LAURIE SPIEGEL – THE EXPANDING UNIVERSE (2CD by Unseen Worlds) *
PAUL ELLIS – I AM HERE (CD by Lotuspike/Spotted Peccary) *
NORTHCORE – DESATERO (CD by O3E/Spotted Peccary) *
DEISON – QUIET ROOMS (CD by Aagoo) *
ROOIE WAAS – HET IS MAAR EEN CONSTATERING (CD by Narrominded) *
BENEFIETS FOR JAPAN (2CD by Licht-ung)
EISUKE YANAGISAWA – INTO THE CAVE (CDR by Licht-ung) *
HILARY JEFFERY – TIBETAN TUNNELS/BANDS OF LIGHT (LP by Dilemma Recordings)
EVA AGUILA – THE NORTH SIDE (LP by Dilemma Recordings)
REFLECTOR – THE HERITAGE (LP by Interstellar Records)
NINA NIELSEN – LOVE AND TERROR IN THE WILDERNESS (CD by Biophon) *
BRB>VOICECOIL (8″ by Alt.Vinyl)
B*TONG – THE SOUL EATER (CDR by Attenuation Circuit) *
THE INFANT CYCLE – LEFT EAR REVOLT (MYSTERIOUS DISCO 2009-2012) (CDR by The Ceiling) *
MYSTIFIED & SEETYCA – SUNS (CDR by Phonospheric) *
JOHN FLANNELLY – FABLES (CDR by Blue Sanct) *
KITCHEN TYPISTS – AN IMPOSSIBLE PROGRAM (CDR by Blue Sanct) *
PILLARS & TONGUES – IF TRAVEL IS ASKED OF ME (cassette by Red Frost Industries)
ENANTIOBIOSIS 1 (cassette by Bob Heaven’s Tapes)
EMOT – TREES & CLAWS (cassette by Run Ruby Red Records)
DANIEL CHOMA – SAD SONGS ABOUT GIRLS (cassette by Run Ruby Red Records)
LAURIE SPIEGEL – THE EXPANDING UNIVERSE (2CD by Unseen Worlds)
And yet again does Unseen Worlds provide us with something Unheard, at least over here. From the world of minimal and electronic music they find those interesting gems that are from really rare releases – of the kind you don’t even see on the most outsider/underground blogs. I never heard of Laurie Spiegel or her album from 1980 on Philo Records. We are dealing here with some highly computerized music from a time when computer where not things for your desk or your lap, but apparatus that filled rooms. Its all told in the booklet, albeit with a lot of technical speak that perhaps sometimes may elude the uninitiated. But the whole text breathes ‘another time, another world’, even if you don’t understand what it is all about. It is about limitation with those early big computers to create music, and perhaps that’s the real surprise if you hear it. Take for instance a piece like ‘Drums’, which sounds like Pan Sonic or Goem, with a bouncing back and forth rhythm. The booklet tells us, about these pieces, that Spiegel has a folk influence, but that’s hard to hear (well, that, or more inside knowledge is required). In other pieces there is perhaps something that we would call these days ‘cosmic music’. Spiegel’s music is not of a plink-plink nature that one perhaps would associate early computers with. Instead she plays long form, sustaining pieces, which slowly develop. Now, here she is clearly been influenced by the world of minimal music. Various of her pieces start out with with a bouncing single note which slowly expand – ‘get longer’ – and then starts to build slowly. The length of a piece is usually five to ten minutes with some being well over that, such as the title piece which is close to thirty minutes (which was also pressed in this length onto vinyl, so a CD version is more than welcome, I should think). No doubt with some of this music one could easily think its too simple and with my laptop running live you could easily do the same results in a few minutes, but I prefer to take the historical position: wow, with such limitations, these results!
Spiegel’s discography is rather small, and this double CD contains the entire debut LP, various pieces from later works (such as ‘Drums’ and ‘Appalachian Grove I-III’), but also many pieces that are here for the first time. I can imagine that close to three hours of this music is perhaps all bit much to take in, but this is yet another remarkable re-issue on Unseen Worlds. Boy, what a great label so far, what surprises they have next for us? (FdW)
Address: http://www.unseenworlds.net
PAUL ELLIS – I AM HERE (CD by Lotuspike/Spotted Peccary)
NORTHCORE – DESATERO (CD by O3E/Spotted Peccary)
If I’m correct this is the second time I receive promo’s from Spotted Peccary Music Group, which I believe is a bunch of labels working together, perhaps towards distribution or promotion, but which are also connected together through the music which they release. Synthesizers play an important role, yet there are differences. At an early age Paul Ellis got into ‘several classic European Electronic albums within a week’s time’ and since then is hooked on synthesizer music. In the mid 80s he got his first synthesizers and possibilities to record via multi-track and since then plays solo, but also with Steve Roach, Craig Padilla, Rudy Adrian, Ron Boots and has a band called Dweller At The Threshold. This new album, the first I hear from him, is about the Chinook tribe of Native Americans who lived in the Columbia River Gorge and Ellis visited that place recently. It inspired him to record these lengthy tracks, using his synthesizes, sequencers, guitar, bass and voice. You could easily think this is all 1975 again, and imagine you just discovered an unreleased album by Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze or Ash Ra Temple/Manuel Gottsching. The sequencer hammers out the steady pulse beneath all of this meandering of tones, and when that hammer is gone we drift freely into space, with highly atmospheric music, bubbling tones and float away in deep space. It fits no doubt the current cosmic revival, but somehow I can see that say die-hard Emeralds fans wouldn’t like this Ellis release: perhaps they would deem this too clean for their taste.
Northcore is a duo of Carl Gibbons and Jana Tillotson, who are from London and Carl’s influence is Jean-Michel Jarre and Tangerine Dream, but the ten pieces on this CD have slightly more to offer than a plain rip-off of his heroes. There is, one should think, a bit more variation in these pieces than in your average cosmic synth attack. There is, for instance, a stronger emphasis on the use of rhythm, and while not always dance related, a certain element of early ambient house (think early Biosphere) is strongly present. Then, field recordings play an important role in this music and also the voice of Tillotson. Its quite a mixed bag of various electronic styles. From ambient to dance music, chill out, field recordings, seventies cosmic music, bits of ethnicity thrown in, but somehow, somewhere it sounds like a great trip. At first I wasn’t too convinced and thought it was a perhaps a bit too varied for my taste, but after a couple of rounds listening to it, it actually sounded great. A journey indeed through all of these various styles of music, bouncing back and forth between nature and (almost) dance floor material, with Tillotson’s voice adding something you don’t hear a lot in this kind of music, the human touch perhaps? This is a great work, if you like your ambience and dance combined. (FdW)
Address: http://www.spottedpeccary.com
DEISON – QUIET ROOMS (CD by Aagoo)
A few weeks ago my 13 year old daughter wanted me to watch ‘1408’, a film about a haunted hotel room, which we did. It was alright. In return I made her watch ‘The Shining’, which she thought scarier, especially because of Jack Nicholson’s performance. Otherwise hotel room rarely give me pleasure: the beds are too short. Over the years (Christiano) Deison has taped various empty hotel rooms in Barcelona, Venice, New York, Los Angeles and Milan and these recordings have been used in the four pieces on this CD. An empty hotel room doesn’t mean a silent room. We hear lifts (or is that elevators), phones, doors, windows of other rooms and many obscured activities which one happens to hear in hotel rooms. Deison has created four tracks in which the backdrop is made of deep drones. These seem to go from track to track, and of course rooms in hotels are similar, but this is a bit too much. Also the quick fade in in ‘Room IV: Air Conditioning’ breaks that flow. It makes all four pieces a bit too much interchangeable I think, but if you look at each track individually then you notice an interesting scary movie soundtrack. Phones start out of nowhere, bangs and clatter in the next room, and all such like. There could be something there indeed. And all this time you are lying on your bed, carefully examining all of these sounds. If Deison wanted to deliver an open solicitation as a composer of soundtracks, then ‘Quiet Rooms’ is a successful one. As a whole album, I must say I am less convinced. It’s too single minded in it’s drone approach and ‘scary’ sounds. A bit more variation would have been nice or perhaps make one long piece and divide it into various scenes. (FdW)
Address: http://www.aagoo.com
ROOIE WAAS – HET IS MAAR EEN CONSTATERING (CD by Narrominded)
‘Red Glow’ is what Rooie Waas means, and its not the only Dutch element of this release. In fact all of it is in Dutch. Rooie Waas is a duo of Gijs Borstlap, who released the album Quasi Quasi with Kruno Jost, and Mikael Szafrowski, of the Royal Improvisers Orchestra. They play such instruments as cacophonator, weird sound generator, monotron, vocals and guitar, and one of these instruments is responsible for the drums/rhythmic part that plays such a strong role in these songs. All of the eleven pieces are sung in Dutch, and while I love this language, I never liked it that much when sung in it (with a few very personal exceptions of course). The label says this is music for a bigger audience, and for once the label might be right. I can imagine Rooie Waas in a room, singing ‘Wat Jij Wil’ and the audience singing a long.Its loud, forceful music, think Swans or Laibach, with a storm of electricity from their self built synthesizers. Given the right promotional push (which isn’t sending a copy to Vital Weekly mind you), Rooie Waas might be a big band. I see them in DWDD (if you’re not Dutch this means fuck all, but never mind, I think I lost you when I said this was in Dutch anyway) as a true curiosity act which the big audience might just understand. Which brings me to the main question: do I like this? Mwah, yes and no. I like the music, I like the idea and see what they are trying to achieve in a niche of their own, but does it mean I will play it easily again? Perhaps not. But should they be in town, I might as well have a look. (FdW)
Address: http://www.narrominded.com
BENEFIETS FOR JAPAN (2CD by Licht-ung)
EISUKE YANAGISAWA – INTO THE CAVE (CDR by Licht-ung)
Apart from what seems to be a typo on the cover, I have nothing to complain about this double CD compilation. Its over two and half hours of music of an alternative kind. Alternative rock, noise, laptop’s, punk, improvised music all cut with a great variety together that makes you like listen to a fine alternative radio station. And the best thing is that five euro goes to the Red Cross, for their work at Fukushima nuclear power plant, as recommended by Japanese friends of the label. Nuf said. Get this and hear music by (((10))), action beat, alice hui-sheng chang, and so i watch you from afar, anla courtis, astronoise, christian dergarabedian, dave phillips, emil beaulieau, eyes like mirrors, frans de waard, freiband, guts pie earshot, her name is calla, ishida naoki, killer, kim ki o, limited express, luzparas, manku kapak, michael barthel, noia, prurient, rudolf eb.er, sudden infant, takuji naka, the haters, tomokawa kazuki, upcdownc, up-tight, us kids know, victor gama, we set sail, yan jun, yui ondera and zoul. Yes, I copied that from the website, while listening to this compilation. Lots of bands you should know, lots of news names, from such unlikely (well) corners as Peru, Angola, South Africa, China and Ireland. So, if you are ‘fan’ enough to collect all compilations with say The Haters, or, if you a curious to hear a bunch of strange musics, or if you want to support a good cause in return for a small gift, then don’t look further and spend your money here.
On the same label more field recordings by Eisuke Yanagisawa, who, this time, recorded sounds in a lime stone cave. Water sounds resonate all over the place. The six pieces document these resonant, echoing drops of water from various points and rooms in these caves. Sometimes close by, sometimes a bit further way. Thirty-seven minutes of dripping sounds make you look, rather nervously for the bathroom, but the recordings themselves are actually quite nice. As said, this is very much a document of said place, and no interference took place to ‘do’ something with the recordings. Things are presented as they are, and that’s it. Only the last piece sound ‘different’: much darker due to the fact hydrophonic microphones were used. A nice work for sure. (FdW)
Address: http://punkkeinrock.licht-ung.de/
HILARY JEFFERY – TIBETAN TUNNELS/BANDS OF LIGHT (LP by Dilemma Recordings)
EVA AGUILA – THE NORTH SIDE (LP by Dilemma Recordings)
REFLECTOR – THE HERITAGE (LP by Interstellar Records)
Its always good to see the name of Johan de Koeyer appear on a record – the sound man of Coolhaven, and synth musician in the early days of the 80s – and here responsible for capturing two pieces, I assume composed, by Hilary Jeffery. He gets the credits for the two pieces (thirteen minutes in total on a single-sided LP) which, besides Jeffery on trombone, melodica and electronics, also harmonicas, trombone, electric guitar, electronics, double bass, cello, viola and tenor saxophone. I must say it sounds not as improvised as I would have expected, based upon the list of players. The music is very dense, and very intense, with a strong emphasis on the use of electronics. Two pieces for small ensemble and electronics. I wonder how much of this was added in the mix later on. Both of these pieces sound great, but perhaps at thirteen minutes a bit too short for my taste anyway. I wouldn’t have minded a double sided LP with two more cuts of a similar length and get an even more complete picture of what Jeffery is up with this ensemble. This is a short (boohoo) but excellent introduction.
I am not sure if I ever heard of Eva Aguila. Maybe not. The music doesn’t ring a bell. No instruments are mentioned on the cover, except that it was recorded in 2010. Here too, two pieces of music on a single side. ‘Amanita’ is quite a loud piece of what seems to be a record needle getting stuck in a grinder, or that same needle, after it has been grinded, playing any sort of record. Maybe its a bunch of random noise? ‘Shimmery Face’, the longer of the two, is a synth based track, which is also a bit louder than your usual cosmic doodling, but no less taps into the same system. Aguila plays games here as it serves as an introduction to another excursion in noise. Now, as noise, its not the worst thing I heard, but is it great? Well, not really. It’s a decent type of noise, rather primitive (but no doubt many think that’s a good thing within noise) in execution and ‘composition’ and perhaps all a bit out-dated. Just who is Eva Aguila, I wondered again.
Both of these Dilemma Recordings releases are in an edition of 100 copies, and if I am correct, the mothership label is called Interstellar Records. They too send me a LP by Reflector, a duo of Andreas Heller on guitar and bass (not at the same time, I assume) and David Reumuller on drums and vocals. There is help from Rosa Reumuller on vocals and Bernd Heinrauch on additional sounds – he gets also the credits for production. Both sides are filled with one piece of music, but within this piece they move along various moods and textures. However they pick their influence from the world of metal – in whatever guise, I honestly don’t know. I gave up on listening seriously to metal at the age of 15 – if I ever seriously listened to it at all. Reflector brings on a wall of guitar sounds/feedback and banging drums. Music that deals very much with the use of ‘riffs’. Maybe it’s quite symphonic – as I now recall with metal I heard when I was 15 (Rush no doubt; this will bring on comments in the sociosphere about what is metal or not). Do I like this record? Man, you should see my head banging behind my computer. Yes, I do like this to some extent. But that extent is perhaps more to the novelty of getting this record which seems out of place in ‘my’ world, than the musical quality, for which I am not qualified to say anything about it. I simply lack sufficient knowledge to say anything about it. (FdW)
Address: http://www.dilemmarecords.com/
Address: http://www.interstellarrecords.at/
NINA NIELSEN – LOVE AND TERROR IN THE WILDERNESS (CD by Biophon)
Somebody – I forgot who it was – said to me: why don’t you simply ignore all those CDs that you don’t like, or are clueless about? Good point. I don’t know. Although it’s a question that I think about, in fact, think about every week. This week I was thinking about that question when I was playing the CD by one Nina Nielsen. The good thing is, the fact that actually made me listen, that it is produced by Morton J. Olsen, one half of MoHa!. The other good thing is that it is released by Geir Jenssen’s (Biosphere) Biophon label. You couldn’t go wrong here, right? And yet there is something about this album which made me didn’t like it that much. Nielsen plays guitar and sings and is thus (??) a singer-songwriter. She’s (or was) a member of folk groups. That’s something we can indeed hear. If you got attracted by reading the names Biosphere or MoHa!, than this is certainly not your cup of tea. Unless of course you are very adventurous. I like to think of myself as someone who likes to hear something new all the time, and perhaps as such the Nina Nielsen is something which I haven’t heard of but then its perhaps not really my cup of tea. Not unlike Fovea Hex, but then with a lot less natural charm and a lot more added reverb bits. It’s one of those things that is probably not bad, but I find myself hard to push to listening. (FdW)
Address: http://www.biophon.no
BRB>VOICECOIL (8″ by Alt.Vinyl)
It’s been a while, I think, since I last heard from the oddly named brb>voicecoil. Usually their releases have been on Muzzedia Verhead, their own label, but they also had a (split-) LP on Harbinger Sound. They hail from Newcastle, and that’s also the city of zoviet*france. It’s with them they share similarities in sound, certainly the older work of the latter. Also Small Cruel Party have been cited as an influence, if only by me. Here they offer a lathe cut 8″ record, no doubt in a small edition, as is usually the case with lathe cuts and there for don’t appear very often in these pages. The cover says that material was recorded ‘on location in Lincoln, Great Watley, M25, Ilkley and Newcastle’ – and still it’s highly unclear what they are doing. We hear something that is recorded close by, looped and obscured sounds of object shuffling beneath the motorway. That’s the best I can make of this. But, cleverly, as the piece continues (hard to figure out which is which here, as lathe cuts usually have nothing etched in the outer groove), more and more sounds leap in, close and afar and builds up nicely in tension. On the other side the piece seems to be using similar sound ingredients, but cooked up a bit differently. More introspective, less shuffling of objects beneath archway’s. Both of these sides are different and yet also similar. And once again, BRB>Voicecoil manage to sound so closely to Small Cruel Party. So close that one could almost wonder if they aren’t one and the… nah, can’t be. Is not be. Is it? (FdW)
Address: http://www.altvinyl.com
B*TONG – THE SOUL EATER (CDR by Attenuation Circuit)
A loop is where things are repeated. It can apply to music, but also to release. Here we have a loop that causes some feedback. ‘The Soul Eater’ was released by Gears Of Sand in 2011 and reviewed back in Vital Weekly 776. It was an edition of 100 copies and sold out. Now Attenuation Circuit has re-issued (not newly re-mastered it seems) and the label uses parts of the review to promote it. That’s a great idea, obviously, but then please allow me to just re-run the old review, by which I still stand? “Its been a while since I last heard music by Chris Sigdell from Basel, Switzerland, but his work is always welcome on my desk. Music that is based on soundscapes from electronic sources as well as field recordings. Apparently in his concerts he uses a microphone, metal, springs and kitchen stuff, which he transforms into music, using effect pedals to create his drone like material. I assume this is what he also uses when recording at home, just expanding more on the sounds. Whatever he uses, his end-result is firmly fixed in the field of very dark ambient music, of what was once called Isolationism. Sounds get locked into some circuit and stay there to live a life of their own. A cavernous sound of metallic rumble, spooky voices, animal cries and transmissions intercepted. I think I made the reference to Lustmord before and it still applies to this new release. Utter dark, highly atmospheric and simply very good music. It has a certain menace about it, like waiting for some mass destruction that, thank god, never arrives. Intense music, that doesn’t come with a warning: don’t play this in the dark on your own.” I am not sure if it deserved a re-issue yet, so soon, but its good to see this in print still. (FdW)
Address: http://www.attenuationcircuit.de
THE INFANT CYCLE – LEFT EAR REVOLT (MYSTERIOUS DISCO 2009-2012) (CDR by The Ceiling)
The first three pieces on this collection of older and obscure pieces by Jim de Jong’s The Infant Cycle, have been reviewed in Vital Weekly 756, and consists of music made with a Fender bass guitar and birdcages. “The three tracks, spanning merely twelve minutes, are subdued outings in the ambient land, of droning buzzing vibrating sounds. Its nice, but ever so short. These pieces could have at least been twice the length! The music deserves it very much. And of course a proper format!” Now its on a proper format with six more pieces from the period 2009-2012 and apparently he explores here the terrain of ‘stringed instruments and found objects’. In his twenty year career, spanning over a hundred releases, The Infant Cycle does what he always does best: play dark ambient music with a fine twist. Occasionally things are a bit more noise like, but its never long or over the top. More like a machine park humming at night, such as ‘Untitled (excerpt)’. But The Infant Cycle – hardly in its infancy anymore after twenty years of recordings and releasing – are at its best when the tone is ambient, the mood is dark and everything a bit unsettling. Ambient industrial at its best. Not the most original, new voice in town, but someone who consistently delivers fine music. (FdW)
Address: http://www.theceiling.ca
MYSTIFIED & SEETYCA – SUNS (CDR by Phonospheric)
A meeting here, via (e-)mail no doubt, of the drone minds Seetyca (Germany) and Mystified (USA). In their solo work there are, usually, small differences. Seetyca is the man for the long form, mind set on endless approach – the stretching of limited sounds into a long work, whereas Mystified usually has a bit shorter tracks, revolving around the use of loops, but both are interested in all things atmospheric. Here they have six tracks which spin just under an hour, so you can imagine they are considerable long here also. I am not sure if this is a dower, but it sounds exactly what you expect it to sound like. Long stretched out layers of sound, sparsely filled with a few – not a lot – loops of what could be field recordings, all glued together with an extensive use of reverb. All created in the digital field, rather than in the analogue field, I’d say, but that’s perhaps also: for all I know. This is the sort of thing where nothing new happens, no new great insight in the world of drone, but a further deepening of what we already know and has been carved out as ‘dark ambient’ music, with a touch of industrialism never far away. I thought this was, despite the fact that I didn’t hear anything new, a very fine disc, well suited for early evening listening with a good book never far away. (FdW)
Address: http://phonospheric.co.uk/
JOHN FLANNELLY – FABLES (CDR by Blue Sanct)
KITCHEN TYPISTS – AN IMPOSSIBLE PROGRAM (CDR by Blue Sanct)
PILLARS & TONGUES – IF TRAVEL IS ASKED OF ME (cassette by Red Frost Industries)
ENANTIOBIOSIS 1 (cassette by Bob Heaven’s Tapes)
If you stick of all of this in one box, you are surely going to end up in one review. I tried to figure out if they belonged together in some way, but I think I gave up. The two CDRs surely are part of an ‘alphabet series’, Flannelly’s release being coded with ‘orphan00J’ and Kitchen Typists with ‘orphan00K’. No further info on Flannelly’s release, which I played first. It was recorded live at ‘Bluesanct HQ’ on October 15th 2011. No instruments are listed here, but it might very well all electronics of some kind. Which kind you kindly ask? I have no idea actually. It might be, for all I know, a bunch of monotrons feeding through a bunch of sound effects, to play the ‘dark, atmospheric’ card around the table, and sometimes the material lifts up from underground of bleak ambient noise up to the sky where the high noise sits. Not a lot, not always, but occasionally loud and clear. Maybe its more sophisticated instruments, or maybe its no input mixers, or simply ‘contact microphone abuse’ (such as in ‘B’). Its all a bit too primitive for me, the execution of the pieces, the crudeness of the sound, the noise, and the roughness of the ideas. The best is kept for the end: ‘E’ and ‘S’ are dark, atmospheric, not-so loud tunes of sound residue. Its a varied disc here, but not all is equally strong.
Twenty-two tracks in twenty-eight minutes (that’s like punk rock), with the shortest being six seconds and the longest five minutes and thirty-four seconds, all from the period 1997-2002. ‘A collection of lost tracks, alternate edits and radio sessions’ as the sub title goes. Kitchen Typists are a trio of Jason Henn, Katie Aims and Hiro Noodles. Only two tracks have been previously unreleased. The original material was recorded between 1997 and 2000 by Jason Henn and overdubbed by Hiro Noodles. Its surely weird stuff. Doodling around with some guitar sounds, piano, cut up voice material, and all in that lovingly lo-fidelity. Maybe this could be called no-wave, even with the absence of drums, but the cut-up nature of the music brings it surely somewhere. Just where I am not entirely sure. Its hard to say wether I liked this or not. Its not something I switched off right away, if that is anything to go by. Actually I was quite fascinated by this most curious trip, thinking ‘what would be next’. Good or bad is something that doesn’t apply here. Just what they thought is hard to say, but maybe the idea was to take ‘no musicianship’ to a new level – thanks Eno.
Pillars & Tongues are then something entirely different. Its also a band, with Mark Trecka, Elizabeth Remis and Evan Hudzik, although he left and is replaced by Ben Babbitt. This tape contains three new versions of songs that were released last year and two new pieces. If I am right, then I think the old pieces are the ones in which we hear a sad boy singing over slow, rock like music and are quite nice. I think. Its not the kind of music I hear a lot, or particularly care about. It sounds good and that’s a enough, I guess. I am more interested by the recent pieces, two lengthy instrumental improvisations with their new members. Guitars sustaining and gliding, with what could be a violin being fed through some effects. A dreamy, textured ambience slowly unfolds in your living room. Here I was reminded of some lengthy old Legendary Pink Dots improvisation from their early days, but perhaps it was because I was listening to ‘Prayer For Aradia’ the other day. If this is going to be their new approach, then I’d be curious more of this ambient rock improvisations.
And then finally a cassette that idea-wise is right up my alley: four bands have provided a piece of music that is copied to this tape so that the adventurous musician can stick it into his four track machine and do his own mix. So we have one channel on side A for Drekka, the other channel for Lather, and we reverse the tape and have Charnel House on the left channel and Kyle Willey on the right channel (estimated. I couldn’t decipher the cover properly). Not exactly something you stick on and listen, but rather something you can freely play around with. Long form drone like sounds with crude lo-fi sampling. Maybe a bit rough? Who cares? Where can we send our mixes, I wondered? (oh, and here’s a tip for those who don’t have a four track machine: record the entire cassette to your computer. Make two files, one per side of the cassette. Put ‘side B’ in reverse mode, and import both into your favorite multi track program and start mixing) (FdW)
Address: http://bluesanct.com/
EMOT – TREES & CLAWS (cassette by Run Ruby Red Records)
DANIEL CHOMA – SAD SONGS ABOUT GIRLS (cassette by Run Ruby Red Records)
There must a shortage of places were you can send your cassettes for review, or else I wouldn’t know why you would want to send these two down here. Or perhaps Vital Weekly has a reputation for liking (alternative! – you never know) rock music? Emot is four piece rock band and play rock music of an introspective nature. But, hell, I don’t know much, hell, next to nothing, about (alternative! – you never know) rock music, so I can’t possible say anything about it. Oh, I do like that Occultation label, that’s true, but that hardly makes any sort of expert.
Emot member Daniel Choma also has a solo release, of him singing, playing guitar and a drum machine. I’m still no expert.
Now, please don’t get me wrong. I actually liked both of these releases. Its intelligent (I think) modern pop music with a classic pop undercurrent. (I am no expert). I played this with great interest, as I was reading the morning paper. That’s usually the time of the day that I play something old and poppy, except today I guess, as I am playing these two tapes right now, which I actually enjoy quite a bit. But I honestly believe Vital Weekly is not the right place to send them. (FdW)
Address: http://emot.bandcamp.com/
Address: http://danielchoma.bandcamp.com/
1. Blind Tapes <blindtapes@gmail.com>
Blind Tape Quartets at Otopia Festival, OT301, Amsterdam
OT301, Friday 14.09.
17:00 – 20:00 – 2nd Floor, Cinema Bar
Blind Tape Quartets present a small, basic studio with a portable 4-track cassette recorder is provided for musicians (established, amateurs, first-time…) and/or singers (writers, spoken word artists…) to record a single channel live on tape, until a recorded “quartet” is ready and blind-mixed. The tapes are released as a limited edition series on the Blind Tapes label the day after the recording at the Long Players Music Market*.
On sale will also be the selection of the recently released Blind Tapes, and some earlier too…
To sign us please send an email to: blindtapes@gmail.com
OT301, Saturday 15.09.
12:00 – 17.00 – Studio 1
Long Players Music Market: local record labels, book labels, private sellers, importers & designers present select boxes from the city’s finest music emporiums (and beyond!) plus books (old and new), zines, synths, clothing, art and more… Thereʼs a good chance youʼll pick up some bargains, meet a few new people, and have a nice afternoon. Don’t be afraid to bring friends, there is something for everybody and the vibe is nice…
2. Spectrum Magazine <spectrummagazine@hotmail.com>
It is with great pleasure that I can announce the launch of the web based Spectrum Magazine Archive. Noting that Spectrum Magazine was print based, I have finally caught up with the digital age and republished all content relating to the 5 released issues on the web.
For those who have not come across Spectrum Magazine before, it existed between 1998 and 2001 and focused on ambient, industrial, experimental, power electronics and neo-folk type genres, and particularly on the sounds and scenes broadly associated with Cold Meat Industry, Cold Spring Records, Loki Foundation, Malignant Records, Tesco Organisation, etc.
To keep the spirit of the print magazine alive, you can download PDF files of all 5 back issues of Spectrum Magazine. Some additional material including unpublished material is also included on the site.
Have a look around at: http://spectrummagarchive.wordpress.com
3. gaya donadio <hagshadow@hotmail.com>
CONFESSION V 13.10.12
Bizarre Uproar
Leading figures among Finnish noise
One of the longest running Finnish harsh noise acts, the first releases being released in the early 90s.
15 years of obscure tape, cd and vinyl releases followed, including cooperations with projects like Bastard Noise, Grunt, Facialmess, Gelsomina, and labels like Freak Animal, Cipher, Musically Incorrect, New Noise & their own Filth & Violence.
http://bizarreuproar.erraticsporadicism.org/
MICHAEL NINE
MK9, the new project of MICHAEL NINE, began in the latter half of 2001. Proceeding the end of Contreras’ controversial and confrontational performances as the world renowned project Death Squad, MK9 brings the initiation of a different level of psychological intrusion. Through video projection and expansive audio constructions and performance, MK9 continues to investigate the varying aspects of extreme emotional states interrelated with the human condition and psyche.
Under the appellation Death Squad, Michael Nine has performed extensively across the globe. In 1992, Contreras founded Spastik Kommunikations, a record label dedicated to documenting and releasing works from Death Squad and parallel projects. With the inception of his new project a new record label evolved, “Neural Ops.” Which became more suited to the current activities, performances and recordings.
Since 1992, Contreras has released and produced over 40 solo and compilation audio/video works which have been distributed internationally. Starting in 1997 he began touring and has performed nearly 200 shows around the world.
The manipulated and presented video, sound and performance will address issues and perspectives dealing with curent global and social issues.
Focusing specifically on the overwhelming mass influx of imagery and information and its effects on an individuals psychological state in society.
www.mk9.org
http://www.mk9.org
Hal Hutchinson
“Hal Hutchinson is an English noise music artist based in London,recording as both a solo artist under his own name and with other noise projects such as Savage Discharge and Pollutive Static.He has recorded split releases and collaborations with many in the noise field such as Black Leather Jesus & Richard Ramirez,Mania,The Haters,The New Blockaders and Ulex Xane to name only a few.He has releases on labels such as Freak Animal Records,Unrest Productions,RRRecords amongst others.”
Vera Bremerton
The latex lass with classical roots: visceral, disquieting and intense, Vera Bremerton’s music is the proof that opposites do attract. Long sweeping electronic drones and harsh pounding beats entwine in dissonant harmony to form a sonic carpet for Vera’s shamanic voice to run free on: she screams, coos, deploys a number of timbres and extended techniques, reaches heights and depths that perfectly fit her existential lyrics.
Dry Greed
Abusive Experimental Harsh Noise/Death Industrial/Power Electronics.
DRY GREED “Injuries” (Card CDr, Self)
A small rectangular object containing enough minutes to publish the recording of a piece of medium length: in an age where everything can be disseminated through the web with the risk, however, that things can often just a drop in the ocean, a CDr business card is more visible than a thousand files online; like “Injuries”, sometimes even a source of real physical pain. The project of Edel Braun becomes the ruthless heir of homicidal electronics of Atrax Morgue and early Whitehouse. Radical music, evil, living in the absence of scruples, never using direct forms or metaphors, choosing instead the more violent and cynically real. A single song, deadly as a razor-slash, even when it “slows down” and frowns, in a final representation of everyday life seen as a perpetually open wound.
(Gianfranco Santoro)
BRUT
BRUT has a smell. A body. A vagina. A mind.
BRUT has a picture. A reflection. An interface.
BRUT is strong and angry.
BRUT is restless and manic.
BRUT is political. Feministic.
BRUT has a voice. It consumes and pukes out.
BRUT is alcohol poisoning.
A prescription drug. BRUT! Neither in or out.
BRUT bleeds and shits and pisses.
BRUT is outraged. It hates!
BRUT is YOU as much as it is ME.
BRUT does not vote, pay taxes or interact.
BRUT breathes. Despises stupidity.
BRUT is never satisfied.
BRUT is hungry! BRUT is an entity I will give you. So you can see what BRUT wants you to see.
BRUT does not believe in war or in peace.
BRUT IS A WOMAN – WOMAN IS A WEAPON!
Jukka Siikala (Art Installation)
http://www.saatchionline.com/cafedepresso
Karolina Urbaniak: a film screening
http://karolinaurbaniak.com/
also:
25 years of Slimelight: Birthday Party!
https://www.facebook.com/events/220119891448218/
MORE To Be Confirmed!
Vital Weekly is published by Frans de Waard and submitted for free to anybody with an e-mail address. If you don’t wish to receive this, then let us know. Any feedback is welcome <vital@vitalweekly.net>. Forward to your allies.
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All written by Frans de Waard (FdW), Dolf Mulder (DM) <dolf.mulder@hetnet.nl>, Niels Mark (NM), Jliat (Jliat), Freek Kinkelaar (FK), Jan-Kees Helms (JKH) and others on a less regular basis.
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Lastly we have decided to remove the announcement section of Vital Weekly that is archived on our website that is older than five weeks. Since they 95% deal with concerts that have been, it’s gentle to remove the announcement and more important the e-mail addresses coming with that.
the complete archive of Vital Weekly including search possibilities:
http://www.vitalweekly.net