DJ GLOVE – TUNING (12″ by Flux)
A record by an artist who calls himself ‘DJ’ is set to be a party going
object. The record opens with some tinkling on the piano… yeah get on
with it… where is the kick drum, the hi-hat. Get on. As you lift the
needle from the vinyl and place it somewhere else on either the a-side or
the b-side, you will find that this record is entirely built of sounds from
tuning the piano. Annoying to some, maybe casting memories to others like
me, where the piano at the elderly house was tuned twice a year. For
adventurous DJ’s an exiting record, to be filled next to Ash’s record
‘Blind/Fragment’ of intercepted talking between ground control and a pilot
up in the air. File under ‘DJ Conceptualism’. (FdW)
The Sons of Silence – Spring Forward:Fall back (Leaf CD08)
Spring Forward:Fall Back is the first CD from The Sons of Silence, the
brainchild of Dan Mudford, occasional member of O Yuki Conjugate and
founder of Spoke. Its not so much an album, more the sum of their recent EP
output on the excellent London-based Leaf imprint. SOS are doing pretty
well for themselves – loads of UK media coverage, MTV, national radio – not
something we’re very accustomed to here at Vital.
What you get are eight tracks of lo-fi breaks, phat bass and vocal,
snippets a-plenty – nothing too radical, but what separates this disc from
all the other triphop hopefuls is that the SOS boys have an ear for a
decent tune. It really does make a big difference. You can hear the
influence of dub, hiphop, house and funk, but the various elements are
lashed together so effectively that you’re not left with the nasty
cut’n’paste feeling that hastily made sample-based beats can produce. Its a
fairly straightforward sound but it works well both indoors and out
dancing. The singles are all here (Critical Mass, Silence Go Boom! and
Grain of Sand) and at around 40 mins this disc never outstays its welcome.
Basically, if you enjoy the output of the various Coldcut-related acts then
you’ll probably like this. Apparently there’s a full blown CD on its way
that takes the sound a lot further – I’ll keep you posted. (RTH)
CACOPHONY 33 – KANGORAMA (7″ by Outsider Records)
This band is said to be around for 15 years, releasing 29 tapes – none of
which I heard before. This is strange music – not something I can easily
relate to. The title piece on the a-side open strong with drums and bass
but somewhere in the middle things get mellow, before everything seems to
start again. More interesting is the b-side ‘Swamp Wasser’, which is a
relaxing track of synthesizer washes and water sounds. Probably due to the
fact that this is a home recording everything sounds dry, not much sound
processing going on here. Interesting vinyl debut anyway. (FdW)
Address: Outsider – 10 Yarborough Road – Lincoln, LN1 1HS – UK
PURE POWER PICNIC (DAT by Tidal Wave Recycling)
More odd media (in extension last weeks CD-R only release). This DAT lasts
2 hours and Tidal Wave Recycling announces that there will be no copies
made on cassette. Clever people of course burn their CD-Rs… This DAT
compilation is no different then say any compilation. Twelve artists in the
‘industrial/noise’ sector, some of them take the apparent unlimited time to
do a real long piece. Aube, Pain Jerk and Kapotte Muziek each have 20
minute piece for instance. The sound quality is of course excellent – I
assume everybody his or her stuff straight to DAT and this gives this
compilation an important advantage over cassette compilations. Some of the
highlights: Test Tube Kid and Din with a heavy distorted dance beat, Pain
Jerk rhythmically induced noise and Aube’s layered synth noise. (FdW)
Address: <lmarhaug@online.no>
DUTCH HARBOR (CD by Atavistic)
This CD contains the soundtrack to the film ‘Dutch Harbor – Where The Sea
Breaks’ as performed by The Boxhead Ensemble, a non-existing group, which
reads like a who’s who of Chicago guitar music. Most legendary (ahum) in
this group are Jim O’Rourke and David Grubbs, well legendary to me I guess.
Of course I haven’t seen this film, and I doubt I ever will. But listening
to the music and seeing the two-tone colored images in the booklet, there
must be a lot of water and seagulls above them. A melancholy film which
gets the music it deserves. The booklet speaks about ‘improvised music
performed by’… the thing is that this sound at all improvised, except
maybe for a piece like ‘At Sea’ which is a lengthy post rock jam of sorts.
The group are at their best in the shorter, more sketchy, atmospheric
pieces.
Atavistic – P.O.Box 578266 – Chicago, IL 60657 – USA
AUTECHRE –
Will I ever understand music that is commonly sold as ‘house’ music?
Probably not. Autechre are for me a prime example. Is this really house
music? Seeing the amount of exposure they get in what is sold as ‘house’
magazines, one could assume they actually are a house band. But when I, the
inexperienced, listen to their latest CD, I just a complex kind of music,
which may involve dance rhythms, but to which I couldn’t dance, even if I
wanted to. Now don’t get me wrong here: what I hear I think is just
amazing, wonderful. There tons of buzzes, sizzles which are layered over
each other, swirl into each other, but is this really dance music? To
question that issue, is not to question the terms under which music is
sold, but mechanisms of record companies and magazines (who both fail to
understand that out here there is a lot of this type of music, which they
just won’t touch and which simply gets ignored).
Address: any local record store…?
DELTA 9 – ALPHA DECAY (CD by Vinyl Communications)
SIX STAGE PHASER (CD by Vinyl Communications)
To me Vinyl Communications is mostly known for their interest in noise
music – be it by guitars, be it otherwise. Both of these releases go into a
distinctly different area, being that of ‘electronica’ – but that’s only
one way of putting it. Delta 9 is one Dave Rodgers, who fools around with
electronics as if he would be bald-shaved gabber from our own Rotterdam.
He has a great sense of sample spotting, as they are wicked (and
politically correct of course). He even samples one of the first Dutch
gabber records ‘Alles Naar de Klote’, yes from Rotterdam, but he calls it
‘Hard Core Chicago’. Just ignorance? Will we ever know.
Six Stage Phaser compiles different 12″s by Vinyl Communications into one
CD. Lesser open up with a wild breakbeat/jungle thing, then The Spacewurm
is a different mood with laid-back dubby rhythm in a relatively short
track. Synth and arpeggio washes form the spacy mood Tholos is in. MC Think
is said to be political, but luckily no rap here. A sturdy beat, bleak
synth and some far away radio mumbling. The Spacewurm return, they have
their long track too, with an outdated synth/bass line and vocodized voices
(the least track on this CD as far as I’m concerned). The CD closes with MC
Think in a hip hop mood with some weird rap, which does not get annoying (I
am not particular fond of rap as you can tell by now). Interesting overview
of varied rhythmical music – I wonder when Vinyl Communications sign their
Panasonic or Porter Ricks. (FdW)
Address: Vinyl Communications – P.O.Box 8623 – Chula Vista, CA 91912 – USA
NOTO – SPIN
TOL – TRAP (Both CDs on Raster Music)
One of my favourite Cds from last year was Olento by O on Sahko. ‘Noto.
Spin’ is a comparable work, full of rhythmic anomalies and distant reverbs
and which, after several listenings, has certainly gained in appeal. One of
my first thoughts on hearing the music was that it had been made with a
sampling footpedal (it turns out it was a titchy Akai sampler). Drum
patterns duplicate each other (unlike Olento, this band dive into the land
of FAZE immediately) and stutter about weaving in between each other so
producing unique rhythmic combinations. Loops making loops making loops.
Very mathematical. Very scientific. Ingredients from various tracks seem to
be reblended to create new structures (yes, it is architectural). Once in a
while, however the formula wears a little thin, usually on the most minimal
of the 24 tracks…some things are best left to the Finns. There are also
areas which could be Oval on Valium (or Tommy Koner on speed) and a
surprising array of unusual sounds. Very original and probably very good.
One to watch…oops! listen.
The other release on this new German label has 8 tracks and is completely
the opposite to ‘Noto.Spin’ Actually I thought, in my ignorance, that
people didn’t make this kind of music anymore, following the overdilution
of this genre
by labels like Fax , Silent and even, sad to say Emit. Slow turgid
keyboard sequences with occasional irritating dub delays and high-hat
programming reminiscent of that lone, unswattable mosquito . All combine
into a modern equivalent of Chinese water torture…evvabuddies fave way to
madness.
This is everything ‘Noto.Spin’ is not – safe for children and pets with a
nod beyond the boundaries of bland. (God! What a crap bassline!) (MP)
An error has occurred in Vital Weekly 74 – to order the Para Noise Terminal
CD-R, one should contact this address:
stefanrossow@dolphinet.co.uk