PRURIENT – ARROWHEAD (CD by Editions Mego)
JASON ZEH – HERACLITUS (CD by C.I.P.) *
CAVESTAR – WETLANDS (CD by Psychosomatic Records) *
INVERZ – SONGS (CD by Granny Records) *
DIASPORA: COTTAGE INDUSTRIES 5 (2CD by Neo Ouija)
STRINGS OF CONSCIOUSNESS – FANTOMASTIQUE ACOUSTICA (CD by Stilll) *
ST. JUST VIGILANTES – PASTOR OF OAKS, SHEPHERD OF STONES (CD by Static Caravan) *
THE OWL SERVICE AND ALISON O’DONNELL – THE FABRIC OF FOLK (CDEP by Static Caravan)
RELIGIOUS KNIVES – THE DOOR (CD by Ecstatic Peace) *
HUSH ARBORS (CD by Ecstatic Peace)
CORNFLAKES HEROES – DEAR MR PAINKILLERS (CD by Greed Records)
GUERNICA – WHO ARE YOUR SONGS FOR? (CD by Greed Records)
HAIR POLICE – CERTAINTY OF SWARMS (CD by No Fun Productions)
MENSTRUATION SISTERS – MA (LP by No Fun Productions)
GREG KELLEY – RELIGIOUS ELECTRONICS (LP by No Fun Productions)
SCOTT FOUST – HERE’S TO LOVE (DVD by Swill Radio)
SCOTT FOUST – STRANDED (10 Postcards by Entr’acte)
MARTIN BLADH & BO I CAVEFORS THREE STUDIES FOR A CRUCIFIXION (DVD & CD by FireWork Edition Records)
BRYAN LEWIS SAUNDERS – N1-N4 VARIATIONS (CDR by Stand-Up Tragedy Records) *
SANTO Y BLUE DEMON CONTRA LOS MONSTRUOS – FANTASMAGORIANA (CDR by Bricolage) * FOSSILS – WATERBOARDING (CDR by Unverified Records) *
DEAD LABOUR PROCESS – EXAMINATIONS (CDR by Unverified Records)
DK720 – BLUE PERIOD (CDR by Unverified Records)
LE SCRAMBLED DEBUTANTE – DEVILS IN HEAVY SYRUP (CDR by Power Silence)
MYSTIFIED – CRANK (CDR by Power Silence)
NICHOLAS SZCZEPANIK – ECRU EPITHET (CDR by Power Silence) *
FCKN’BSTRDS – POWERTRASH 2008 (DVD-R by Farmers from Holland)
PLACEBO LIFE – A-B (3″CDR, private) *
NICOLAS TONE I’M TONE DEAF (3″ CDR by Thor’s Rubber Hammer Productions)
CHARTREUSE NO MORE PATHS TO SOUNDER SLEEP (Cassette by Thor’s Rubber Hammer Productions)
THE GREEN KNIGHT THE ETERNAL OM (Cassette by Thor’s Rubber Hammer Productions)
HELMETICRONONAUT/ANIMAL MACHINE- PARTIALLY DIGESTED MEALS SAYING HELLO/HOMO HOMINI LUPUS (CDR by Kraklisk)
ANIMAL MACHINE – SCAPEGOAT (CDR by Kraklisk)
CADMIUM DUNKEL – THE ENERHAUGEN CONCERTS (CDR by Kraklisk) *
JULIA LADENSE – PUSSY WILLOW (CDR by I Had An Accident Records)
JLIAT – NTWICN Vol 16 (CDR by The Larks Council of England)
FREDERIC DARRAS (MP3 by Et Le Feu Comme) *
PIERRE GERARD – OBJECTS IN MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR (MP3 by Et Le Feu Comme)
PRURIENT – ARROWHEAD (CD by Editions Mego)
Three tracks with mostly very high pitched feedback, screaming and on tracks one/three drumming recorded back in 2004. Despite the accompanying blurb’s “ear splitting” the vocals are restrained in terms of volume, the drumming more incidental than loud – it could be that somewhere the message and meaning of noise has been misunderstood, or re-interpreted, i.e. that there is no message, I suppose means it can mean everything and anything but not to the exclusion of anything else. Noise does not communicate by definition, noise prevents communication. “I don’t have any special message in my noise, but being loud.” Mikawa-san. So what the *angst* does here and anywhere else is position the piece as some critical dialogue with – “whatever”. Just as the intensity of the bongos (track 3) or the anger is much U.S. noise misses the point and places itself back into communication and so music, not noise. The vocals should be cold, as cold and unfeeling as the electric feedback- unemotional, its not the Munch Scream but the cold emptiness of Zen, the nothing that is obviously available to the Japanese masters that many in the west fail to recognize or achieve. (jliat)
Address: http://www.editionsmego.com
JASON ZEH – HERACLITUS (CD by C.I.P.)
In the very first few minutes of Jason Zeh’s debut CD (following several CDR releases including one on Gameboy Records) we hear a ‘tabletop cassette recorder over a candle flame while recording’. This is the very basic thing that is used to create the rest of the composition – all melted into one piece, from start to finish. The processing stages this went through all deals with cassettes, in which literally everything from the cassette, the shells, guide rollers and pressure pads is used to alter the sound. All of these stages were recorded and from all these recordings the final composition was created. A dense work, which at times had some similarities to the work of Howard Stezler (especially his most recent work ‘Bond Inlets’) or Brutum Fullmen, of corroded sounds, rotten sounds and decay in general. Divided into several parts, with quite some dynamics (although things never get really loud), this is simply one of the most engaging things I heard recently. While on one hand connected to the world of microsound, mainly through the final composition, the techniques are more or less ancient, yet even by any old standard, this all sounds mysterious and not muffled, or hidden in a bath of hiss, like many of his ancestors did sound on tape. It owes in the technique department more to the old masters of musique concrete, yet with an entirely different outcome. As Heraclitus said you can never step into the same river twice (panta rhei), you can loop a tape, but it never sounds the same. Highlight, for me, of this week. (FdW)
Address: http://www.cipsite.net
CAVESTAR – WETLANDS (CD by Psychosomatic Records)
Not a week seems to go by when I write words like ‘new artist’, ‘new label’ and this week its time for Cavestar, nom de plume for one Kevin Crosslin from Chicago, who releases on Psychosomatic Records. That’s about what I know of him. The label calls it ‘new directions in atmospherics’, which I don’t think is entirely true, but maybe it’s better to call this the ‘many directions in atmospherics’. Cavestar produced eight tracks with a considerable amount of differences. The opening is quite noise related, but in the second already all the cliche of ambient music are opened up, and in ‘Gritch’ things are more abstract. One could say Cavestar can’t make up his mind, or perhaps wants to display his many ideas. I think it’s the latter. Working with samples, electronics, field recordings and perhaps some guitar sounds. Though I don’t think all of his ideas are convincing – the aforementioned ‘Gritch’ is not a strong piece of sampled electronics – throughout its quite a decent, however not surprising record and certainly nothing new. It lacks a bit of direction, which makes it hard to ‘market’ this album. Anyone who is into more melodic ambient could be interested (say along the lines of the old Multimood label), but hard to pin down in one scene or the other. (FdW)
Address: http://www.psyrecords.com
INVERZ – SONGS (CD by Granny Records)
Savvas Metaxas (which sounds like a good drink) is the guitarist from 218 and a member of Good Luck Mr Gorsky but also active solo under the guise of Inverz. For his album ‘Songs’ he plays guitar (electric and acoustic), vintage synthesizers and field recordings. That may seem like old hat, and obviously the end result doesn’t offer much new under the micro sun, but I thought the result were pretty neat. Tinkling guitars in the middle of sea of swirling electronic sounds, field recordings being processed to quite an extent where they become unrecognizable. Maybe its all done and said before, and occasionally also better than this, this is still a fine copy of say Fennesz meets Machinefabriek. Core piece is ‘Bow Song’, which features only the contrabass by Iraklis Iosifidis, in various, layered samples, building a nice drone piece. On a hot day like this, I’d like to sit back and enjoy whatever is coming to me in a nice way, and this is just the one for such a day; when more thinking is not necessary. (FdW)
Address: http://www.grannyrecords.blogspot.com
DIASPORA: COTTAGE INDUSTRIES 5 (2CD by Neo Ouija)
Its a common thing to compare music with other music, to define styles. Handy for the reviewer, handy for the listener. So, I sometimes refer to labels like Highpoint Lowlife or Expanding Records, when wanting to define a certain musical genre that sometimes is called IDM. I know, omission here, I could have (or rather should have) mentioned Neo Ouija as part of that string of labels, but I didn’t. Much of what the label releases is out of my sight. The label started in 2000 by Lee Norris (of whom we know musical activities as Metamatics, Nacht Plank and Norken), who stopped it in 2005. Now, three years onwards, the label makes a fresh start in the hands of his friend Martin Hirsch and what better to start then with a compilation with the current pack of intelligent dance producers working from their cottages around the world? Thirty tracks by almost as many artists and we see familiar names as Pridon, Move D, Fluxion, Build Buildings, Benjamin Brunn, Maps And Diagrams, Andrey Kiritchenko and Nacht Plank plus a whole bunch of new names. Two CDs, which is easily more than two hours of music, is of course a real feast, even, and here comes a bit of critique, when a lot of the music sounds quite similar. It needs expert knowledge to know the precise differences, a bit like with last week’s ‘A Cleansing Ascension’, which had small but essential differences. I rather take the bird view, and play it while working, not caring too much about those subtle differences, more techno, more slow, more fast, but enjoy this as an almost endless stream of nice music to play. Also included are Plexus Instruments, Kangding Ray, Sense, Relapxych.0, A Made Up Sound, Dimitar Dodovski, Deer, MXM, Tilman Ehrhorn, Remote, NQ and more. (FdW)
Address: http://www.neooujia.com
STRINGS OF CONSCIOUSNESS – FANTOMASTIQUE ACOUSTICA (CD by Stilll)
Vital Weekly likes to receive music through the mail man, so we can play it on a CD player or a turntable and the endless amounts of e-mails with recommendations or ‘band’ news are thrown away with caring too much (but of course we glance at them). I know there is some involvement of Philippe Petit, label boss of Bip Hop, in a 14 member big band Strings Of Consciousness, which combines instruments like strings and winds with digital techniques. Only composers are mentioned, Herve Vincento, Perceval Bellonw and Petit and no other band members are named on the cover and the press blurb, so lets say its a real collective. They have four tracks on this CD, spanning about a mini CD, plus nine remixes and two video’s. Their own music is a fine, cinematographic combination of post rock tunes, with swirling guitars, heavy drums and screaming saxophones, such as in ‘Crest & Watersheds’. Its the more jazzy inspired side of Godspeed and less dark, way less dark. In the remixes various elements of the music is brought alive. Sometimes just the bass end (Rothko), the orchestral elements (MIra Calix, Kammerflimmer Kollektief) or an electronic alteration of the original (Leafcutter John, Gamial Trio, Sutekh (who does something different than the rest)). Lots of saxophone play a leading role, in the remixes by Scanner, and Marsen Jules. A pretty decent bunch of remixes and four great originals. I may prefer more of the latter next time. (FdW)
Address: http://www.stilll.org
ST. JUST VIGILANTES – PASTOR OF OAKS, SHEPHERD OF STONES (CD by Static Caravan)
THE OWL SERVICE AND ALISON O’DONNELL – THE FABRIC OF FOLK (CDEP by Static Caravan)
RELIGIOUS KNIVES – THE DOOR (CD by Ecstatic Peace)
HUSH ARBORS (CD by Ecstatic Peace)
CORNFLAKES HEROES – DEAR MR PAINKILLERS (CD by Greed Records)
GUERNICA – WHO ARE YOUR SONGS FOR? (CD by Greed Records)
Welcome to the ‘un-Vital’ corner of this week’s issue. We cover indeed a wide field of strange music, and not a wide field of normal music – the reverse of a normal music magazine, or at least that’s what we wish for. But sometimes ‘normal’ music arrives on our doorstep, that may be classified by the ‘real’ world as ‘abnormal’, but by the Vital standard is pretty regular. Be reminded that all of this is not a classification or a judgment, just a statement. St. Just Vigilants are Alan Boyd and Jonathan Twilight Orr, who play some very fine folk music. Folk plus that is, folk music plus electronics, a bit of psychedelics, a bit of pop, even a bit of drone like music thrown in. At times even Vital like, but the majority of this is not like many of the releases around here, but I must say its a damn fine album, mainly because it’s largely instrumental, which is something I like very much.
On the same label, always a fine home for things pop and beyond, there is also The Owl Service and Alison O’Donnell. The latter was formerly of ‘legendary Irish prog-folk troupe Mellow Candle’ and discussion on myspace (hurrah, interaction! networking! hurrah! long live myspace) with The Owl Service lead to the five pieces on this CDEP. More neo-folk and less something else. The Owl Service, being Steven Collins, provided music on piano, electronics, guitars and sets the perfect introspective mood for the crystal folk-clear voice of O’Donnell. They play two traditional songs, and three compositions of their own. Great fiddle on ‘The Fabric Of Life’. Nicely moody songs, great neo-folk. 100% un-Vital.
While we sometimes review CDRs in an edition of a mere handful, one could all too easily forget that ‘real’ (and I mean ‘real’) record labels press up ‘real’ promo CDs, such as Ecstatic Peace. But then I must delve my head into the world of real alternative popmusic, which is something I know nothing about. Religious Knives are an off-shoot of Double Leopards, originally a duo of Maya Miller and Micheal Bernstein. They released a bunch of CDRs and cassettes on vocals and guitars, but since 2006 they are a quartet, included Nate Nelson on drums and Todd Cavallo on bass. This might Vital music: it drones as it rocks, its minimal and it has vocals. Heavy and heady stuff, but it feels like alternative rock music – and from the country where noise has become a form of alternative rock, with some super groups from that field, this is no real surprise. Again not bad, but maybe a bit too regular.
Hush Arbors then. It starts as real noise, but this turns out to be most disappointing one of the un-Vital lot. Keith Wood is a singer song writer in the best sense of the word. Everything I never liked about singer-songwriters (well, with the exception of Simon & Garfunkel) is summed up here. No doubt appeals to many, but I’m not many. The most un-Vital one.
Normally its enough to say once that some music is just un-Vital and then I will hear no more. Maybe at Greed Records they don’t read Vital, or just cut and paste the review into the ‘press file’? Fact is that I already reviewed the debut release by Cornflake Heroes ‘Off With Your Heads’ (Vital Weekly 556) and now it’s time for a new release. ‘Edgy US Rock’, it reads somewhere, and that’s one of those areas I am quite unfamiliar with. But it’s not bad at all, but doubtful if I would want to hear it again.
Also a four piece are Guernica, who hail from Brussel. I don’t hear much difference between them and Cornflake Heroes. Inspired, sound alike Blonde Redhead, Sonic Youth in the mid 90s. Fugazi of the late’s 90s (it’s specialized territory here), Unwound and more bands which I never cared for. Another fine thirty minutes of rock music, but again, will I play this again? I don’t think so. I see on the enclosed catalogue that Greed Records has three volumes of music for prepared guitar. I wonder if they get sent that to Rolling Stone magazine? (FdW)
Address: http://www.staticcaravan.org
Address: http://www.ecstaticpeace.com
Address: http://www.greed-recordings.com
HAIR POLICE – CERTAINTY OF SWARMS (CD by No Fun Productions)
MENSTRUATION SISTERS – MA (LP by No Fun Productions)
GREG KELLEY – RELIGIOUS ELECTRONICS (LP by No Fun Productions)
Four new releases on one of my favorite labels, which seems to spread its wings more and more with each release. Three of these will be released here, the fourth one, a new CD by Dan Burke and Thomas Dimuzio was snatched up by the big boss of Vital because he’s such an Illusion of Safety fan, so for that review please check the last issue. The other CD in the batch comes from the name most close to the No Fun program normally, the Hair Police. It’s a group that’s always been hard to pin down, similar to Wolf Eyes in the sense that every record shows another side of their chameleon approach to a noise understanding. “Certainty of Swarms” is no different in that it starts out almost traditionally, here they actually sound like a band playing. A very hardcore fucked up one, but still, a band. Quite a difference from their last album, “The Empty Quarter”, which I found to be very enjoyable, and was certainly a group effort as well, but it was a lot more out-there. Vocals are more present here as well, giving the idea that these tracks could be almost songs if in the right frame of mind. They could almost be lifted from some obscure abstract black metal band. The drums also place this record in more of an garage rock tradition, but one gone terribly wrong. Being no metal/rock fan this side of the band is on the face of it less interesting to me, but the way to take these elements, obliterate them and turn them into something new, is certainly a very exciting one to observe.
On to the two LPs in this batch. The first one is by the Menstruation Sisters, and it’s a reissue of their first album only originally available in Australia, the country where they’re from. I own another one of their LPs, which I haven’t played a lot, and I thought that was the only one they ever made, but apparently I’m wrong. At the time I bought the other LP because I heard Oren Ambarchi is a member, but the record completely alienated me. Ambarchi is a member though, and Discogs tells me there’s also two girls involved (the sisters that were inspiration for the group name?) and some other guy. There’s nothing here that reminds of Ambarchi’s fragile guitar playing as we know from his Touch albums, which looking back on it I should’ve known as there are few people who can adjust to different musical environments so easily as he can. This record is nice to hear after the Hair Police one as it also has some pretty fucked up band-on-flight imaginations on offer, especially concerning the vocals, which here are sometimes male, sometimes female, a sort of Junko baby daughter choking on her own spit. It’s a fun record that’s not very easy to listen to, but interesting for its (im)possibilities to see what people can get out of a normal group set up (hellish screaming, all-over-the-place drums, some distorted bass/guitar and a heap of other unidentifiable sound). I actually listened to the A-side at 45 rpm by accident the first time, and it didn’t sound any different. Guess that makes it a twice as good record.
Greg Kelley is a man between the cracks, a trumpet-player more known from contemporary improv circles, but with an obvious penchant for all-the-way noise. “This is not a jazz record” it says on the No Fun website, and hell no it ain’t. What it is, is a contemporary noise record that has learned from listening to some older Mego records but definitely does it’s own thing (with a bit of fantasy it sometimes sounds like an almost organic Hecker record). I’m not even sure if this is a trumpet anymore, it never sounds like an actual one, but processing can do a lot, so maybe the source material still comes from there, and it does sound like quite a bit of processing was done here. Thinking of it as being trumpet makes the record sound different then just taking it for what it is, which can be quite interesting to think of. Quite a nice album, and altogether another great group of records from this amazing label. (RM)
Address: http://www.nofunfest.com
SCOTT FOUST – HERE’S TO LOVE (DVD by Swill Radio)
SCOTT FOUST – STRANDED (10 Postcards by Entr’acte)
Whenever I decide I like a film, I can watch it over and over again. ‘Turks Fruit’ (‘Turkish Delight’ is the USA video title) is one I saw many times, and remains the best Dutch film ever, as well as others by Paul Verhoeven. No doubt I saw ’24 Hour Party People’ more than a few times, and believe it or not, I already saw ‘Here’s To Love’ by Scott Foust already quite a few times, even before its official release now. The narrative is easy and told in the first few minutes, which I won’t spoil here. Once the ‘story’ is told, literally in French and subtitled, we get to see it. It’s a long stretch, so now, with the story printed on the cover, it’s easier to follow the lengthy sequences that follow. Shot in color, sometimes with grainy textures, this is above all a music film – a film about sound. The music used is from various musical bands which involve Foust, such as Idea Fire Company, The Pickle Factory, Tart, XX Committee and Y-Front, that accompany the slow moving scenes. Don’t watch this when in a ‘hurry’, but sit down, with a good glass of any alcoholic (bottle within reach) and simply enjoy the scenes and the music. Poetic slow musical. Essential keywords. Don’t wait this to be shown near you, while it can be shown at your home.
If that isn’t enough Foustian wit for you, there is also a set of ten postcards available from Entr’acte, perhaps as to accompany Idea Fire Company’s recent 7″ on the same label which was called ‘Postcard’ with some thought provoking texts: “If it were up to me, no one would be allowed into a church or any other house of lies until they were allowed into a bar. Let’s say sixteen. No one would fall for any of it then’ is one quote from the card that is titled ‘The Age Of Reason’. Not quite ‘Oblique Strategies’ but Foust, at least for me, is like Brian Eno, a Homo Universalis. Can’t wait for a novel. (FdW)
Address: http://www.ant-naturals.org
Address: http://www.entracte.co.uk
MARTIN BLADH & BO I CAVEFORS THREE STUDIES FOR A CRUCIFIXION (DVD & CD by FireWork Edition Records)
This DVD is of a three act “Passion Play” dedicated to Francis Bacon, this is nothing to do with noise either, but certainly could in no way be described as trivial. The protagonists here in front of a projection of the paintings set out to embody the nihilistic vision of the painter. You might feel disgusted or sick at the blood, intestines and homosexual acts- and perhaps want to return to the playfulness of Fckn’bstrds antics. This is the real deep black horror of existence – shocking in that is can be or should be performed by human beings at all, not that it is in its deliberation – to shock or disgust- that would be too easy, it would become a sex show, and it is not. Like the paintings of Bacon it unfolds along a horrific and deterministic trajectory that somehow cannot be avoided, if it did appear to be deliberately shocking then it would be possible to step outside the drama and see it as amusement or entertainment. Or is it excusable as a sudden outburst of promethian energy – which is understandably human – from tribal dancing through to the silliness in noise festivals. The real horror here is the premeditated logic of the performance devoid of any emotional excuse. This performance as also Bacons’ paintings in their inhumanity could and should be ignored as impossible imaginations if not for the reality of the logic of the slaughter house from which they derive and the even more terrible realizations of these artists finding in this beauty. (jliat)
Address: http://www.fireworkeditionrecords.com
BRYAN LEWIS SAUNDERS – N1-N4 VARIATIONS (CDR by Stand-Up Tragedy Records)
One of stranger items I had to review, although I forgot which issue, was the ‘Experiments With Dreams’ by Thomas Liljenberg and Leif Elggren, a book about dreams and CD with the sound of two people sleeping. Hardly a surprise that the same Elggren suggested one Bryan Lewis Saunders to release his ‘N1-N4 Variations’ – ‘a vocal documentation from all 4 sleep stages’. Fifteen pieces in total of this. It started out with recordings his dreams when he was awake, but he decided to create while dreaming and talking in his sleep. Certainly as strange as the Elggren/Liljenberg release, but not snoring sounds but unconscious talking. Not always easy to follow what he is saying, but surely ‘strange’ enough. Maybe its a bit long at fifteen ‘tracks’ that all sound quite similar but its surely something to use when having guests at the dinner table – even when this is released in an edition of 20 copies only. (FdW)
Address: http://www.bryanlewissaunders.org
SANTO Y BLUE DEMON CONTRA LOS MONSTRUOS – FANTASMAGORIANA (CDR by Bricolage)
On both accounts, label and artist, these are new names for me. Behind the Spanish name of Santo Y Blue Demon Contra Los Monstrous are two guys from Paris, who use children’s toys, ‘early electronic instruments’, tape recorders, radios and microphones and for their first release they pay homage ‘of sorts’ to Etienne-Gaspard Robert, the ’18th century inventor, entrepeneur and scientist most famous for his magic latern show […] the Fantasmagorie’, with ‘scary images’. The music, a thirty minute some piece, is not scary, but a dense piece of lo-fi electronics, feedback, circuit bending and other sorts of humming artifacts. In a way this sounds very ‘New Zealand’: a live recording with an open microphone, lots of low grade noise, but Santo Y Blue Demon Contra Los Monstrous also know how to throw in a melody, thus providing from leaping straight into an unlistenable slab of drone rock. It makes the whole thing actually quite nice, and moving through all variations at hand, an excellent piece of raw music. (FdW)
Address: <bricolage@ymail.com>
FOSSILS – WATERBOARDING (CDR by Unverified Records)
DEAD LABOUR PROCESS – EXAMINATIONS (CDR by Unverified Records)
DK720 – BLUE PERIOD (CDR by Unverified Records)
In all but one aspect these three are a total time machine. They breath the air of cassettes in 80s and the one thing that sets them apart is of course the medium of CDR. But the way these are designed, or rather the lack thereof, the cut ‘n paste from newspaper and magazines, the typewriter font (which is actually a real typewriter) and the lack of coherent information, which, in combination with the music in a pretty low affair. No doubt appealing to the real fans of this music and design (and no doubt people who create similar music so that they have similar items to trade – another similarity with the early days). Take Fossils for instance. A band? One man with too many amps? I don’t know. Quite a noisy bunch of pieces, highly lo-fi of course, but I must say that it all sounded quite nice in all its layered, noise based drones.
On ‘Examinations’ we get a ‘new set of flexidisc scratching, layered found archaic and tape scrunch’ as promised by the ‘catalogue’ from the label. Another lo-fi affair of tape manipulation, record manipulations and instrument doodling. Less dense than the previous release by Fossils, but still nice enough in all its lo-fi approach.
The most noise based release of this lot is the release by DK720, which says on the cover ‘live sets featuring Madame Velia (soprano), recorded on 50s ferrograph reel to reel at the Coum-flakes (?) exhibition, Start Gallery, Brighton’. Two long cuts of unrelentness noise and several very short pieces which are less noisy. Of the three releases on offer, this is the one I enjoyed least, mainly because it seemed so ‘normal’ in terms of noise and the way its presented. (FdW)
Address: http://www.geocities.com/unrecs
LE SCRAMBLED DEBUTANTE – DEVILS IN HEAVY SYRUP (CDR by Power Silence)
MYSTIFIED – CRANK (CDR by Power Silence)
NICHOLAS SZCZEPANIK – ECRU EPITHET (CDR by Power Silence)
The more noise based releases of Power Silence are passed onto Jliat, but that doesn’t mean that these three are less noise based. They too incorporate, at least at one level noise. There isn’t much information available on any of these. Jerry Sutton, Allan Zane, Sir Bear Trapper, Sid Redlin and Ms Joey Zan Day are those responsible for the two lengthy cuts of Le Scrambled Debutante release. ‘Think Nurse With Wound’ the website says, and sure, there are influences of the wounded Nurse ensemble to spotted in these two collages of found sound. It seems to me that they use a bunch of record players, which they play manually, spinning all sorts of records with music and spoken word and add some electronic manipulation thereof to the table. Nice enough but it seems to me that these five people have a hard time making up their mind and that decisions should be made as to what they really want to achieve with the sound production. Now it seems production for production sake, and hardly doing anything with the composition as such.
Mystified is no longer a mystery. Its the one man project of Thomas Park from St. Louis, who has presented much of his work already on CDR labels throughout on this planet. His music so far has been a blend of industrial music, ambient and rhythm. Before I expressed the wish he should explore the latter aspect more but so far he doesn’t so and ‘Crank’ is no exception. In some ways this seems to be a return to the more ‘industrial’ outings by him as before. Still armed with a small sampler and sound effects he creates here nine pieces of minimalist, industrialist patterns, bouncing up and down within the small frames that Park allows himself. Like I said, I wished he would leave this path and explore that motoric rhythm he explored briefly before and here only in a remix of Metek, but this is once again solid ambient industrial music. Maybe a bit too much of the same and that’s something I don’t like very much.
I can’t vouch for the label’s claim that the work ‘Ecru Epithet’ by one Nicholas Szczepanik is not unlike anything he did before, simply because I didn’t hear any of that. It was recorded during a period of ‘great personal turmoil’. This is the release that walks the balance between noise and quiet best. Its hard to say what Szczepanik does here, but I think it’s that line between field recordings, real instruments and lots of processing – let’s say the current version of . Sometimes things hoover quietly about, rumbling in the bass end, then there is a crackle and things may explode into the world of feedback. Five tracks in total, which reminded me of some of the best work by Illusion Of Safety, even when Szczepanik plays his noise a bit louder than Dan Burke. Szczepanik likes his shock therapy with sudden moves and swift changes. In terms of ‘composition’ this is by far the best out of three, I’d say. If this is not his usual cup of tea, I’d be curious to know what exactly is, and for what it is worth, I’d say follow this path. A very fine loud quiet disc. (FdW)
Address: http://www.somnimage.com
FCKN’BSTRDS – POWERTRASH 2008 (DVD-R by Farmers from Holland)
Are Vulvax, Dr Bibber, Sjab el Kebap, The Stiff Nipple of Terror on this
DVD – are what I would call a performance group from Holland who can be seen here for the most part semi naked with headdresses of their own creation performing at various venues including a hotel bathroom. The DVD is dedicated to Berry Rikkerink who I know little of I’m afraid (formerly known as The Lost Attic, and died earlier this year – FdW). From what I’ve said elsewhere I don’t regard such groups as making noise – but that is what the anarchistic output can at times resemble. And I even admit to feint amusement at such antics – it would be all too easy to place them in the
tradition of social commentators, clowns, fools and the like that has
accompanied humanity’s so called progress and civilization- and I suppose
that is what I’d do. Their functions and features have been studied in depth
and no doubt they form some psychological benefit to society though perhaps
showing my own psyche’s faults I take things too seriously. Then again
perhaps this kind of thing long ago when danced by shaman in order to join
once again humanity back into the natural world of the unconscious it was
serious, and its trivialization is what I dislike. (jliat)
Address: http://www.fcknbstrds.com/
PLACEBO LIFE – A-B (3″CDR, private)
From Montreal is one Alain Lefebvre, who calls
himself Total Music/Placebo Life, who use a wide array of soundsources to create his music: ring modulation/LFO, delay, chorus, noise gate, compression, reverb pedals (all in ‘Effects Chain No.3’ and contact microphone, kalimba, loop and reverb pedals and harmonica in ‘Semi-Open’. Both pieces are ‘live improvisations’ and I must say both are a bit long and of the two ‘Semi-Open’ is the more interesting one, although also a bit long. Placebo Life’s music is quite minimal, focussing on a few sounds which are feeding off through a bunch of sound effects, with subtle changes. But Placebo Life moves back into the same changes throughout this piece and that is a pity. ‘Effects Chain No. 3’ is indeed a chain of sound effects which results in a pretty noisy piece, and in ‘Semi-Open’ the Kalimba plays the central role in the piece. For both I could easily say that three to five minutes would have been long enough in order to have the same tension. (FdW)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/totalmusicsite2
NICOLAS TONE I’M TONE DEAF (3″ CDR by Thor’s Rubber Hammer Productions)
CHARTREUSE NO MORE PATHS TO SOUNDER SLEEP (Cassette by Thor’s Rubber Hammer Productions)
THE GREEN KNIGHT THE ETERNAL OM (Cassette by Thor’s Rubber Hammer Productions)
There is quite allot of drumming on the Tone CD, and fragments of noise, found sound and film track sound. The drumming is frenzied but rhythmical,
tracks 4 and 9 completely silent even on inspection with a sound editor – zero – bits of micro sound, track 7 is some children mimicking police sirens,
it comes in a grey sleeve envelope. Elsewhere I’ve made comments regarding noise, but as in his book Hegerty maintains noise can be anything you like, all categorizations are off, or on, when some powergroup can motivate sufficient numbers. Noise has transfigured itself into a cult, from a genre in which disparate groups find kinship. And through this kinship exert a hegemony of the sort that the USS Nimitz does. Chartreuse.. “We can’t wait. No More Paths will come out on a real-deal CD this summer, but so many people have e-mailed that TRHP’s gonna go ahead and offer 15 of the 50 copies that Drew Smith (Chartreuse) himself dubbed onto cassette. (Note: This is the unmastered version, but there’s a great gritty and muddled quality that makes it distinct from the final product.) Organ drones seep through the earth as if heard by a tape recorder buried underground.” This is indeed very muddy and a kind of looping drone- and guitar riffs- on the cassette box is some illegible text, are we meant to read it, are we meant to play what is inside. It seems there is some urgency that we should, more evangelical hand clapping, more eschatological hand waving that tidied up could do well in wine bars or sell insurance. And before you think I’m being harsh, I like wine bars and carry insurance. What is happening is the
mirroring in the alternative of the image now not reversed – were the pigs
wrong at the end of animal farm and was the fall of communism a good or bad thing. And now today you answer by googling – We pursue excellence and happiness – even I have paid over 5 UK pounds in a Crowne Plaza bar for some peanuts. and the means to do this is almost free. Green Knight. “Abrasive tape manipulations fall down the stairs in paranoid murmurs.” – boded well as the cassette case was of course broken- though the idea of this being deliberate echoes as a concept these days between being cool, avant garde and clichéd. And both at the same time. So some tape manipulation yes – and a rather good recording of the great northern diver- I joke not – a track for bill oddie? – which – you will never guess – is then looped! The religiosity of noise – or any group of fundamentalists- like the ipod carrying iconoclastic Taliban is maintained by the ability to maintain
openly contradictions, that after all is the whole point of free-speech and
the American way of life. This here of course being the exception. (jliat)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/thorsrubberhammerproductions
HELMETICRONONAUT/ANIMAL MACHINE- PARTIALLY DIGESTED MEALS SAYING HELLO/HOMO HOMINI LUPUS (CDR by Kraklisk)
ANIMAL MACHINE – SCAPEGOAT (CDR by Kraklisk)
CADMIUM DUNKEL – THE ENERHAUGEN CONCERTS (CDR by Kraklisk)
You might do well to read the blurb on all these
@http://swampsupnostrils.teks.no/krakilsk/index2.htm – its not serious is it? I’d really like some help here. it’s a fiction in parodying other S&M and occultist sites – and not the real thing – as for the first CD – “gory subspace visions of werewolves joining cannibals in a carnivorous blood orgy where the main coarse is human beef tartar, with a side dish of aborted fetuses and fried puppies.” Obviously a micky take? – these guys eat the pizza mom prepares- and anyway didn’t she and hubbie eat the afterbirth – the “sons of agrothorax” would be horrified. But children- art lovers were horrified when Nigela Lawson accidentally thawed out the head of Marc Quinn, stored among the frozen peas. The work, “Self”, consists of Quinn’s head cast in nine pints of his own frozen, congealed blood.- gross mom! And Nigela, daughter of the former conservative chancellor of the exchequer, (Baron Lawson of Blaby) star cook of t.v. and domestic goddess, Chelsea football fan and partner of the dead cows Saatchi. fckin weird or what – here is the paradox – my point – the establishment far from finding the gore text (joke) here revolting would find it silly in comparison to their actualities. So its got to be all a mindless parody or this really is the stuff of sex starved adolescents playing violent (but safe soooo safe) video games? “Put it on loud and grunt along while your fellow wolfmen howl at the moon!” Oh come on! – its not bad noise though. No grunting boys – just get out your moms ironing board and surf the irony. Scapegoat’s write up attempts some justification! – but singularly fails to identify the need for noise to be ambivalent. All talk of blood and sodomy doesn’t shock an authority that’s been indulging in this for centuries. “Yet again, noise tries to take upon itself to redeem us from the archaic melodic harmonic rule bound structure of boredom.” *Redemption* – yet again a genre becomes a pseudo religion- regains a morality- Jesus wants me for a sunbeam? Actually there is some excellent noise on these two releases- and excellent not because of either invention or shock which are and always have been the pleasures of the bourgeois, but excellent- because they are indistinguishable. but Cadmium Dunkel’s is an imaginary concert- a live open mike with background rumble and someone is playing the piano, and plucking the strings- for a few seconds then synth noise. Echoing swathes of pads – I was in one of those ethnic shops the other day where they sell those CDs – you know – of whales and wolves and red-indians- you press the buttons and out comes music for municipal mantras- more noise then? ” mr.Dunkel paints an abstract and floating audio image that can only be seen by utilizing your pineal gland” What? “The pineal gland is large in children, but shrinks at puberty. It appears to play a major role in sexual development, hibernation in animals, metabolism, and seasonal breeding. Historically, its location deep in the brain suggested to philosophers that it possessed particular importance. This combination led to its being a “mystery” gland with myth, superstition and metaphysical theories surrounding its perceived function.” Wiki.. When Nietzsche and Heidegger threw away the truth in some idea of producing the superman (who can endure the boredom of the eternal return) how wrong they were- for we do not any longer have the truth but we do have what is true. Now heaven forbid you think I’m again being harsh – I think that’s up to the reader, but the idea of truth – say regarding the pineal gland – opens up the post-modern can of worms. At the end of the day such arguments always ignore the text in favor of individual justification. And if that’s OK then its OK – I can no more stop you thinking that than change the events of 9-11 In the work of “Georges Bataille, .. Hollier discusses how Bataille uses the concept of a ‘pineal-eye’ as a reference to a blind-spot in Western rationality. “Image – the Taliban carrying their favored Russian made RPG. We see nothing wrong in any fundamentalism which is anti-intellectual using the self same justifications. (God you do go on here! – did you like it? – first two yes – last no) (jliat)
Address: http://www.krakilsk.org
JULIA LADENSE – PUSSY WILLOW (CDR by I Had An Accident Records)
Despite the total handmade made/hand written cover of Julia LaDense’s ‘Pussy Willow’, its released by a real label. That is a label that released music before. I have no idea about her, but the website says: “Julia LaDense has been in control of her artistic revelations. Currently the editor in chief of Cincinnati’s own hardcore feminist satire rag entitled “Pussy Cat,” Julia offers a collection of projects she has worked on recently with dated material and soundscapes that create a massive explosion of sound and music fuckery. Not to be taken lightly, Pussy Willow is the noise album of the year.” I must disagree there, even when of course Jliat is the person to announce Vital’s noise album of the year. The fact that I didn’t forward this him, does mean I don’t think its very much a noise album. LaDense uses vinyl or radio snippets which are played too slow and with too much distortion, creating loops by having the records skip and jump needle, or in other occasions a full noise blast (tracks are written on the CDR, so I can’t see what they are called when writing this) which is also a bit too regular in my humble opinion. The first eleven tracks were already a bit much, but track twelve, in itself not a bad piece of low humming electronics spanning almost thirty minutes, could have been at its best an entirely separate release and the other eleven should have been trimmed down to say seven tracks and it could have been two very nice releases, in stead of one over-long release. (FdW)
Address: http://www.ihadanaccidentrecords.com/
JLIAT – NTWICN Vol 16 (CDR by The Larks Council of England)
Noise
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
…. In signal processing or computing it can be
considered data without meaning….
Existentialism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Existentialism is a philosophical movement which posits that individuals
create the meaning and essence of their lives, as opposed to it being
created for them by deities or authorities or defined for them by philosophical or
theological doctrines.
Sartre saw problems with rationality, calling it a form of “bad faith”, an
attempt by the self to impose structure on a world of phenomena – “the
other” – that is fundamentally irrational and random.
The notion of the Absurd contains the idea that there is no meaning to be
found in the world beyond what meaning we give to it.
Noise
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
…. In signal processing or computing it can be
considered data without meaning… (jliat)
Address: <James@Jliat.com>
FREDERIC DARRAS (MP3 by Et Le Feu Comme)
PIERRE GERARD – OBJECTS IN MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR (MP3 by Et Le Feu Comme)
Pierre Gerard is the man behind the netlabel Et Le Feu Comme from Belgium, although I got these two releases in quite nice printed covers. Frederic Darras is primarily a video maker who is used to compose his own music. Knowing this almost forces us to listen to his music as soundtracks to video pieces. The music is made from using instruments (probably sampled rather than self played) and field recordings and certainly evoke here images. Slow camera shots in the first piece, rapid moves in the second of street action and more slow motion in the third. Especially ‘Magma’, the third piece with its long form drones, crackles and electro-acoustic sounds is a very fine piece. Its a pity that this cinema is only short at twenty minutes.
The second release is by the man from the label and its less audible. To hear it rightly I put on my headphones, which is something I hardly do. The two pieces are inspired by ‘the light impact on a car wing mirror in motion’ and non-driver Gerard has had the opportunity to observe this day and night. ‘Light Of Day’ is a very silent piece of sounds moving in and out of the mix, recorded at a very low volume. If microsound means nothing to you, then listen to these isolated sounds moving about in a sea of silence that slow is filled with sinewave like sounds. In ‘Front Nights’ there is more ‘action’, and here I think to recognize music instruments. Lots of hiss on some of these sounds, but throughout more happening than in the first piece. Both pieces require an intense listening session, but along the lines of Steve Roden and Roel Meelkop quite enjoyable microsound pieces. (FdW)
Address: http://www.etlefeucomme.be