SEAWORTHY & MATT ROSNER – TWO LAKES (CD by 12K) *
MURRALIN LANE – OUR HOUSE IS ON THE WALL (CD by 12K) *
YANN NOVAK – RELOCATION.RECONSTRUCTION (CD by Line) *
SUB LUNA – AWAKE! (CD by Cyclic Law)
FIRE IN THE HEAD – CONFESSIONS OF A NARCISSIST (CD by Cold Spring)
MACHINEFABRIEK – DAAS (CD by Cold Spring)
TENHORNEDBEAST – HUNTS & WARS (CD by Cold Spring)
VON THRONSTAHL – CONSCRIPTUM (CD by Cold Spring)
PHILIPPE PETIT – OFF TO TITAN (CD by Karl Records) *
GARETH HARDWICK – OF THE SEA AND SHORE (CD by Low Point) *
KASSEL JAEGER – LIGNES D’ERRE & RANDONS (CD by Unfathomless) *
NICO HUIJBREGTS – FALSCHE TANGO (CD by Vindu)
ARTURAS BUMSTEINAS – STORIES FROM ORGAN SAFARI (CD by New Music Communication Center) *
HARUKA NAKAMURA – TWILIGHT (CD by Kitchen) *
PHILIP JECK – AN ARK FOR THE LISTENER (CD by Touch) *
HILDUR GUDNADOTTIR – MOUNT A (CD by Touch) *
CINDYTALK – UP HERE IN THE CLOUDS (CD by Editions Mego) *
ANTONY/FENNESZ – RETURNAL (7″ by Editions Mego)
TEHO TEARDO – SOUNDTRACK WORK 2004-2008 (CD by Expanding Records) *
BOY DIRT CAR – FAMILIA (LP by Aftermusic Records)
THE DEAD MAURIACS – LES IMAGINATIONS (CDR by NPH) *
DRONAEMENT – DEAD ORGAN MUSIC/THE COSMIC TAPES (CDR by Dying For Bad Music) *
HARUKI – SNOWED IN FOOD SHELTER (CDR by Klanggold) *
FUN WITH NUNS – UNTITLED (3″CDR by Moremars)
SEAWORTHY & MATT ROSNER – TWO LAKES (CD by 12K)
MURRALIN LANE – OUR HOUSE IS ON THE WALL (CD by 12K)
YANN NOVAK – RELOCATION.RECONSTRUCTION (CD by Line)
It seems almost like a romantic notion: Seaworthy (being Cameron Webbs) and Matt Rosner traveling to the south coast of New South Wales to record sounds at two lakes, Lake Meroo and Termeil. They carry various sorts of microphones (hydrophone, shotgun and stereo microphones) to record beaches, streams and forest sounds, while at night they retreat to a small cabin where they set up a small studio, with guitars (acoustic and electric), a ukelele and some electronics, digesting the day’s work in nocturnal, pastoral tones. All improvised on the spot, while the tapes are running the water/bird/wind sounds, later to be edited by Matt Rosner in his home studio. Some of these pieces are merely a collage of field recordings, while others are focus more on the music, yet all together these nine pieces make a great set of music. Slow, peaceful music, with endless sustaining notes played with an e-bow on the guitar, harmonious tinkling and watery soundscapes. Very microsound (although hardly computer based) one might say, and as such not the newest drift around in that scene, but its all done in a great way. Intimate music, in a way that Tape also plays. Very refined.
Despite his releases as Library Tapes for Kning Disk and Home Normal, I don’t think I heard the music of David Wenngren. Apparently he plays piano on them.In 2009 he formed a duo, Murralin Lane, with his partner Ylva Wiklund, in which she sings and he provides the music. Together they recorded seven tracks which are presented in their debut CD ‘Our House Is On The Wall’. Lo-fi is their approach to all of this. Wiklund sometimes uses a mobile phone to generate that effect. I am not sure if the music benefits from that. Her voice is far away in the mix, with indeed a strange effect, and the words may mean something, we just don’t know what it is. The music fares not much better, I think. Mainly time stretched sounds on the computer, mainly mid range and sounding rather crude – although not noise based (this is 12K after all), but it seems all created with too much ease. You stretch out a few seconds of sound, layer a few of those and have the spouse adding some words. Probably its all meant to be intimate and heavenly, but somehow I fail to see the beauty of it all. Probably the worst 12K release since… well, I don’t know. 12K has a great reputation, but this doesn’t add up.
On 12K sub-division Line we come across Yann Novak, whom we mainly know from his releases on his own label Dragon’s Eye Recordings (which is effectively started by his father but re-launched by Yann). Primarily his work deals with installations, whereas the releases are the documents thereof. ‘Relocation.Reconstruction’ is ‘derived from the sound elements of the three installations in Yann Novak’s solo exhibition Relocation at Lawrimore Project’. Its impossible to say what Novak uses sound wise here. It might be anything from field recordings, computer software to heavily treated instruments, but these forty-two minutes don’t give a clue. Its an one piece work that slowly moves – relocates, perhaps – from the dark opening ground of the first thirteen minutes, but in which slowly dark, hidden melodies seem to slip in and then, ever on the move, it arrives in a much lighter territory, which forms the last eleven minutes. One could think of a transition from night to day, dark to light, from a crowded city into an empty field, earth and moon – well, you get my drift here? Its an absolutely fine piece of some of the more darker drone music around, entirely crafted through digital means (I guess), but with a great warmth to it. Very nice. (FdW)
Address: http://www.12k.com
SUB LUNA – AWAKE! (CD by Cyclic Law)
A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of reviewing some new albums from Cyclic Law, a Canadian record label dedicated to promoting international acts working in the fields of ambient, electroacoustic, industrial, neo classical and neo folk. Present album is the first in label¥s so-called Eclipse-series, that takes exclusive focus on folk noir. First trip in the Eclipse Series goes to Sweden to meet the duo Sub Luna consisting of Mikael Lindblom and Fredrik Sooberg. The first album “I” from Sub Luna was released in 2004 meanwhile a follow-up titled “In the shade of time” came out in 2006. Since then it has been four years of silence until this album titled “Awake!” came out. On this third album Sub Luna has combined more traditional elements of the dark folk genre with influences of authentic rock and singer song-writer, resulting in a quite pleasant alternative listen experience. Sometimes the expression reminds of a folk-oriented version of Canadian country/rock-band Cowboy Junkies. Excellent vocals first of all from Mikael Lindblom but also with great appearances from female vocalist by Ann-Mari Thim (Arcana). Very nice first album in the Eclipse Series. Let¥s hope for more in the same level. (NM)
Address: http://www.cycliclaw.com
FIRE IN THE HEAD – CONFESSIONS OF A NARCISSIST (CD by Cold Spring)
MACHINEFABRIEK – DAAS (CD by Cold Spring)
TENHORNEDBEAST – HUNTS & WARS (CD by Cold Spring)
VON THRONSTAHL – CONSCRIPTUM (CD by Cold Spring)
Six years after its birth, the time has come for Fire In The Head to release its swan song. However do not expect a pretty swan on this one, more rather a very ugly duckling. The “Fire In The Head”-project was formed in early 2004 by Michael Page. After performing live several times as a guest member of a friend’s power electronics unit Michael got inspired to begin work on his own harsh electronic project combining aspects of noise, death industrial, drone, dark ambient and power electronics. As said present album titled “Confessions Of A Narcissist” marks the final full-length release by Fire In The Head and contains materials produced in 2007-2008. Expressively, the listener are thrown into hordes of symphonic aggressions that first of all pays attention towards crushing power electronics, sounding like the speakers are burning from the inside. The harsh expression are put to further extremes by some horrific vocals, penetrating momentarily. What makes this ugly work, somehow a piece of beauty is the integration of warm and sometimes even subtly melodic soundscapes into the land of harsh noise and crushing extremity. Pure sonic holocaust par excellence.
Next album comes from a project that also saw the daylight in 2004 just like aforementioned from Fire In The Head, though this is one of the few things in common between those two projects. Expressively we move right to the opposite side of the sound spectre here. Machinefabriek is a Dutch project from the Rotterdam-based sound artist Rutger Zuydervelt. The composer began his sonic explorations as a young boy taking lessons in piano and guitar but after that he went to the Art Academy of Arnhem, probably giving him the artistic and abstract approach to composing. Machinefabriek’s music combines elements of ambient, modern classical, drone, noise and field recordings. His latest album titled “Daas” is an excellent piece of experimental ambient. There is a trend in the ambient world to combine the sound of ambience with modern classical, but in many cases the two styles do not melt and therefore doesn’t float as one whole. Machinefabriek manage to integrate the acoustic elements into the digital spheres with a hauntingly beautiful end-result. Everyone interested in ambient music should keep an eye on this one.
With the third launch from Cold Spring reviewed here, we stay in the ambient-side of expressions. Still there is a great difference between the gentle and melodic “Daas”-album of Machinefabriek and the utter darkness on next launch being “Hunts & wars” from Tenhornedbeast. Located in the Northern territories of England, British composer Christopher Walton alias Tenhornedbeast has since 2004 launched one album of apocalyptic dark ambient after the other. As I three years back reviewed the previous album of Tenhornedbeast titled “The sacred truth”, I described the music as being death industrial with comparison to Swedish genre-legend Brighter Death Now. On this new album recorded in the period between 2006-09 the harshness has been decreased. What is left behind is seven pieces of black ambience and the result is great and even better than previous album. The expressions on the pieces are repetitive and slowly moving in-between drones of buzzing darkness. Last track is the lengthy 20 minutes title track “Hunts & wars”. A great work that opens in pure darkness but halfway through turns into semi-melodic ambient-spheres thus adding some warmth to the otherwise cold and cynic world of the beast.
Last album reviewed here comes from a true legend. Von Thronstahl is a German project established by Josef Maria Klumb back in the mid-90’s. Stylistically Von Thronstahl operates in spheres far away from aforementioned three albums. Having released a number of albums from beginning, Von Thronstahl first of all works in the fields of Martial, Industrial, Neoclassical and Neofolk. If you haven’t heard materials from the project, present double disc-compilation is a good beginners
guide with early materials plus various mixes and remixes. (NM)
Address: http://www.coldspring.co.uk
PHILIPPE PETIT – OFF TO TITAN (CD by Karl Records)
Ah classical music – not the ground I happily walk upon when it comes to reviewing music that has connections to that world. I simply don’t know enough about it. So I learned that Gustav Mahler reworked in his first Symphony into a Tondichtung (which somehow sounds better than ‘tone poem) and called it Titan and according to Philippe Petit created in ‘search of a work that echoed industrialism and society in the nineteenth century’. Ideal stuff to re-work, in the hands of Petit. His starts with the classical music as written, but then slowly starts the expand on the music, through re-edits, distortion, time stretching and recontextualsation. He receives help from one Jono Podmore (also known as Kumo) who added theremin and electronics. References are made to the soundtracks of ‘Forbidden Planet’, ‘2001 – A Space Odyssey’, incorporating classical music into electronic music. For that’s what is happening here. The classical music never disappears from the score, in fact it stays almost on equal par with the electronic sounds that are added by Petit and Jono. This makes a rather odd record. As said, I am not particular strong when it comes to loving pure classical music and to me this work remains a pure classical work, albeit with the addition of electronic sounds. Its not that I don’t like this particular release, but its oddity doesn’t make it easy for me like it. Its more a curious work with a strange character, that doesn’t keep up, at least not for me, its entire length, I must say. (FdW)
Address: http://www.karlrecords.net
GARETH HARDWICK – OF THE SEA AND SHORE (CD by Low Point)
The man from Low Point label, Gareth Hardwick is also a musician, and ‘Of The Sea And Shore’ is his third album (‘and the first full length consisting of entirely new material since his debut release in 2006’). The title refers to various visits to the coast and Hardwick takes is inspiration from nature and its cycles. To that end he uses the guitar as his driving force, along with harmonium, cymbals, chimes, dictaphone and radio. Two pieces, surprisingly enough of almost equal length (18:15 and 18:24 minutes), of music that hold absolutely no surprise for me. Drone like, mediative, slow, minimal. Both of them. Now you may think I don’t like this, but then you are mistaken. I look outside, rain is pouring down (is this august, is this summer?), and inside I sit back, relaxed, coffee within reach, smoking and watching the rain. And of course I hear the music of Hardwick. Especially the second part of ‘Of The Sea And Shore’ comes in tidal waves, broken up into various section, each with its own character, but altogether fitting together quite well, something that starts to happen towards the end of the first part actually. I am a bit surprised why he didn’t put those pieces into separate pieces or created one thirty-seven minute work. I can merely speculate about that. That aside, this is a great, melancholiac work of shimmering beauty. Twilight music, autumn music, scenic music and all such references apply to this release. Nothing new, yet absolutely beautiful. (FdW)
Address: http://www.low-point.com
KASSEL JAEGER – LIGNES D’ERRE & RANDONS (CD by Unfathomless)
Apart from his release on Mystery Sea called ‘EE[ND] (see Vital Weekly 611), I never heard Kassel Jaeger again, and now he’s appearing on the Mystery Sea subdivision Unfathomless, thus granted a ‘real’ CD. Jaeger recorded ‘rivers shores un Berlin and Koln, wind & pipelines in Paris, air and nocturnal insects in some remote places in France, algae, mudflat and harbor in I’lle de Re, ultralight aircraft in Pinarello (Corsica) and other sounds in some other hidden places, as written on the cover. On the label’s website we find his own comment: “What originated these “lignes d’erre & randons” were sounds collected in different and special spaces which have been important to me. These sounds, trapped into my remembrances, had no other choice than mutate and evolve, drawing subterranean flows and creating a genuine underworld of recollections”, which perhaps as an artist’ statement is a bit poor. Why, if these places were so important, mutate and evolve those sounds, I wondered. Jaeger, at day time a sound engineer at GRM in Paris, however has a fine ear when it comes to recording these sounds and treating them with computer aims. The seven pieces he put together with these sound sources are great, just like ‘EE[ND]’. His works has more to do the world of electro-acoustic sound treatments inhabited by the world of INA/GRM than that of microsound. For Jaeger its apparently important not to stretch out a limited set of sounds with some computer plug ins, but to create a piece that is multi-layered, put together in a collage form. His works reminds me of that of Christopher McFall or Jos Smolders, both of whom stretch out the possibilities of working with field recordings. A rare thing in that particular world, and as such Jaeger does some more than excellent work. (FdW)
Address: http://unfathomless.net/
NICO HUIJBREGTS – FALSCHE TANGO (CD by Vindu)
Multitalent Nico Huijbregts is active as a writer, painter, composer and improvisor (piano). All disciplines are interrelated in the perception of Huijbregts. His output however can easily divided along these disciplines. ‘Falsche Tango’ is a collection of several of his compositions, supplemented by one short piano improvisation. It is the first cd with compositions by Huijbregts, if I’m not mistaken. Earlier he released cd’s with improvised piano music, that received good reviews. ‘Falsche Tango’ contains four compositions for different line ups. The title piece is performed by Duo Mares, being Esra Pehlivani (viola) and Marko Kassl (accordeon). This composition is deeply rooted in the tango idiom, avoiding superficial stylistic quotations or tiring ironic comments. It sounds ‘wie gegossen’, with a strong nucleus. The opening track ‘Herbie rides again’ is for a trio of Ned McGowan (flute, contrabass), Naomi Sato (alto sax) and Ere Lievonen (piano). Nicely arranged, giving room to the players and the their instruments. The shortest piece ‘Dancing the night away’ is a solo piece on piano played by Huijbregts himself. Here one can identify some of the stylistic qualities that are typical for Huijbregts and that can also be found in the other pieces: quickly accelerating short runs, followed by slower and quieter passages. A certain elegance is present in his music throughout. ‘Sisyphos’ is an impressive work for harmonium, played by Dirk Luijmes on a harmonium that was built more then a century ago. I enjoyed it most for the sound qualities of this instrument. With this release Huijbregts proves himself being a composer with a clear handwriting and disciplined style. With ‘Falsche Tango’ delivers a cd of engaging works of chamber music. (DM)
Address: http://www.nicohuijbregts.nl
ARTURAS BUMSTEINAS – STORIES FROM ORGAN SAFARI (CD by New Music Communication Center)
Before today I had read about this work, in my daily newspaper. This work (and thus this recording of it) was played in Amsterdam in June at the prestigious Holland Festival. The reviewer didn’t like (granting it one out of five stars) it (see, if you know how to read Dutch: www.volkskrant.nl/archief_gratis/article1394064.ece/Een_brij_van_gesamplede_orgels), but it made me all he more curious – like so often is the case when I read something in the overground media slagging things of from my world. To that reviewer, the music was a ‘soup of samples from organs’, with not much happening for the total of two hours. ‘Each new generation has to invent his ‘soundsoup’ but not in this festival’. I wish I was there to see it. Two hours seems a bit long for my taste, but the five edits on this release sound quite good. The primary stage is for the collection of organ sounds that Bumsteinas recorded and collected over the years and form the basis of the piece. Bumsteinas is the director of this, while he has players to improvise on organ in the venue in Amsterdam, cello, kankles, laptop, flugelhorn and additional samples. I agree with the reviewer: this is a soundsoup. I don’t agree with him that its something boring. The work is a dense thing indeed with lots of activity happening everywhere, sometimes reducing to just one or two instruments playing. The combination of samples, electronics, field recordings and improvisations make an absolutely fine work. No, indeed, its not something that we haven’t heard before, and yes, perhaps each new generation tries to invite their own ‘soundsoup’. But aren’t there are a zillion young composers trying their hands at say a string quartet? And just how many times has that been done? So that seems to me an invalid argument. Bumsteinas created an absolutely fine work that moves in between modern classical music, electronic music and improvisation. It stretches beyond either of them, and as such its probably to difficult for the average reviewer of classical music, present at prestigious festivals. (FdW)
Address: http://www.nmkc.lt
HARUKA NAKAMURA – TWILIGHT (CD by Kitchen)
Sunday morning is not like any other morning of the week, even when I would like to pose as a well disciplined man. Saturday night is the night to meet friends, drink beer, go out and such thing like a real social network (as opposed to a virtual one, mind you), so on sunday morning you tend to sleep a bit longer, no newspaper has arrived (also in that respect an old fashioned man), and then there is music. I try not to start the day with any music that Vital related – but in stead I prefer something nice and mellow, easy, quiet. This morning, honest, it was something by Wim Mertens. Then I looked at the pile on my desk and decided to start the Vital part of the day with Haruka Nakamura and returned to my book. After about fifteen minutes of hearing the gentlest tones, a bit laidback jazzy piano and saxophones, field recordings, violins and I went back to my computer to check if it was played Nakamura and not Wim Mertens still. For some reason, this was not necessary. Mertens never used, as far as I know field recordings of dripping rain, and this music was perhaps repetitive. Nakamura is the composer of the music which he writes and plays on the piano, whereas the other instruments are played by others. Not at all Vital Weekly music, but then when did I speak about Wim Mertens? Nakamura’s music is very spacious, with lots of sustain beyond the decay of the instruments, jazzy but in such a way that even I like this. The perfect record to transit from listening something nice to wake up and start the work on Vital Weekly. Topped with an absolute great packaging (book bound book with great moody landscape photos), this is an absolutely unique item, a rarity in a world of easy releases and cheap packaging. (FdW)
Address: http://www.kitchen-label.com
PHILIP JECK – AN ARK FOR THE LISTENER (CD by Touch)
HILDUR GUDNADOTTIR – MOUNT A (CD by Touch)
Its been a while since I last heard music by Philip Jeck, ‘Sand’ to be precise (see Vital Weekly 626). ‘An Ark For The Listener’ is his sixth Touch release and sees him using pretty much the same equipment as before: Fidelity record players, Casio SK1 keyboards, minidiscs, bass guitar and effects. A rather ‘lo-fi’ approach still. ‘An Ark’ is a seven part work based on a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins about the drowning on December 7th 1875 of five Franciscan nuns exiled from Germany. The piece was first performed in February of this year, but its not the version on the CD, which was recorded at home, using extracts of live performances from the last year. I don’t know the poem (or perhaps its the one that is printed on the cover?), but its not easy to relate the music to that poem. The music is very much that of Philip Jeck. Heavily based around the use of loops, from the record players and the cheap sampling keyboards, multi layered and quite dense. Lots of times its eerie and distant, with outbursts of a more noise based character. Quite good actually, even not really a big surprise. A fine Jeck release, but not an entirely new perspective for him and also not his best release to date. But with such a small catalogue, with hardly any weaker brothers, this is pretty decent one.
The album ‘Mount A’ by Hildur Gudnadottir was previously released on 12Tonar under the name of Lost In Hildurness. That was in 2006. Since then Gudnadottir has made name for herself by playing cello with Nix Noltes band and alongside with Mum, Pan Sonic, Angel, Stillusteypa and BJ NIlsen. Her previous album, ‘Without Sinking’ (see Vital Weekly 672) was released by Touch, who now take the opportunity to re-release her 2006 album, using a new master, courtesy of Denis Blackham. While the cello is the main instrument here, she also uses gamba, zither, khuur and the gamelan. No doubt with the aid of electronics that put things into a loop, which can be used as a basis for the composition – or of course a multitude of such loops. Her previous album was received with some consideration, but this album is pretty good. Its more joyous, free and perhaps also naive. Atmospheric, of course (how can it not be when there is a cello involved), spacious and intimate. But all played with a sense of naivety, which greatly serves the music. Modern classical with a smile, even when all of these pieces seem highly personal. Its hard to explain, but I think Gudnadottir likes to play with these classical notions and pull a joke, but in a serious way. I don’t think this makes much sense, right? Find out for yourself. I thought this was a most pleasing album. (FdW)
Address: http://www.touchmusic.org.uk
CINDYTALK – UP HERE IN THE CLOUDS (CD by Editions Mego)
ANTONY/FENNESZ – RETURNAL (7″ by Editions Mego)
When Cindytalk first appeared in Vital Weekly I was pleasantly surprised to see such an ‘old’ name from an entirely different musical field appearing here, with music that was entirely up to the Vital alley. That was in Vital Weekly 702, when we reviewed ‘The Crackle Of My Soul’, which saw Gordon Sharp doing Cindytalk solo with the aid of a computer. I had some reservations about the work, but the split 10″ (see Vital Weekly 727) was a group thing again, and produced some great delicate mood music. Now there is a new release, which has recordings from 2003 to 2010, and is perhaps the contrasting album to ‘The Crackle Of My Soul’. Whereas that album was gritty, perhaps even a bit noisy, without too much refined (then said ‘a rather early millennium version of microsound’), this album, while having some noise based outing, such as in ‘Hollow Stare’, the overall mood is much more mellow. Dark, obviously, and mellow, more sustained. Sharp uses small blocks of rhythm here and there, which add a somewhat ‘pop’ like texture to the music. There is the obvious set of drones, bits of contact microphone stuff and such like and overall I think this album is better than the previous. More variation in approach, more subtleness and better worked out. But still, would Mego have released it if it was mister Nobody’s demo? That’s something I am still not entirely convinced off. Sharp’s computer music is absolutely fine and should indeed find its way to compact disc, yet it doesn’t walk any new paths.
Oneohtrix Point Never album ‘Returnal’ did not make it into these pages – sadly enough, as the releases on No Fun were greatly appreciated. That leaves me a bit in the ‘dark’ as to this 7″ with two remixes of the title track. Antony (from Antony and the Johnsons) fame strips the lyrics and sings them in his characteristic voice, with Daniel OPN on piano, and makes this into a great ballad. A haunting piece, or should that be a haunted piece? Ghostly. On the other side we find Fennesz, the true master of digital music, the absolute top class of his kind, and he takes the analogue world of Oneohtrix Point Never into the world of bits and bytes, effectively yet minimally stretching the song of the original into a likewise haunting digital ballad. Haunting, not haunted, I’d say, which makes a small difference. This too is a great piece. Now I would have wished to hear the original. This 7″ of two great remixes made me all the more curious. (FdW)
Address: http://www.editionsmego.com
TEHO TEARDO – SOUNDTRACK WORK 2004-2008 (CD by Expanding Records)
Modern Institute, a duo from Italy, surprised me with their ‘Excellent Swimmer’ release (see Vital Weekly 518): a fine combination of cello, piano, synthesizers in an almost modern classical manner. Modern Institute is Martina Bertoni on cello and Teho Teardo on everything else. Teho Teardo, whom we know since the 80s when he played with Nurse With Wound, Scorn and Lydia Lunch is very active, beyond Modern Institute. In Italy he works on soundtracks for films. Films, I readily admit, I haven’t see, like ‘Le Ragazza Del Lago’, ‘Il Passato E Una Terra Straniera’, ‘Il Divo’ (which won the David di Nonatello prize, handed to him by Ennio Morricone), ‘L’Amico Di Famielia’ and ‘Lavorare Con Lentezza’. Pieces from these films appear on this disc, filled with twenty-five short, sketch like pieces. Still Teardo plays everything else, except for a whole list of people contributing violin, viola, cello and bass. Its indeed great soundtrack music, although it reveals very little about the actual films, I think. By and large this is modern classical music, with a few bits of modern day electronics in it, gentle and light mostly, and dark and atmospheric on a smaller number of occasions. Like the Nakamura disc a great one, be it, a little less jazz, but perhaps also out of place in Vital Weekly. A piece like ‘Miss Agropontino’, with its metronome like clicking rhythm, comes close to what is covered here, but its a rarity. But like with Nakamura disc, again, its still lazy sunday afternoon, and these beautiful, meandering violins form a suitable soundtrack for such lazy, rainy sunday afternoons. A great work for occasions like this. (FdW)
Address: http://www.expandingrecordings.com
BOY DIRT CAR – FAMILIA (LP by Aftermusic Records)
After Music Records announce Boy Dirt Car to be one of ‘America’s premier noise bands’, from the 80s, which is of course media talk, and after a long disappearance they already did a comeback CD ‘Spoken Answer To A Silent Question’ (see Vital Weekly 605) and now come back, again, with a LP with the classic line up, albeit still without Eric Lunde. But Darren Brown is still there, along with compadre’s as Dave Szolwinski, Dan Kubinski, Keith Brammer, Steve Whalen and Jeff Hamilton plus a couple of guests. We have here a record that is more noise based than their previous CD, using lots of guitar, bass and metal percussion and a crazy set up of cut up vocals and voices. Much more unsettling than the rock drones offered on ‘Spoken Answer To A Silent Question’, with a large role played by the vocals of Darren Brown (we remember his industrial music poetry project Impact Test very well). No careful constructed ambient industrial patterns this time but two sides of mayhem. Hardly composed as such, but instead it seems thrown on the magnetic tape, splicing unrelated parts together. While the cover lists individual tracks, the whole thing comes across as a long track, for some convenience (?) sake given a bunch of titles. The mayhem doesn’t constitute of just pure noise, or pure feedback, but, on the other hand its a great collage of sound snippets, instrument abuse and electro-acoustic rumble taking to an extreme. Excellent noise stuff. Two different approaches – the previous CD and this LP – but both with a great quality. (FdW)
Address: http://www.aftermusicrecordings.com
THE DEAD MAURIACS – LES IMAGINATIONS (CDR by NPH)
In Vital Weekly 730 we were first introduced to The Dead Mauriacs, a trio Vincent Dommeyne (guitar, computer), Helene Prieur (who plays the Darquies, which is a home made string instrument made of a wooden box of red wine, the Chateau Darquies) and Olivier Prieur (computer and small amplified objects) with their second release ‘Un Apres-Midi Suisse’. They are not intended to be a live group of any kind, but on June 25 2010 they played a rare concert, this time as a duo of Prieur and Domeyne, with the voice of Didier Guilliomet on tape. Whereas the previous release showed an interest in Fennesz or Stephan Mathieu, the material captured live is of a slightly more noise oriented nature. A big role is reserved for the guitar of Prieur and the computer of Domeyne. As much I was taken by the charm of the previous release, the less I like this somewhat raw and primitive doodling. Improvisation is what they like and that’s what they do, but whereas the studio version thereof can be edited down, the live version – and clocking in at an hour of music – doesn’t seem to have those edits. Only in the final piece (all seven cuts are untitled) there is something going that is worth exploring more, but its a long road getting there. (FdW)
Address: <olivier_prieur@club-internet.fr>
DRONAEMENT – DEAD ORGAN MUSIC/THE COSMIC TAPES (CDR by Dying For Bad Music)
What precisely was the reason to call some music ‘cosmic music’? I no longer remember, even while I am using the same reference too. Its to point that kind of music that is entirely made using a string of analogue synthesizers and some sound effects. Dating back to the golden years, the early seventies, Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Ash Ra Temple or Vangelis, there is currently a revival of that kind of music – with Emeralds being on top of the scene. Dronaement, also known as Marcus Obst, has of course the best artist name to present such music and delved up some shelved music from 2007. Four parts of ‘Organ’ music and two parts of ‘Cosmic Tape’. This is textbook stuff of what this cosmic music is. Slowly changing, with slow arpeggio’s on a bunch of synths, with minimal moves, of which the intentions are to bring the listener into some altered state. Its not easy to say wether this works really well. As a reviewer I can’t take drugs whenever the music demands so (although donations in hard cash to do that are of course most welcome), but the darker cosmos explored by Dronaement is certainly a great place. The four ‘organ’ pieces as the more minimalist outings here, whereas the ‘Cosmic Tape’ pieces are even more classic in approach and which can easily be ranked as the best Dronaement stuff I heard so far. Maybe because of the positive buzz around the somehow old fashioned cosmic music clouds my judgement a bit, but this is surely great stuff. (FdW)
Address: http://dyingforbadmusic.com
HARUKI – SNOWED IN FOOD SHELTER (CDR by Klanggold)
The motto of the Klanggold label is ‘we like calm listeners’ and that certainly applies to the music of Boris Snauwaert, better known as Haruki. Like I remarked with his previous release ‘The Land That Lies Behind Us’ (see Vital Weekly 726), his music is now slowly maturing. Forgotten are the days of ‘Haphazardly, While Sitting’ (see Vital Weekly 652). The opening piece ‘Animals All Over The Table’ is a bit grainy with mildly distortion on guitar sounds, but the four pieces to follow show a great love and affection for acoustic sounds (piano and guitar I assume) treated with the usual digital means. The sharp edges are gone and in its place we find some great textured music. Coherent playing, which is what his music needs, I think, not wander about in various styles that he sometimes tend to do. Here its all along similar lines. If anything, his music comes now close to the Machinefabriek sound: spacious music, with a bit of post rock like guitar playing, a sparse note on the piano and some loop station repeating the sustain on end. Excellent release, his best so far. (FdW)
Address: http://www.klanggold.net
FUN WITH NUNS – UNTITLED (3″CDR by Moremars)
Fun With Nuns is a very extended collective: Alaina (xylophones, guitar), Panos (tenor sax, vocals), Aki Po (bass, vocals, guitar, drums, tenor sax, various objects), B.d.l (tenor sax, various wind instruments), Thana.sys (electronics, guitars), Elen (drums), Kleo (guitars), Xari (guitar, sax), Santo Petroleo (drums), Pablo (trumpets, vocals), Emdy (piano, electronics, effects), Vinylias (tenor sax, bass, drums, various objects), Nigga (bass, drums), Thazastabo (various recorders/flutes), Socrates (xaphoon, extreme japanese vocals, tenor sax). All take part in the scene of Thessaloniki, Greece where the collective plays in constantly different line ups. Their music is best described as freeform psychedelic music in the tradition of Can. They create intense waves of rock without much happening in them. They do this in a convincing and enthusiastic way. From time to time the music reaches freaky climaxes, and all is condensed well on this 3 inch CDR. (DM)
Address: http://www.moremars.org/