TRANSIENT WAVES – TRANSIENT WAVES (CD by Che/i)
Che calls it ”astral” rock, other people call it space rock, or post rock
or post kraut rock. Current hype from the USA: bands that play long spacey
pieces with guitar drones, a simple set of drums and no vocals. Recentely I
had the oppurtunity to find out a lot of these bands, and the majority is
quite interesting, but if one hears an overkill, bands become
interchangeable. I didn’t hear Transient Waves before, but their 6 track CD
(lasting in total 50 minutes) is quite alright. Slowly envelopping pieces
of guitar music, hughly drenched in reverb and chorus, and the same set of
minimal percussion. Other drones are played on cello, clarinet and violin.
The calm music is at times pastoral in tone, but it never gets pathetic.
Address: <irec@cheltd.demon.co.uk>
GEORGE SMITS – ZBOLK NIGHT RADIO (CD by Audioview)
Audioview is linked to the fine Belgium distributor Lowlands, and hail
hail: they release ‘serious’ electronic music from very unknown musicians
(no Merzbow or Aube on this label).
If I understand the liner notes well, Smits is a visual artist in which the
interest in sound vibrations play an important role. The sound from
interacting long strings, glass rods, bamboo sticks in being amplified
through styrofoam. How exactely that is possible is puzzling to me. Smits
plays his inventions and mixes recordings of it on Radio Centraal in
Antwerpen, where is from. In a track like ‘Station Call’, there is the
rubbing sounds, tikling sounds, andthey are mixed with some samples. Once
this feature is introduced, a lot of the material on this CD is alike. The
majority of the tracks on this CD is electronic and are out-takes from
larger sections. Overall an interesting CD, but maybe it could have been a
shorter to remain interesting throughout. (FdW)
Address: <lowlands@innet.be>
AUBE – CARDIAC STRAIN (CD by Alien8)
This latest Aube CD (well last weeks latest) is entirely made by using
solely the sounds of heartbeat. Each of the 6 tracks on this CD is drenched
in effects, samples and noise. But this release is not as noise as some
japs can be, as Aube manages to get in a particular drive of his own, a
heartbeat that lives in each track. Not really ranking among the best Aube
release (which is still ‘Metal De Metal’), but quite an alright release.
(FdW)
Address: <alien8@total.net>
KILLING ME SOFTLY WITH NOISE (CD by Noise)
Horrible title! Seven bands get their oppurtunity to play ‘soft noise’ –
which is opposed to ‘harsh noise’, the feedback areas. Some people call it
ambient industrial. Syllyk opens up with one of his known collages of
environmental sound, intercepted by… ooops feedback sounds. Crawl Unit
has a droning back drop and some close miked sounds. The larger part
consists of sounds that just drone along, and slowly develop. Small Cruel
Party has a reputation of amplifyng small sounds and is of course not to
miss on this one. His piece is what you could expect from him. A rarity on
compilations is Strafe F.R., with a track that opens with pigs screaming, a
fake preacher and guitars (like on the much ignored ‘Pianoguitar’ CD). The
for me unknown Ching-Shen-Ching researches in four minutes the beauty of
stereo spectrum. CM von Hauswolff has the longest piece and sound (almost)
like an excirse in minimalism with a Korg machine. Hybryds at last position
offer something that is more musical then any of the other six, and seem a
bit out of place. (FdW)
Address:
L@N – L@N (CD by A-Musik)
WABI SABI – WABI SABI (CD by A-Musik)
Watch my words: A-Musik is going to be the next most interesting label in
daring electronic music, crossing noise to dance music.
The L@N (which stands for Local Area Network) was partly released on vinyl
before, but is now completed with some extra tracks. Five tracks are
recorded live, and two are from the studio. The starting point of every
track is a basic sound, a rhythm loop etc., and L@N improvises over the
basic loop with synthesizers and drum computers. In general a minimal
affair. The strangest thing however is that in each track the stereo is
used. A lot of the sounds either exist just on the right or just on the
left channel. Duble listening fun!
Wabi Sabi is something different. This is Markus Schmickler, who of course
you know from his eclectic CD on Odd Size, and his work in the Cologne
music scene with people like POL, Kontakta and Mouse On Mars. “The Pair of
terms Wabi and Sabi are expressions of an attitude towards life that draw
the power of artistic creation from silence and decay”. The main part of
the Wabi Sabi CD consists of the piece with the same title, which is a
2-channel version of some spatial composition. It starts out with feedback
like sounds and transposing synths. In the second track a train-like rhythm
is added and shortwave like sounds are thrown in the mix. From there the
result is actually a swinging piece of music, without any obvious reference
to dance music. Then in the track indexed as 4 and 5 the composition is
slowly built to a conclusion. Index number 6 is Param, also a 2 channel
version of the electronic music from ‘Drift/Dense’ (probably an
installation or something). Long droning tones, like sirens, intermix with
eachother. Quite some serious composing on this CD, which breathes
atmospheres of serious electronic avant-garde. (FdW)
Address: A-Musik – BrusselerPlatz 10a – 50674 Koln – Germany
BRANDON LABELLE – PRIMA MATERIA (CD by Unique Ancient Tavern)
ID BATTERY – LILY EVENTS (CD by Unique Ancient Tavern)
Labelle is a visual artist and musician whose aim it is to draw attention
to the dynamics of sound and listening. He amplifies walls, floor and
places contact mics on objects. The seven untitled pieces on his CD sound
like recorded live, with machine humm here and there, and reminded me in
some spots of Small Cruel Party. Of course one could wonder if this kind of
music works without its visual aspect. But for me it worked fine: nice
dronig atmospherics, no noise bursting out of your speakers. Relaxing
experimental, ambient industrial music.
Id Battery is a group with Brandon as one of its members. ‘Lily Events’ was
released last year, but shamefully ignored by us. The difference between
Brandon’s solo work and Id Battery lies for me in the fact that Id Battey
operates more from a musical background. There is rhythmical banging on
various metallic objects, tapes played backwards, sea sounds etc. But alike
Labelle: relaxing experimental. Both worth checking out! (FdW)
Adress: <lulu101@earthlink.net>
PENDLER (2CD by Skraep)
To pendle is to travel from your home to your work, and who else at Vital
Weekly then me should write about it (Pendling takes me 2 hours a day).
This double CD is an interesting concept: basic recordings at the train
station of Kopenhaven, Denmark were send to artists around the world, and
they were asked to produce a piece of music. The result is, as you may have
suggested, quite divers. Ruelgo (known front-man of Le Syndicat) produces a
lot of bangs and rhythms and Francis Dhomont comes up with a strict
soundscaping piece. Otomo Yoshihide emphazises the pain to the daily
travel, by juxtaposing the chaotic character. Another surprising
contribution is by UK guitar noisists Headbutt in which the railway station
sounds are hard to recognize. Dr. Mengelhause’s contribution comes right
after that and is like 80’s cassette-network music: rather simple rhythmbox
and synths. Other participators to be found here: Barry Truax, Anton
Ignorant, Per Buhl Acs, Yasuhiro Otani, P.O. Jorgens, Jakob Brandt and
Jorgen Teller, the man who set this to work. (FdW)
Address: <DELETE@compuserve.com>