entirely different nature. The previous was one long work divided in two parts, here it’s only nineteen minutes and six short tracks. Recorded in Sicily, this captures the atmosphere of the island through the movements of people. We hear talking, a train, wind chimes and even the plucking of a guitar (that might be Rowenta on the beach, perhaps). This is not like ‘Raumstudien’ at all. No minimalism, no concept as such, but just six short sketches of daily life on a sunny island. Perhaps in that respect, this is as equally puzzling as before. Some of the tracks could have been longer than they are now and be a more complete picture of the island. Now it’s mere snapshots. (FdW)
Address: http://www.fieldmuzick.net
correction: it’s of course Minit and not Mimit – see last week’s review of Organ Eye.