VITAL WEEKLY
number 621
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week 14
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Vital Weekly, the webcast: we offering aweekly webcast, freely to download. This can be regarded as theaudio-supplement to Vital Weekly. Presented as a radioprogrammwith excerpts of just some of the CDs (no vinyl or MP3) reviewed.It will remain on the site for a limited period (most likely 2-4weeks). Download thefileto your MP3 player and enjoy!
complete tracklist here: http://www.vitalweekly.net/podcast.html
complete tracklist here: http://www.vitalweekly.net/podcast.html
before submitting material please read thiscarefully: http://www.vitalweekly.net/fga.htmlSubmitting material means you read this and approve of this.
* noted are in this week's podcast
ROBERT PIOTROWICZ - LASTING CLINAMEN (CDby Musica Genera) *
BUCK & FUHLER & ZARADNY - LIGHTON (CD by Musica Genera)
LEHN & GRYDELAND & ZACH - (CD by Musica Genera)
AUTOCLAV 1.1 - BROKEN BEATS FOR BROKEN HEARTS (CD by Hive Records)
ESA - HOW PURE WOULD YOUR UTOPIA BE? (CD by Hive Records)
MEMMAKER - HOW TO ENLIST IN A ROBOT UPRISING (CD by Hive Records)
CRYPTIC SCENERY - ON THE OUTSKIRTS (CD by D'Oorhinge L'Orange)
KONRAD KORABIEWSKI - STATELESS (CD by D'Oorhinge L'Orange) *
HOH - WE CAN WORK IT OUT (CD by Zang: Records) *
KIOKU - BOTH FAR AND NEAR (CD by Quiet Design)
PEDAIR AWR YNG NGHYMRU FYDD/BRAVE NEW WALES (3CD by Fourier Transform)
ELETRONAVN - COSMIC CONTINUUM (CD by Ikuisuus)
OPEN EYE DUO - SEA & FISH (CDR by Ikuisuus) *
MATOMERI - JOYS OF SUMMER (CDR by Ikuisuus)
MY3YEAH (CDR by Ikuisuus)
AARON DILLOWAY / CARLOS GIFFONI - LIVE AT THE NO FUN FEST 2007(LP by No Fun Productions)
ENEMA SYRINGE - LIVE AT THE NO FUN FEST 2007 (LP by No Fun Productions)
RELIGIOUS KNIVES - RESIN (CD by No Fun Productions)
THURSTON MOORE - SENSITIVE / LETHAL (CD by No Fun Productions)
MENACE RUINE - CULT OF RUINS (CD by Alien8 Recordings)
JESUS OF NAZARETH / KUSARI GAMA KILL - VAIN (Split-Cdr by R.O.N.F.Records)
EXILLON - IT'S OK TO DANCE (CD by Ad Noiseam)
PSYCHIC SPACE INVASION - TRANSITIONS (CD by Persepolis Records)
MIKE BROWNINGS INNER WORKINGS - TRANCEMISSIONS (CD by Pharmafabrik)
MARCHING DYNAMICS - NAILSLEEPER (CD by Hymen Records)
TWINKLE - LE JOUET (CD by Ant-Zen)
BULBS - LIGHT SHIPS (CD by Freedom To Spend) *
ANLA COURTIS & SEIICHI YAMAMOTO & YOSHIMI - LIVE AT KANADIAN(CD by Public Eyesore) *
STEVEN HESS & MILES TILMANN - DEPARTURES (LP by Other Electricities)
AUDIOSCOOP COMPILATION 1 (2LP compilation by Audioscoop)
FREIBAND - CAPTURE (3' CDR by My Own Little Label)
MOLJEBKA PVLSE - IODE/IVX (7' by Drone Records)
NOISE DREAMS MACHINE - IN/OUT (7' by Drone Records)
SHRINE - DISTORTED LEGENDS (7' by Drone Records)
XABEC - FEUERSTERN (7' by Drone Records)
MYSTIFIED - SUBDIALOGUE (CDR by Verato Project) *
STEVE PETERS - FILTERED LIGHT (CHAMBER MUSIC 4) (CDR by Dragon'sEye Recordings) *
OZMADAWN - RISE OF THE MOTH (CDR by Chambara Records)
HORSEFLESH - SYNTHENESIA 1 (CDR by Chambara Records)
K.E. REVIS - BANISHING ANXIETIES (CDR by BXR Records) *
K.E. REVIS - LETTING GO (CDR by BXR Records)
THE LAMB AND THE TYGER (CDR by I Had An Accident Records)
SAM FEMINO - THE ROARKIAN TEMPLATE (CDR by I Had An Accident Records)
TUGBOAT - THE ASTORIANS (CDR by I Had An Accident Records)
BABA LLAGA - GESAMTKUNSTWERK (CDR by Hamaika)
MAIKKO - TLAYACAPAN (CDR by Gruenrekorder)
TBC - PFALZ II (CDR by Gruenrekorder) *
SUSPICION BREEDS CONFIDENCE - THE FAUNA AND FLORA OF THE VATICANCITY (CD by Gruenrekorder)
LASSE-MARC RIEK - ISLANDS (CDR by Oem Records)
STEINBRÜCHEL & MACHINEFABRIEK - STAUB (3' CDR byMachinefabriek) *
ORIGAMI BOE - ACOUSTIC LAPTOPS (MP3 by Ambolthue) *
BLINDHEAO - IT'S A BIT LIKE PLAYING A GAME - FRUSTRATING GAMEIN WHICH THE RULES MIGHT CHANGE AT A MOMENT'S NOTICE (MP3 by Ruidemos)
BUCK & FUHLER & ZARADNY - LIGHTON (CD by Musica Genera)
LEHN & GRYDELAND & ZACH - (CD by Musica Genera)
AUTOCLAV 1.1 - BROKEN BEATS FOR BROKEN HEARTS (CD by Hive Records)
ESA - HOW PURE WOULD YOUR UTOPIA BE? (CD by Hive Records)
MEMMAKER - HOW TO ENLIST IN A ROBOT UPRISING (CD by Hive Records)
CRYPTIC SCENERY - ON THE OUTSKIRTS (CD by D'Oorhinge L'Orange)
KONRAD KORABIEWSKI - STATELESS (CD by D'Oorhinge L'Orange) *
HOH - WE CAN WORK IT OUT (CD by Zang: Records) *
KIOKU - BOTH FAR AND NEAR (CD by Quiet Design)
PEDAIR AWR YNG NGHYMRU FYDD/BRAVE NEW WALES (3CD by Fourier Transform)
ELETRONAVN - COSMIC CONTINUUM (CD by Ikuisuus)
OPEN EYE DUO - SEA & FISH (CDR by Ikuisuus) *
MATOMERI - JOYS OF SUMMER (CDR by Ikuisuus)
MY3YEAH (CDR by Ikuisuus)
AARON DILLOWAY / CARLOS GIFFONI - LIVE AT THE NO FUN FEST 2007(LP by No Fun Productions)
ENEMA SYRINGE - LIVE AT THE NO FUN FEST 2007 (LP by No Fun Productions)
RELIGIOUS KNIVES - RESIN (CD by No Fun Productions)
THURSTON MOORE - SENSITIVE / LETHAL (CD by No Fun Productions)
MENACE RUINE - CULT OF RUINS (CD by Alien8 Recordings)
JESUS OF NAZARETH / KUSARI GAMA KILL - VAIN (Split-Cdr by R.O.N.F.Records)
EXILLON - IT'S OK TO DANCE (CD by Ad Noiseam)
PSYCHIC SPACE INVASION - TRANSITIONS (CD by Persepolis Records)
MIKE BROWNINGS INNER WORKINGS - TRANCEMISSIONS (CD by Pharmafabrik)
MARCHING DYNAMICS - NAILSLEEPER (CD by Hymen Records)
TWINKLE - LE JOUET (CD by Ant-Zen)
BULBS - LIGHT SHIPS (CD by Freedom To Spend) *
ANLA COURTIS & SEIICHI YAMAMOTO & YOSHIMI - LIVE AT KANADIAN(CD by Public Eyesore) *
STEVEN HESS & MILES TILMANN - DEPARTURES (LP by Other Electricities)
AUDIOSCOOP COMPILATION 1 (2LP compilation by Audioscoop)
FREIBAND - CAPTURE (3' CDR by My Own Little Label)
MOLJEBKA PVLSE - IODE/IVX (7' by Drone Records)
NOISE DREAMS MACHINE - IN/OUT (7' by Drone Records)
SHRINE - DISTORTED LEGENDS (7' by Drone Records)
XABEC - FEUERSTERN (7' by Drone Records)
MYSTIFIED - SUBDIALOGUE (CDR by Verato Project) *
STEVE PETERS - FILTERED LIGHT (CHAMBER MUSIC 4) (CDR by Dragon'sEye Recordings) *
OZMADAWN - RISE OF THE MOTH (CDR by Chambara Records)
HORSEFLESH - SYNTHENESIA 1 (CDR by Chambara Records)
K.E. REVIS - BANISHING ANXIETIES (CDR by BXR Records) *
K.E. REVIS - LETTING GO (CDR by BXR Records)
THE LAMB AND THE TYGER (CDR by I Had An Accident Records)
SAM FEMINO - THE ROARKIAN TEMPLATE (CDR by I Had An Accident Records)
TUGBOAT - THE ASTORIANS (CDR by I Had An Accident Records)
BABA LLAGA - GESAMTKUNSTWERK (CDR by Hamaika)
MAIKKO - TLAYACAPAN (CDR by Gruenrekorder)
TBC - PFALZ II (CDR by Gruenrekorder) *
SUSPICION BREEDS CONFIDENCE - THE FAUNA AND FLORA OF THE VATICANCITY (CD by Gruenrekorder)
LASSE-MARC RIEK - ISLANDS (CDR by Oem Records)
STEINBRÜCHEL & MACHINEFABRIEK - STAUB (3' CDR byMachinefabriek) *
ORIGAMI BOE - ACOUSTIC LAPTOPS (MP3 by Ambolthue) *
BLINDHEAO - IT'S A BIT LIKE PLAYING A GAME - FRUSTRATING GAMEIN WHICH THE RULES MIGHT CHANGE AT A MOMENT'S NOTICE (MP3 by Ruidemos)
ROBERT PIOTROWICZ - LASTING CLINAMEN (CDby Musica Genera)
BUCK & FUHLER & ZARADNY - LIGHTON (CD by Musica Genera)
LEHN & GRYDELAND & ZACH - (CD by Musica Genera)
When I open a parcel with multiple items, like this one I startplaying just whatever comes in my one hand first. When it's on,I start investigating the rest. So while playing the release byRobert Piotrowicz and jotting down on a piece of paper 'loud drones',I noticed that the other two would be entirely something different.Interesting. Ok. So writing down 'loud drones' was just the firstimpression of Robert Piotrowicz. I never heard of him. His releasewas recorded in two days, but then mixed over various dates in2007. Piotrowicz plays one instrument, the Doepfer A100 modularsynthesizer. The loud drone thing only goes for the first piece.The other three are much more subtle. Whoever this Piotrowiczis, he plays his instrument with great care. Building large spaceswith a massive, fat, dense sound that is highly minimal, but somehow,somewhere has a great captivate feel to it. Industrial? Perhaps.Minimal? Yes. Ambient? At times. Impressive music.
Now onto the other two. Both are releases are live recordingsof a trio playing improvised music. The first is Tony Buck ondrums, Cor Fuhler on piano and electronics and Anna Zaradny onalto saxophone. I never heard of the latter, while the other twoare all over the improvised music scene. Their recording is fromalready two years ago, and displays their qualities well - asfar as I can judge of course in the case of Zaradny, who seemsto me the most regular player in this trio. Her contribution iscertainly making this into a much more conventional album. Herplaying is quite jazz related and blurs for me at least the playingof the other two, who seems to be doing interesting things onthe drum kit and the piano. A bit of a pity but the saxophoneplaying of this kind is not well spend on me.
Of much more interest is the trio of Thomas Lehn (analogue synthesizer),Ivar Grydeland (guitar, guitar banjo) and Ingar Zach (percussion),with an even older recording, from 2005. All three are also fromthat ever inspiring improvisation field, working with anybodythey can think of. Here they are in full form. They treat theirinstruments with care and trust. Bent and break the things athand. This trio offers a very dynamic set of music, going fromsoft introspective parts to loud, vicious strokes. Their instrumentssound usually unlike what they are supposed to sound, save, perhaps,for Lehn's, but then what does an analogue synthesizer sound like?Exactly. It sounds only like Lehn does. Peeping loud, moaning,grunting. The other two get likewise sounds out of their instrumentsand make this release an utter joy. (FdW)
Address: http://www.musicagenera.net
BUCK & FUHLER & ZARADNY - LIGHTON (CD by Musica Genera)
LEHN & GRYDELAND & ZACH - (CD by Musica Genera)
When I open a parcel with multiple items, like this one I startplaying just whatever comes in my one hand first. When it's on,I start investigating the rest. So while playing the release byRobert Piotrowicz and jotting down on a piece of paper 'loud drones',I noticed that the other two would be entirely something different.Interesting. Ok. So writing down 'loud drones' was just the firstimpression of Robert Piotrowicz. I never heard of him. His releasewas recorded in two days, but then mixed over various dates in2007. Piotrowicz plays one instrument, the Doepfer A100 modularsynthesizer. The loud drone thing only goes for the first piece.The other three are much more subtle. Whoever this Piotrowiczis, he plays his instrument with great care. Building large spaceswith a massive, fat, dense sound that is highly minimal, but somehow,somewhere has a great captivate feel to it. Industrial? Perhaps.Minimal? Yes. Ambient? At times. Impressive music.
Now onto the other two. Both are releases are live recordingsof a trio playing improvised music. The first is Tony Buck ondrums, Cor Fuhler on piano and electronics and Anna Zaradny onalto saxophone. I never heard of the latter, while the other twoare all over the improvised music scene. Their recording is fromalready two years ago, and displays their qualities well - asfar as I can judge of course in the case of Zaradny, who seemsto me the most regular player in this trio. Her contribution iscertainly making this into a much more conventional album. Herplaying is quite jazz related and blurs for me at least the playingof the other two, who seems to be doing interesting things onthe drum kit and the piano. A bit of a pity but the saxophoneplaying of this kind is not well spend on me.
Of much more interest is the trio of Thomas Lehn (analogue synthesizer),Ivar Grydeland (guitar, guitar banjo) and Ingar Zach (percussion),with an even older recording, from 2005. All three are also fromthat ever inspiring improvisation field, working with anybodythey can think of. Here they are in full form. They treat theirinstruments with care and trust. Bent and break the things athand. This trio offers a very dynamic set of music, going fromsoft introspective parts to loud, vicious strokes. Their instrumentssound usually unlike what they are supposed to sound, save, perhaps,for Lehn's, but then what does an analogue synthesizer sound like?Exactly. It sounds only like Lehn does. Peeping loud, moaning,grunting. The other two get likewise sounds out of their instrumentsand make this release an utter joy. (FdW)
Address: http://www.musicagenera.net
AUTOCLAV 1.1 - BROKEN BEATS FOR BROKEN HEARTS(CD by Hive Records)
ESA - HOW PURE WOULD YOUR UTOPIA BE? (CD by Hive Records)
MEMMAKER - HOW TO ENLIST IN A ROBOT UPRISING (CD by Hive Records)
US label Hive records started in 2003 with the aim of promoting'harsh industry-grade frequency manipulation and flowing,dark atmospheric music'. Three albums released early thisyear show the wide approach to experimental electronics. All threecontains their own quality and seems different from each other.First album comes from British artist Tony Young who composesunder the name Autoclav 1.1. Apparently he has been on stage enoughtime, to catch the attention of a wide range of experimental scene'sinteresting artists and thus make them manipulate and treat theworks of Autoclav 1.1 into their very own. And it does reallywork great with the stylish variation of remixes. From Oil 10'semotional IDM-remix of 'Fault' to the hyper energeticgabber-like version of 'This is untitled' by Wast3 thelistener shouldn't get bored during this trip. Fortunately themain part of the remixed tracks keeps the emotional spheres ofAutoclav 1.1. since this is his real treat. A very satisfyingremix-album. Next album comes from an artist calling himself ESAbeing a shortage of 'Electronic Substance Abuse'. Asyou might have guessed thanks to the project name, the style belongsto the harsher sides of electronic music circulating around PowerNoise / Industrial. The album opens with a dialogue, slowly movinginto the sounds of guitar noises putting an end to the track titled'Dialogue'. Second track opens with blasting beats ofIndustrial that soon after are followed by voice samples interferingthe up-beat expression. On following track the tempo gets evenfaster with fast rhythm structures and buzzing drones of powernoise building a dark and brutal atmosphere. The stylish expressioncontinues in this vein until the calmer track titled 'Inlust we trust' appears. A more emotional and melodic trackwith elements of Trance though still kept in the harsh pace. Thealbum goes back to fast mode after this and he keeps the listenerbanging his head until last track. 'You do not belong here'is a very emotional and dark track floating in slow ambience floatingthroughout its seven minutes running time only interrupted bydiscreet voices of females and children. A quite emotional albumfrom ESA demonstrating that Power Noise is not only the questionof brutality. Where ESA 'only' had a few doses of Trance-elementsincluded on the album 'How pure would your utopia be?',the Trance-element is an essential part of the last album reviewedhere. The album titled 'How to enlist in a robot uprising'is the debut of a project calling itself Memmaker. The projectconsist of two Canadian sound artists, one of them being GuillaumeNadon and the other one being Yann Faussurier, the latter respectedfor his unique Trance-based Industrial project Iszoloscope. Memmakerbelongs to the same stylish category as Iszoloscope, though withan even more club-oriented pace mixing harsh industrial, EBM andup-beat hard trance - the beat texture never drops below 126 bmp!Thanks to its repetitive nature there is plenty of floor fillerson the album making the album born to the club-scene. Rather thanfocusing on melody 'How to enlist in a robot uprising'concentrates on the dynamical body-appealing edge, and the twomembers of Memmaker certainly do it well. Three quite intensereleases from Hive Records. Check the myspace-address below formore info and music from the label. (NM)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/hiverecords
ESA - HOW PURE WOULD YOUR UTOPIA BE? (CD by Hive Records)
MEMMAKER - HOW TO ENLIST IN A ROBOT UPRISING (CD by Hive Records)
US label Hive records started in 2003 with the aim of promoting'harsh industry-grade frequency manipulation and flowing,dark atmospheric music'. Three albums released early thisyear show the wide approach to experimental electronics. All threecontains their own quality and seems different from each other.First album comes from British artist Tony Young who composesunder the name Autoclav 1.1. Apparently he has been on stage enoughtime, to catch the attention of a wide range of experimental scene'sinteresting artists and thus make them manipulate and treat theworks of Autoclav 1.1 into their very own. And it does reallywork great with the stylish variation of remixes. From Oil 10'semotional IDM-remix of 'Fault' to the hyper energeticgabber-like version of 'This is untitled' by Wast3 thelistener shouldn't get bored during this trip. Fortunately themain part of the remixed tracks keeps the emotional spheres ofAutoclav 1.1. since this is his real treat. A very satisfyingremix-album. Next album comes from an artist calling himself ESAbeing a shortage of 'Electronic Substance Abuse'. Asyou might have guessed thanks to the project name, the style belongsto the harsher sides of electronic music circulating around PowerNoise / Industrial. The album opens with a dialogue, slowly movinginto the sounds of guitar noises putting an end to the track titled'Dialogue'. Second track opens with blasting beats ofIndustrial that soon after are followed by voice samples interferingthe up-beat expression. On following track the tempo gets evenfaster with fast rhythm structures and buzzing drones of powernoise building a dark and brutal atmosphere. The stylish expressioncontinues in this vein until the calmer track titled 'Inlust we trust' appears. A more emotional and melodic trackwith elements of Trance though still kept in the harsh pace. Thealbum goes back to fast mode after this and he keeps the listenerbanging his head until last track. 'You do not belong here'is a very emotional and dark track floating in slow ambience floatingthroughout its seven minutes running time only interrupted bydiscreet voices of females and children. A quite emotional albumfrom ESA demonstrating that Power Noise is not only the questionof brutality. Where ESA 'only' had a few doses of Trance-elementsincluded on the album 'How pure would your utopia be?',the Trance-element is an essential part of the last album reviewedhere. The album titled 'How to enlist in a robot uprising'is the debut of a project calling itself Memmaker. The projectconsist of two Canadian sound artists, one of them being GuillaumeNadon and the other one being Yann Faussurier, the latter respectedfor his unique Trance-based Industrial project Iszoloscope. Memmakerbelongs to the same stylish category as Iszoloscope, though withan even more club-oriented pace mixing harsh industrial, EBM andup-beat hard trance - the beat texture never drops below 126 bmp!Thanks to its repetitive nature there is plenty of floor fillerson the album making the album born to the club-scene. Rather thanfocusing on melody 'How to enlist in a robot uprising'concentrates on the dynamical body-appealing edge, and the twomembers of Memmaker certainly do it well. Three quite intensereleases from Hive Records. Check the myspace-address below formore info and music from the label. (NM)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/hiverecords
CRYPTIC SCENERY - ON THE OUTSKIRTS (CD byD'Oorhinge L'Orange)
KONRAD KORABIEWSKI - STATELESS (CD by D'Oorhinge L'Orange)
As reported before, of Christian H. Sötemann we revieweda couple of solo CDR with shady, hazy post ambient isolationistguitar music, but his main line of work is a band Cryptic Scenery,of which we only heard one track on a split 7' with Antenne.That failed to make any impression, but that was perhaps it wasbecause it was just one track. Now I know for sure: Cryptic Sceneryis not my kind of music. At all. Citing Roxy Music, King Crimson,Ultravox, John Cale, Talk Talk (actually some of these I liketoo), this band however fails to make much impression. Perhapsbecause what inspired them I heard when I was much younger, butmy taste has progressed, and I play some of that old stuff fornostalgic reasons only. I certainly don't think this is bad atall. Production wise, music wise, the way things are played, it'sall done with great care and eye for detail. Just nothing forme.
Of Konrad Korabiewski I never heard, although he has done remixesof the Danish band Amstrong, which I do know. Originally fromPoland, he know lives in Denmark too. It's hard for me to understandwhat he wants with his CD 'Stateless'. The pieces are based aroundrhythm, even manage to sound a bit techno like, but somehow don'tsound like floor fillers to me - adding that I am not a DJ, sowhat do I know? But then there also bits of music around, especiallyin the built up of some of the pieces that are quite experimentaland for which Korabiewski takes his time. Not that they soundsuper great, but it adds a street credibility with the Vital Streetgang. Perhaps music like this better off on a piece of vinyl andbeing played loud in a club, in stead of this mediocre volumeat home. Like Cryptic Scenery something of which I can hear thatit well made and with love but perhaps not entirely my cup oftea. (FdW)
Address: http://www.bsbta.com
KONRAD KORABIEWSKI - STATELESS (CD by D'Oorhinge L'Orange)
As reported before, of Christian H. Sötemann we revieweda couple of solo CDR with shady, hazy post ambient isolationistguitar music, but his main line of work is a band Cryptic Scenery,of which we only heard one track on a split 7' with Antenne.That failed to make any impression, but that was perhaps it wasbecause it was just one track. Now I know for sure: Cryptic Sceneryis not my kind of music. At all. Citing Roxy Music, King Crimson,Ultravox, John Cale, Talk Talk (actually some of these I liketoo), this band however fails to make much impression. Perhapsbecause what inspired them I heard when I was much younger, butmy taste has progressed, and I play some of that old stuff fornostalgic reasons only. I certainly don't think this is bad atall. Production wise, music wise, the way things are played, it'sall done with great care and eye for detail. Just nothing forme.
Of Konrad Korabiewski I never heard, although he has done remixesof the Danish band Amstrong, which I do know. Originally fromPoland, he know lives in Denmark too. It's hard for me to understandwhat he wants with his CD 'Stateless'. The pieces are based aroundrhythm, even manage to sound a bit techno like, but somehow don'tsound like floor fillers to me - adding that I am not a DJ, sowhat do I know? But then there also bits of music around, especiallyin the built up of some of the pieces that are quite experimentaland for which Korabiewski takes his time. Not that they soundsuper great, but it adds a street credibility with the Vital Streetgang. Perhaps music like this better off on a piece of vinyl andbeing played loud in a club, in stead of this mediocre volumeat home. Like Cryptic Scenery something of which I can hear thatit well made and with love but perhaps not entirely my cup oftea. (FdW)
Address: http://www.bsbta.com
HOH - WE CAN WORK IT OUT (CD by Zang: Records)
A strange label, Norway's Zang:, releasing serious electro-acousticmusic but then also something like this. HOH (again, not to beconfused with the Icelandic guy of the same name) wants to playpop/techno music. Two pieces here, plus of each two remixes. Thefirst is 'Lovebreak' in which he is influenced by Cabaret Voltaireand Fad Gadget, mainly through his dark vocals, singing all thedirty words from the book. A simple and effective song. The tworemixes didn't do much for me. The first, by DJ:Woo is a breakbeatlike and QRT mixes it like it would be mixed on the dance floor,but doesn't work on CD. The fourth one is the title and that'smy favorite here. Sparse melodic lines, minimalist techno beatan a sad girl voice singing 'we can work it out', which has norelation to fab four song of the same name. Here lies the inspirationin 90s techno, but even at its stretched length this is quitea nice song. Very lush. The 'P-remix' entirely destroys the song- big shame and the Radio mix is slightly redundant after thelong original. This could have been a great 7'. (FdW)
Address: http://www.zang.no
A strange label, Norway's Zang:, releasing serious electro-acousticmusic but then also something like this. HOH (again, not to beconfused with the Icelandic guy of the same name) wants to playpop/techno music. Two pieces here, plus of each two remixes. Thefirst is 'Lovebreak' in which he is influenced by Cabaret Voltaireand Fad Gadget, mainly through his dark vocals, singing all thedirty words from the book. A simple and effective song. The tworemixes didn't do much for me. The first, by DJ:Woo is a breakbeatlike and QRT mixes it like it would be mixed on the dance floor,but doesn't work on CD. The fourth one is the title and that'smy favorite here. Sparse melodic lines, minimalist techno beatan a sad girl voice singing 'we can work it out', which has norelation to fab four song of the same name. Here lies the inspirationin 90s techno, but even at its stretched length this is quitea nice song. Very lush. The 'P-remix' entirely destroys the song- big shame and the Radio mix is slightly redundant after thelong original. This could have been a great 7'. (FdW)
Address: http://www.zang.no
KIOKU - BOTH FAR AND NEAR (CD by Quiet Design)
New York City is still a place where new musical adventures areborn. And not all of them find their way to the Tzadik catalogue.Kioku (japanese for 'memory') is N.Y.C.-based trio whoreleased their new one on the small Quiet Design label. And thatis the way I like it. Who are Kioku? The trio is made up of WynnYamami (taiko, percussion), Ali Sakkal (saxophones, percussion)and Christopher Ariza (live electronics). Their music is a veryunusual blend of influences, unheard before and providing theword 'worldmusic' with a new content. Yamami is specialized inplaying japanese percussion. Sax-player Sakkal originates fromKuwait. With his eastern background he studied with Branford Marseilles,Oliver Lake, a.o. Ariza is a composer and programmer of sonicstructures and systems. He composed for theatre, film, interactivemedia, etc. With their different backgrounds asian percussionmusic, jazz and sound art come together for a new adventure. Incontrast, most compositions refer to already existing traditionalkorean and japanese music. 'Drum Thing' is a composition by JohnColtrane. 'Spirits 16' is composed by Keith Jarrett. Over allthe music is very powerful and aggressive. In most pieces we heareastern rhythms and patterns played with much energy on easternpercussion, noisy and abstract sounds, and a jazzy saxophone.But the furious and convincing playing of the three, leaves youno time to wonder about this exceptional combination. They haveno time and reason to hesitate. The tapestry of percussive beatsis in most pieces very dominant, also because the traditionalpercussion colors the soundspectrum considerably. But also thesaxophone often is in a prominent role. The live electronics ofAzira however have a place more in the background, bridging everythingeffectively and inconspicuous together. An excellent work! (DM)
Address: http://www.quietdesign.us/
New York City is still a place where new musical adventures areborn. And not all of them find their way to the Tzadik catalogue.Kioku (japanese for 'memory') is N.Y.C.-based trio whoreleased their new one on the small Quiet Design label. And thatis the way I like it. Who are Kioku? The trio is made up of WynnYamami (taiko, percussion), Ali Sakkal (saxophones, percussion)and Christopher Ariza (live electronics). Their music is a veryunusual blend of influences, unheard before and providing theword 'worldmusic' with a new content. Yamami is specialized inplaying japanese percussion. Sax-player Sakkal originates fromKuwait. With his eastern background he studied with Branford Marseilles,Oliver Lake, a.o. Ariza is a composer and programmer of sonicstructures and systems. He composed for theatre, film, interactivemedia, etc. With their different backgrounds asian percussionmusic, jazz and sound art come together for a new adventure. Incontrast, most compositions refer to already existing traditionalkorean and japanese music. 'Drum Thing' is a composition by JohnColtrane. 'Spirits 16' is composed by Keith Jarrett. Over allthe music is very powerful and aggressive. In most pieces we heareastern rhythms and patterns played with much energy on easternpercussion, noisy and abstract sounds, and a jazzy saxophone.But the furious and convincing playing of the three, leaves youno time to wonder about this exceptional combination. They haveno time and reason to hesitate. The tapestry of percussive beatsis in most pieces very dominant, also because the traditionalpercussion colors the soundspectrum considerably. But also thesaxophone often is in a prominent role. The live electronics ofAzira however have a place more in the background, bridging everythingeffectively and inconspicuous together. An excellent work! (DM)
Address: http://www.quietdesign.us/
![621 621](/uploads/1/2/7/4/127421561/627426150.jpg)
PEDAIR AWR YNG NGHYMRU FYDD/BRAVE NEW WALES(3CD by Fourier Transform)
A bit of regional patriotism is something I for one never dislike- Nijmegen rules of course (to remind you once again that VitalWeekly is not, we repeat, not from Amsterdam). But would I wanta CD with all sorts of music from Nijmegen only? Perhaps not.Wales is somewhat bigger than Nijmegen, so here's a triple CDof music from Wales, named after Huxley's 'Brave New World', althoughthe Welsh title translates as 'Four Hours In Future Wales', oddlyenough. I could only think of one Welsh band, on top of my head,being Super Furry Animals, but they don't seem to part of thiscollection (maybe to big?). Glancing at all these names, I onlyseem to be recognizing one, which is Graham Bowers and RhodriDavies. Although there are no less than forty-eight pieces insomewhere over 240 minutes of music, some people have variouspieces, so it's not forty-eight different artists. It's quitea daring move to start with a couple of strong noise pieces ondisc one, but as the CDs evolve there are also other forms ofmusic, mostly ambient and field recordings, as this turns outto be a release of music that is nowhere near rock music and that'sthe cool thing about this release, it's all connected to the worldof experimental music, in all it shades and colors. Hard to telltrack by track what is there, but as a whole, this is an excellentintroduction to Wales and it's musical undercurrent. IncludingGimp Nipples, Chuch, Achonry, Rose Heyworth, Gwydion Gruffield,Stereo Minus One, Edwin Pang, Richard Bowers, WHITENOISESOUND,Tatamax, Carrintavy, Min Boyce, Y Phthwng, The Lumpy Choo ChooBand, Carphology Collective, Beautiful Screaming Lady, Simon Proffitt,Angharad Davies/Rhodri Davies, Steve Hubback, Gorwel Owen, EirwynLlwyd Roberts, The 14th Century, Y Chwiorydd Marw, Traw, Jim Knight,Fiona Owen, ISG, Nawadaha, Lleu Williams, Hwyl Nofio, Ap Duw,The Master Musicians Of Dyffryn Moor, Perfect Blue, Sound Engineer,Matthew Lovett & Javier Carmona, Strap The Button, Green EndListening Station, Dominic De Nebo and Carrintavy. Extended informationon all of these in the booklet. (FdW)
Address: http://www.fouriertransform.com
A bit of regional patriotism is something I for one never dislike- Nijmegen rules of course (to remind you once again that VitalWeekly is not, we repeat, not from Amsterdam). But would I wanta CD with all sorts of music from Nijmegen only? Perhaps not.Wales is somewhat bigger than Nijmegen, so here's a triple CDof music from Wales, named after Huxley's 'Brave New World', althoughthe Welsh title translates as 'Four Hours In Future Wales', oddlyenough. I could only think of one Welsh band, on top of my head,being Super Furry Animals, but they don't seem to part of thiscollection (maybe to big?). Glancing at all these names, I onlyseem to be recognizing one, which is Graham Bowers and RhodriDavies. Although there are no less than forty-eight pieces insomewhere over 240 minutes of music, some people have variouspieces, so it's not forty-eight different artists. It's quitea daring move to start with a couple of strong noise pieces ondisc one, but as the CDs evolve there are also other forms ofmusic, mostly ambient and field recordings, as this turns outto be a release of music that is nowhere near rock music and that'sthe cool thing about this release, it's all connected to the worldof experimental music, in all it shades and colors. Hard to telltrack by track what is there, but as a whole, this is an excellentintroduction to Wales and it's musical undercurrent. IncludingGimp Nipples, Chuch, Achonry, Rose Heyworth, Gwydion Gruffield,Stereo Minus One, Edwin Pang, Richard Bowers, WHITENOISESOUND,Tatamax, Carrintavy, Min Boyce, Y Phthwng, The Lumpy Choo ChooBand, Carphology Collective, Beautiful Screaming Lady, Simon Proffitt,Angharad Davies/Rhodri Davies, Steve Hubback, Gorwel Owen, EirwynLlwyd Roberts, The 14th Century, Y Chwiorydd Marw, Traw, Jim Knight,Fiona Owen, ISG, Nawadaha, Lleu Williams, Hwyl Nofio, Ap Duw,The Master Musicians Of Dyffryn Moor, Perfect Blue, Sound Engineer,Matthew Lovett & Javier Carmona, Strap The Button, Green EndListening Station, Dominic De Nebo and Carrintavy. Extended informationon all of these in the booklet. (FdW)
Address: http://www.fouriertransform.com
ELETRONAVN - COSMIC CONTINUUM (CD by Ikuisuus)
OPEN EYE DUO - SEA & FISH (CDR by Ikuisuus)
MATOMERI - JOYS OF SUMMER (CDR by Ikuisuus)
MY3YEAH (CDR by Ikuisuus)
Lots of new names to be explored on Finland Ikuisuus label. Itshard for me to see why something is released on CD and somethingelse on CDR - there must be logic there which I fail to see. FromDenmark comes Elektronavn AKA Magnus Olsen Majmon, who plays awhole bunch of instruments, such as clarinet, voice, guitar, organ,flute, gong, harp, percussion and field recordings. The outcomeis not easy to lump into some musical category. I think Elektronavnlikes drone music, but played on what seems to me be a set ofmainly acoustic instruments with hardly any electronically means.Which is fine of course, had it not for the fact that it's nota great recording. A bit hollow. In some ways I think Elektronavnis a bit of a hippie, scratching, scraping and chanting his twolengthy songs. I wouldn't be surprised to know that Elektronavnrather would have made a LP, highly limited with hand made covers,which in some circles would give him a legendary status. Freepsychedelic music I guess, but not for me.
The other releases are on CDR. Open Eye Duo are Pascal Nicholsand Dave Birchall. Dave is the man behind Black And White CatPress, and has played in bands like Stuckometer, Kalbakken andMy Beautiful Ridiculous Plan. Pascal has releases on Rayon Recordsand played in Stuckometer, Chora, On Fire and A Band. Togetherthey recorded on Pascal's birthday in his flat with a bunch ofinstruments such as a floor tom, a guitar and found objects. Theyhave a very direct in your face of scraping, scratching, pluckingand hitting their instruments and objects which is actually quitenice to hear. Its certainly is quite raw and untamed, but thefact that the recording is quite nice make this a delight to hear.Some of scraping of strings sound like Agencement, if anyone remembersthat. A recording that is very much acoustic, even when thereis a bit of feedback in 'Booted'. Loud acoustic music is whatwe need.
Something entirely different is Matomeri, which is a band fromTampere and holds one of the directors of the label it's ranks.Its Timo Puustinen on synth and drums, and Jussi Ahonen on throatand guitar and Simo Pieniniemi on guitar. Together they play loudfree improvisation music, through hazes and shades of feedbackand distortion in an endless of wall of sound approach. A bitblurry in the recording (where's the throat, the synth?) and remindedme of some of the Acid Mothers Temple. It's pretty much o.k. butnot entirely my cup of beer then.
Something similar I could say about Argentina My3yeah, a duo ofTomas Muller and gmc. On their self titled CDR they offer fivelong improvisations, mostly or entirely in the area of electronics.They crash about in a semi noise based way, but things never gettoo loud or too gritty. That is fine, but in itself I didn't thinkthese pieces were very good, except for the last one, which wasmuch softer and based around slow samples. A much ambient dronepiece at work here, which worked well, despite its length. (FdW)
Address: http://www.ikuisuus.net
OPEN EYE DUO - SEA & FISH (CDR by Ikuisuus)
MATOMERI - JOYS OF SUMMER (CDR by Ikuisuus)
MY3YEAH (CDR by Ikuisuus)
Lots of new names to be explored on Finland Ikuisuus label. Itshard for me to see why something is released on CD and somethingelse on CDR - there must be logic there which I fail to see. FromDenmark comes Elektronavn AKA Magnus Olsen Majmon, who plays awhole bunch of instruments, such as clarinet, voice, guitar, organ,flute, gong, harp, percussion and field recordings. The outcomeis not easy to lump into some musical category. I think Elektronavnlikes drone music, but played on what seems to me be a set ofmainly acoustic instruments with hardly any electronically means.Which is fine of course, had it not for the fact that it's nota great recording. A bit hollow. In some ways I think Elektronavnis a bit of a hippie, scratching, scraping and chanting his twolengthy songs. I wouldn't be surprised to know that Elektronavnrather would have made a LP, highly limited with hand made covers,which in some circles would give him a legendary status. Freepsychedelic music I guess, but not for me.
The other releases are on CDR. Open Eye Duo are Pascal Nicholsand Dave Birchall. Dave is the man behind Black And White CatPress, and has played in bands like Stuckometer, Kalbakken andMy Beautiful Ridiculous Plan. Pascal has releases on Rayon Recordsand played in Stuckometer, Chora, On Fire and A Band. Togetherthey recorded on Pascal's birthday in his flat with a bunch ofinstruments such as a floor tom, a guitar and found objects. Theyhave a very direct in your face of scraping, scratching, pluckingand hitting their instruments and objects which is actually quitenice to hear. Its certainly is quite raw and untamed, but thefact that the recording is quite nice make this a delight to hear.Some of scraping of strings sound like Agencement, if anyone remembersthat. A recording that is very much acoustic, even when thereis a bit of feedback in 'Booted'. Loud acoustic music is whatwe need.
Something entirely different is Matomeri, which is a band fromTampere and holds one of the directors of the label it's ranks.Its Timo Puustinen on synth and drums, and Jussi Ahonen on throatand guitar and Simo Pieniniemi on guitar. Together they play loudfree improvisation music, through hazes and shades of feedbackand distortion in an endless of wall of sound approach. A bitblurry in the recording (where's the throat, the synth?) and remindedme of some of the Acid Mothers Temple. It's pretty much o.k. butnot entirely my cup of beer then.
Something similar I could say about Argentina My3yeah, a duo ofTomas Muller and gmc. On their self titled CDR they offer fivelong improvisations, mostly or entirely in the area of electronics.They crash about in a semi noise based way, but things never gettoo loud or too gritty. That is fine, but in itself I didn't thinkthese pieces were very good, except for the last one, which wasmuch softer and based around slow samples. A much ambient dronepiece at work here, which worked well, despite its length. (FdW)
Address: http://www.ikuisuus.net
AARON DILLOWAY / CARLOS GIFFONI - LIVE ATTHE NO FUN FEST 2007 (LP by No Fun Productions)
ENEMA SYRINGE - LIVE AT THE NO FUN FEST 2007 (LP by No Fun Productions)
RELIGIOUS KNIVES - RESIN (CD by No Fun Productions)
THURSTON MOORE - SENSITIVE / LETHAL (CD by No Fun Productions)
The annual No Fun Fest must be one hell of a weekend, consideringthat many recordings from the festival are later immortalizedon disc by No Fun Productions themselves. The bill for each yearcertainly sounds like it's the most exciting festival around atthe moment, if only it wasn't that far away for us Europeans.You would therefore think that it's a small solace that we nowget the chance to hear these performances in our own homes, butthe question is if it's such a great curatorial idea to releaseseveral individual live releases from each year's lineup.
After Merzbow, Incapacitants and Pain Jerk it's now time for setsby Aaron Dilloway, No Fun-head honcho Carlos Giffoni himself,and Enema Syringe, all on LP. I always dig Dilloway's solo stuff,and his side of the split-LP he shares with Giffoni is no letdowneither. No need to peak-in if you're indifferent to the word ,loop'though, as that is Dilloway's main feature. He creates repeatingpatterns of rough sounds from a variety of sources (mostly tapesI guess), but his sound never becomes too extreme, in fact italways stays quite musical, even when he lets go more towardsthe end. The Giffoni side shows him in the analogue style thatwe know of him by now. Sputtering synths aplenty here, as if theairconditioning has been turned on max for the No Fun audienceduring his set, and it must've also sounded quite refreshing afterhearing 10 Japnoise acts I guess. Both sets have a studio-qualityin sound, and both sets are great introductions for these artists.
Enema Syringe is an old noise institution from Sweden, and asit is one of the main objectives of the festival to get an ideaof what spectrum of noise acts there have been (as long as they'restill active, and if not, Carlos will probably revive them againfor one night). This is the first time I heard this solo-act,but his sweet introduction with the heavy Swedish accent on topof some religious church singing already wins me over. It's notas harsh as I thought it would be, though its repetition can begrinding, and he mutters and screams unintelligibly over mostlyall of it. I've never liked screamo-noise, but he does have someinteresting sounds going on, especially an electro-like rhythmin the first track of the second side. It sounds like a RickyMartin cover anyway. No, I didn't say that. I guess Swedish isjust not a good language to scream in. The last track is likethe Swedish Chef on a bad acid trip.
Religious Knives just released their first ,real' album 'It'sAfter Dark', but this is their second CD for No Fun on whichthey collect limited material from 12' and CDR releases.It's a nice follow-up to 'Remains' in that is showstheir development towards a more open and melodic side. I tendto like the early material better, especially when I hear thesingle 'In The Back', which has a certain silly feelingto the way the vocals are delivered. They fare better on the b-sideof that 12' with its gorgeous use of organ and harmonica,but again the singing sounds a little underdeveloped. It's a recurringproblem on this collection, but look beyond it and you get a beautifullysounding set of tracks. The spacious quality of the keys, guitarand cymbals on 'Growth' are RK's biggest strength, evenif it can veer closely to times agone, echoeing a languid versionof the Doors in almost every track.
Timeless and without comparison though, is the new Thurston Mooresolo album. More intricate then, say, his work as Bark Haze, muchmore listenable too (even if the little girl on the cover doesn'tagree). The first track is layer over layer of guitar, but nothinggets out of hand, it sounds rather balanced. A backbone of acousticguitar is backing up a frontal guitar freakout, and they workperfectly together. After a nice short middle track the finalone rips up the scene to pieces, a quite noisy affair though stillvery enjoyable. I wouldn't mind hearing more of this stuff fromMr. Moore... (RM)
Address: http://www.nofunproductions.com/
ENEMA SYRINGE - LIVE AT THE NO FUN FEST 2007 (LP by No Fun Productions)
RELIGIOUS KNIVES - RESIN (CD by No Fun Productions)
THURSTON MOORE - SENSITIVE / LETHAL (CD by No Fun Productions)
The annual No Fun Fest must be one hell of a weekend, consideringthat many recordings from the festival are later immortalizedon disc by No Fun Productions themselves. The bill for each yearcertainly sounds like it's the most exciting festival around atthe moment, if only it wasn't that far away for us Europeans.You would therefore think that it's a small solace that we nowget the chance to hear these performances in our own homes, butthe question is if it's such a great curatorial idea to releaseseveral individual live releases from each year's lineup.
After Merzbow, Incapacitants and Pain Jerk it's now time for setsby Aaron Dilloway, No Fun-head honcho Carlos Giffoni himself,and Enema Syringe, all on LP. I always dig Dilloway's solo stuff,and his side of the split-LP he shares with Giffoni is no letdowneither. No need to peak-in if you're indifferent to the word ,loop'though, as that is Dilloway's main feature. He creates repeatingpatterns of rough sounds from a variety of sources (mostly tapesI guess), but his sound never becomes too extreme, in fact italways stays quite musical, even when he lets go more towardsthe end. The Giffoni side shows him in the analogue style thatwe know of him by now. Sputtering synths aplenty here, as if theairconditioning has been turned on max for the No Fun audienceduring his set, and it must've also sounded quite refreshing afterhearing 10 Japnoise acts I guess. Both sets have a studio-qualityin sound, and both sets are great introductions for these artists.
Enema Syringe is an old noise institution from Sweden, and asit is one of the main objectives of the festival to get an ideaof what spectrum of noise acts there have been (as long as they'restill active, and if not, Carlos will probably revive them againfor one night). This is the first time I heard this solo-act,but his sweet introduction with the heavy Swedish accent on topof some religious church singing already wins me over. It's notas harsh as I thought it would be, though its repetition can begrinding, and he mutters and screams unintelligibly over mostlyall of it. I've never liked screamo-noise, but he does have someinteresting sounds going on, especially an electro-like rhythmin the first track of the second side. It sounds like a RickyMartin cover anyway. No, I didn't say that. I guess Swedish isjust not a good language to scream in. The last track is likethe Swedish Chef on a bad acid trip.
Religious Knives just released their first ,real' album 'It'sAfter Dark', but this is their second CD for No Fun on whichthey collect limited material from 12' and CDR releases.It's a nice follow-up to 'Remains' in that is showstheir development towards a more open and melodic side. I tendto like the early material better, especially when I hear thesingle 'In The Back', which has a certain silly feelingto the way the vocals are delivered. They fare better on the b-sideof that 12' with its gorgeous use of organ and harmonica,but again the singing sounds a little underdeveloped. It's a recurringproblem on this collection, but look beyond it and you get a beautifullysounding set of tracks. The spacious quality of the keys, guitarand cymbals on 'Growth' are RK's biggest strength, evenif it can veer closely to times agone, echoeing a languid versionof the Doors in almost every track.
Timeless and without comparison though, is the new Thurston Mooresolo album. More intricate then, say, his work as Bark Haze, muchmore listenable too (even if the little girl on the cover doesn'tagree). The first track is layer over layer of guitar, but nothinggets out of hand, it sounds rather balanced. A backbone of acousticguitar is backing up a frontal guitar freakout, and they workperfectly together. After a nice short middle track the finalone rips up the scene to pieces, a quite noisy affair though stillvery enjoyable. I wouldn't mind hearing more of this stuff fromMr. Moore... (RM)
Address: http://www.nofunproductions.com/
MENACE RUINE - CULT OF RUINS (CD by Alien8Recordings)
JESUS OF NAZARETH / KUSARI GAMA KILL - VAIN (Split-Cdr by R.O.N.F.Records)
When I approximately 20 years ago got hold of the extreme metal-compilation'Grindcrusher (Earache records, 1989), I was especially fascinatedby a certain track titled 'Colostomy Grab-Bag' froma band calling themselves O.L.D. (a.k.a. Old Lady Drivers). Theband's approach to the Grindcore-style was quite unusual withsome weird high-pitched screaming vocals and complex rhythmicstructures. As I purchased their equally impressive debut-album'Old lady Drivers', the name 'James Plotkin'for the first time hit my mind. Since then that name has returnedback to me in connection with a large number of interesting projectsthroughout the years. Flirting with both the electronic ambient-spheresand the metal-based expressions this guy knows how to melt downthe borders between the two quite opposite sonic worlds. JamesPlotkin is the producer of this present release from the, alwaysexciting Canadian label Alien8 Recordings. The project callingitself Menace Ruine has its roots in the northern parts of Canada.Somehow there must be a link between icy temperatures and frostbittenblack metal. Equally to the extreme metal colleagues from thehomeland of black metal, the freezing Norway, Menace Ruins createsatmospheres of cynic brutality. With the sound production accomplishedby James Plotkin, Menace Ruine pulls the harshness of black metalinto the world of electronic ambience. The result is seven tracksof apocalypse that simply kick an impression into the listener.From the relatively controllable opening tracks 'Process'and 'The sky as a reversed abyss', consisting of blackmetal rhythms, soundscapes of electronic ambience to the completelyapocalyptic terrorism of 'They who enter caves' thatmanage to compete with maestros of black metal brutalism, NorwegianImmortal, though with the addition of evil bursts of the electronicequipment in the case of Meca Ruin. Buzzing and dark drones ofelectronic noise push the hyper-fast beat-blasts and screamingvocals of pure wrath to the extremes of expression - my absolutefavourite track on the album! On the track titled 'Bondedby wyrd' Menace Ruine catches an almost melodic pace withsome nice guitar work combined with almost ritual vocals. Theend of this certain track has a quite interesting developmentinto Industrial Ambience reminding me of the 'Inde$troy'(Manic Ears Records, 1989) from Saw Throat (a.k.a. Sore Throat).With James Plotkin as a producer and with Alien8 Recordings asthe open-minded yet quality conscious label, 'Cult of Ruins'can only succeed and hell it does!
If Menace Ruine had a balance of 70% black metal and 30% ambientnoise, Split-album between US-project Jesus Of Nazareth and Danishproject Kusari Gama Kill titled 'Vain' has the oppositebalance with more focus on Noise but still with a heavy weighton Grindcore expressions. The album is released by the Spanishlabel R.O.N.F. Records that focuses on extreme expressions ofgrinding metal as well as of harsh noise. And the expression certainlyis extreme on this split-album. 'Jesus of Nazareth'opens the jolly show with ten blasting bombers based of hyper-fastdrum machines, processed voices and other samples from among othersJap-noise artist Masonna. Despite the hyper-activity of the drummachines the rhythmic texture gives a great solid ground to thenine works of Jesus Of Nazareth. There are lots of interestinginterventions in the noisy spheres with among others samples ofearly Saloon Music mixed up with almost melodic soundscapes onthe track titled 'Life was perfect'. In other momentsthe expressions reminds of John Zorn's Naked City-project thanksto the furious mixture of grindcore, jazzy drum patterns and noise.As Kusari Gama Kill hits the stage the poor listener is completelywiped out by the nasty growling of Janus Blomfrø meanwhilehis collaborator Martin Weile demolish any sign of silence withhis cynic mistreatments of electronic equipment. As was the casewith Jesus Of Nazareth, Kusari Gama Kill uses ultra-fast machine-drummingas a nice underground layer to the symphonies of sickness. Twoexcellent albums from two different labels revealing the factthat the difference between electronic expressions and extrememetal can easily be melted down - with a quite nasty result!
Anyone interested in Noise created by drum machines should alsocheck out the 'Drummachinegun' released by Relapse Recordsin 2006. (NM)
Address: http://www.alien8recordings.com
Address: http://www.ronfrecords.com
JESUS OF NAZARETH / KUSARI GAMA KILL - VAIN (Split-Cdr by R.O.N.F.Records)
When I approximately 20 years ago got hold of the extreme metal-compilation'Grindcrusher (Earache records, 1989), I was especially fascinatedby a certain track titled 'Colostomy Grab-Bag' froma band calling themselves O.L.D. (a.k.a. Old Lady Drivers). Theband's approach to the Grindcore-style was quite unusual withsome weird high-pitched screaming vocals and complex rhythmicstructures. As I purchased their equally impressive debut-album'Old lady Drivers', the name 'James Plotkin'for the first time hit my mind. Since then that name has returnedback to me in connection with a large number of interesting projectsthroughout the years. Flirting with both the electronic ambient-spheresand the metal-based expressions this guy knows how to melt downthe borders between the two quite opposite sonic worlds. JamesPlotkin is the producer of this present release from the, alwaysexciting Canadian label Alien8 Recordings. The project callingitself Menace Ruine has its roots in the northern parts of Canada.Somehow there must be a link between icy temperatures and frostbittenblack metal. Equally to the extreme metal colleagues from thehomeland of black metal, the freezing Norway, Menace Ruins createsatmospheres of cynic brutality. With the sound production accomplishedby James Plotkin, Menace Ruine pulls the harshness of black metalinto the world of electronic ambience. The result is seven tracksof apocalypse that simply kick an impression into the listener.From the relatively controllable opening tracks 'Process'and 'The sky as a reversed abyss', consisting of blackmetal rhythms, soundscapes of electronic ambience to the completelyapocalyptic terrorism of 'They who enter caves' thatmanage to compete with maestros of black metal brutalism, NorwegianImmortal, though with the addition of evil bursts of the electronicequipment in the case of Meca Ruin. Buzzing and dark drones ofelectronic noise push the hyper-fast beat-blasts and screamingvocals of pure wrath to the extremes of expression - my absolutefavourite track on the album! On the track titled 'Bondedby wyrd' Menace Ruine catches an almost melodic pace withsome nice guitar work combined with almost ritual vocals. Theend of this certain track has a quite interesting developmentinto Industrial Ambience reminding me of the 'Inde$troy'(Manic Ears Records, 1989) from Saw Throat (a.k.a. Sore Throat).With James Plotkin as a producer and with Alien8 Recordings asthe open-minded yet quality conscious label, 'Cult of Ruins'can only succeed and hell it does!
If Menace Ruine had a balance of 70% black metal and 30% ambientnoise, Split-album between US-project Jesus Of Nazareth and Danishproject Kusari Gama Kill titled 'Vain' has the oppositebalance with more focus on Noise but still with a heavy weighton Grindcore expressions. The album is released by the Spanishlabel R.O.N.F. Records that focuses on extreme expressions ofgrinding metal as well as of harsh noise. And the expression certainlyis extreme on this split-album. 'Jesus of Nazareth'opens the jolly show with ten blasting bombers based of hyper-fastdrum machines, processed voices and other samples from among othersJap-noise artist Masonna. Despite the hyper-activity of the drummachines the rhythmic texture gives a great solid ground to thenine works of Jesus Of Nazareth. There are lots of interestinginterventions in the noisy spheres with among others samples ofearly Saloon Music mixed up with almost melodic soundscapes onthe track titled 'Life was perfect'. In other momentsthe expressions reminds of John Zorn's Naked City-project thanksto the furious mixture of grindcore, jazzy drum patterns and noise.As Kusari Gama Kill hits the stage the poor listener is completelywiped out by the nasty growling of Janus Blomfrø meanwhilehis collaborator Martin Weile demolish any sign of silence withhis cynic mistreatments of electronic equipment. As was the casewith Jesus Of Nazareth, Kusari Gama Kill uses ultra-fast machine-drummingas a nice underground layer to the symphonies of sickness. Twoexcellent albums from two different labels revealing the factthat the difference between electronic expressions and extrememetal can easily be melted down - with a quite nasty result!
Anyone interested in Noise created by drum machines should alsocheck out the 'Drummachinegun' released by Relapse Recordsin 2006. (NM)
Address: http://www.alien8recordings.com
Address: http://www.ronfrecords.com
EXILLON - IT'S OK TO DANCE (CD by Ad Noiseam)
House-Techno seems like having a revival at the moment but separateto the original scene of the peaking 90's there is a much moreexperimental edge to a great part of what is being released, forinstance on labels like Kompakt and Get Physical. Third shot fromthe exciting sound artist from the Bay Area, Exillon, seems likemoving in the same direction. Jay Fields a.k.a. Exillon impressedwith his earlier releases, especially the 'Keening Dithers'-album,thanks to a nice combination of good composition skills as wellas skills for creating awesome melodic atmospheres. This latestalbum titled 'It's OK to dance' also contains some greatmusical moments, though the real gem of this album is the lightnessand the boiling energy that makes even the laziest body want tomove. Compared to earlier efforts the album puts much weight onthe up-beat style and less on the atmospheric ambient-scapes.The expression varies from minimalist techno reminiscent of RichieHawtin (a.k.a. Plastikman) with TR-808-sounding interventionsand sharply cut beat structures. Other tracks like the 'Hairybackacid' has the ritual acid-style Goa Trance. My personal favouritetrack on the album is the alluringly happy piece titled 'Officework' that nicely balances between Technoid House and a moreexperimental edge. A very interesting development for Exillon,that with this new step proves his ability not only to feed thebrain of the listener but also the feet. Highly recommended! (NM)
Address: http://www.adnoiseam.net
House-Techno seems like having a revival at the moment but separateto the original scene of the peaking 90's there is a much moreexperimental edge to a great part of what is being released, forinstance on labels like Kompakt and Get Physical. Third shot fromthe exciting sound artist from the Bay Area, Exillon, seems likemoving in the same direction. Jay Fields a.k.a. Exillon impressedwith his earlier releases, especially the 'Keening Dithers'-album,thanks to a nice combination of good composition skills as wellas skills for creating awesome melodic atmospheres. This latestalbum titled 'It's OK to dance' also contains some greatmusical moments, though the real gem of this album is the lightnessand the boiling energy that makes even the laziest body want tomove. Compared to earlier efforts the album puts much weight onthe up-beat style and less on the atmospheric ambient-scapes.The expression varies from minimalist techno reminiscent of RichieHawtin (a.k.a. Plastikman) with TR-808-sounding interventionsand sharply cut beat structures. Other tracks like the 'Hairybackacid' has the ritual acid-style Goa Trance. My personal favouritetrack on the album is the alluringly happy piece titled 'Officework' that nicely balances between Technoid House and a moreexperimental edge. A very interesting development for Exillon,that with this new step proves his ability not only to feed thebrain of the listener but also the feet. Highly recommended! (NM)
Address: http://www.adnoiseam.net
PSYCHIC SPACE INVASION - TRANSITIONS (CDby Persepolis Records)
Ian Holloway, the man behind Psychic Space Invasion, started theElvis Coffee Records label, then Quiet World, and now is perhapsbehind Persepolis Records. It may seem confusing, all this labelwork, but 'Transitions', the new release by his own Psychic SpaceInvasion, is on a 'real' CD, as opposed to the previous releases,which were all on CDR. That is perhaps the only break, since themusic is a continuation from what we know and heard before. Atthe bottom of the music there is a drone. That's however in aconstant movement, a flux, a flow. On top Holloway waves togethersounds, clearly divided into various parts. There is a part withhumming, chanting voices and towards the end there is a long passagewith loops of piano playing. Loaded with effects this release,mainly in the area of delay and reverb, which gives the musica somewhat muddy character, whereas it could have been more open.That's perhaps the only thing that is a bit less about this release,but otherwise I thought this release, while offering more of thesame, is quite a nice release, and should appeal to those wholove the Uk drone scene of Monos, Ora, Mirror, Andrew Chalk, ColinPotter and Paul Bradley. (FdW)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/persepolisrecords.com
Ian Holloway, the man behind Psychic Space Invasion, started theElvis Coffee Records label, then Quiet World, and now is perhapsbehind Persepolis Records. It may seem confusing, all this labelwork, but 'Transitions', the new release by his own Psychic SpaceInvasion, is on a 'real' CD, as opposed to the previous releases,which were all on CDR. That is perhaps the only break, since themusic is a continuation from what we know and heard before. Atthe bottom of the music there is a drone. That's however in aconstant movement, a flux, a flow. On top Holloway waves togethersounds, clearly divided into various parts. There is a part withhumming, chanting voices and towards the end there is a long passagewith loops of piano playing. Loaded with effects this release,mainly in the area of delay and reverb, which gives the musica somewhat muddy character, whereas it could have been more open.That's perhaps the only thing that is a bit less about this release,but otherwise I thought this release, while offering more of thesame, is quite a nice release, and should appeal to those wholove the Uk drone scene of Monos, Ora, Mirror, Andrew Chalk, ColinPotter and Paul Bradley. (FdW)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/persepolisrecords.com
MIKE BROWNINGS INNER WORKINGS - TRANCEMISSIONS(CD by Pharmafabrik)
People, who followed the heydays of death metal, would have heardof the Dutch project Nocturnus that revolutionized the scene withits use of synthesizer to create sinister atmospheres in the symphoniesof grinding metal. As soon as I saw the cover of this presentCD-album by Mike Browning Inner Workings, I was reminded by thedebut-album of Nocturnus, 'The key' released on thelegendary Earache label back in 1991. The doomy dark blue colorson a bizarre sci-fi monstrous world from 'The key' remainon this solo-album of ex-Nocturnus vocalist/drummer Mike Browningtitled 'Trancemissions'. Mike Browning was the man withthe strange robotic talking vocals of Nocturnus, thus responsiblefor the strange expression that led to the success of the band.Now Mike Browning has left the harsh expression behind and movedinto the world of electronics to explore new sonic borderlands.In the electronic world Mike Browning focus on dark nocturnalatmospheres with the exclusion of any kind of rhythmic texture.From the opening track titled 'Inner workings' consistingof threatening thick drones and buzzing noises swirling in thebackground to the more melodic yet sinister work 'The edgeof the universe' that almost reminds of the John Williamstheme to Ridley Scott's Blade Runner. A radical change by theex-drummer and vocalist of death metal projects that apart fromNocturnus also counts Morbid Angel and Incubus - a radical changethat actually does quite well on this debut album. (NM)
Address: http://pharmafabrik.com/
People, who followed the heydays of death metal, would have heardof the Dutch project Nocturnus that revolutionized the scene withits use of synthesizer to create sinister atmospheres in the symphoniesof grinding metal. As soon as I saw the cover of this presentCD-album by Mike Browning Inner Workings, I was reminded by thedebut-album of Nocturnus, 'The key' released on thelegendary Earache label back in 1991. The doomy dark blue colorson a bizarre sci-fi monstrous world from 'The key' remainon this solo-album of ex-Nocturnus vocalist/drummer Mike Browningtitled 'Trancemissions'. Mike Browning was the man withthe strange robotic talking vocals of Nocturnus, thus responsiblefor the strange expression that led to the success of the band.Now Mike Browning has left the harsh expression behind and movedinto the world of electronics to explore new sonic borderlands.In the electronic world Mike Browning focus on dark nocturnalatmospheres with the exclusion of any kind of rhythmic texture.From the opening track titled 'Inner workings' consistingof threatening thick drones and buzzing noises swirling in thebackground to the more melodic yet sinister work 'The edgeof the universe' that almost reminds of the John Williamstheme to Ridley Scott's Blade Runner. A radical change by theex-drummer and vocalist of death metal projects that apart fromNocturnus also counts Morbid Angel and Incubus - a radical changethat actually does quite well on this debut album. (NM)
Address: http://pharmafabrik.com/
MARCHING DYNAMICS - NAILSLEEPER (CD by HymenRecords)
TWINKLE - LE JOUET (CD by Ant-Zen)
Despite the fact that Ant-Zen Recordings traditionally has morefocus on the harsh Industrial-related expressions with Hymen Recordsputting more focus on less harsher and more IDM-based expressionsthere is some similarity between the two legendary labels runStefan S. Alt. The two present albums from the two labels areby artists that certainly know how to create excellent club friendlyrhythm textures. 'Nailsleeper' from L.A.-based projectMarching Dynamics and released via Hymen Records, proves thatthe brain behind, S. Talada, has a sense of creating beat texturescut sharp into an almost militant pace. Thus the project namesuits perfect to the style. Take for instance the club-track titled'Un fall able' with dark technoid atmospheres not faraway from early Biosphere, circa 'Novelty waves'. Anotherperfect moment is the ultra-cool track 'Stoic' basedon old-school electro-beats reminiscent of early pioneering electro-trackssuch as Hashim's 'Al-Naa-Fiysh (The Soul)' and AfricaBambaataa's 'Planet Rock'. The album moves in a nicebalance between dreamy ambient-techno, breakbeats and a few momentsof Industrial interventions. No really harsh moments on this one.Harshness on the other side is found on the next album releasedvia Ant-Zen Recordings. French project 'Twinkle' hasgained cult status for their live shows around Europe. Thereforethe debut album titled 'Le Jouet' from the duo has beenlong awaited. Expressionally Twinkle varies from a downbeat Industrial-styleof great atmospheres to pompous melodies of floating orchestralambient as on the excellent track 'Ton style'. On atrack titled 'Les voies infectees' the expression turnsmore abrasive with a number of voice samples and strange synth-linesmoving above very cool downbeat yet rather complex rhythm textures.Awesome track! The combination of experimental electronics andcatchy Industrial-textures works great. Two awesome albums fromAnt-Zen recordings and Hymen Records. (NM)
Address: http://www.ant-zen.com
Address: http://www.hymen-records.com
TWINKLE - LE JOUET (CD by Ant-Zen)
Despite the fact that Ant-Zen Recordings traditionally has morefocus on the harsh Industrial-related expressions with Hymen Recordsputting more focus on less harsher and more IDM-based expressionsthere is some similarity between the two legendary labels runStefan S. Alt. The two present albums from the two labels areby artists that certainly know how to create excellent club friendlyrhythm textures. 'Nailsleeper' from L.A.-based projectMarching Dynamics and released via Hymen Records, proves thatthe brain behind, S. Talada, has a sense of creating beat texturescut sharp into an almost militant pace. Thus the project namesuits perfect to the style. Take for instance the club-track titled'Un fall able' with dark technoid atmospheres not faraway from early Biosphere, circa 'Novelty waves'. Anotherperfect moment is the ultra-cool track 'Stoic' basedon old-school electro-beats reminiscent of early pioneering electro-trackssuch as Hashim's 'Al-Naa-Fiysh (The Soul)' and AfricaBambaataa's 'Planet Rock'. The album moves in a nicebalance between dreamy ambient-techno, breakbeats and a few momentsof Industrial interventions. No really harsh moments on this one.Harshness on the other side is found on the next album releasedvia Ant-Zen Recordings. French project 'Twinkle' hasgained cult status for their live shows around Europe. Thereforethe debut album titled 'Le Jouet' from the duo has beenlong awaited. Expressionally Twinkle varies from a downbeat Industrial-styleof great atmospheres to pompous melodies of floating orchestralambient as on the excellent track 'Ton style'. On atrack titled 'Les voies infectees' the expression turnsmore abrasive with a number of voice samples and strange synth-linesmoving above very cool downbeat yet rather complex rhythm textures.Awesome track! The combination of experimental electronics andcatchy Industrial-textures works great. Two awesome albums fromAnt-Zen recordings and Hymen Records. (NM)
Address: http://www.ant-zen.com
Address: http://www.hymen-records.com
BULBS - LIGHT SHIPS (CD by Freedom To Spend)
Bulbs is the new duo of William Sabiston (drums), who was formerin Axolotl, together with Jon Almaraz since 2005, when they bothmoved to San Francisco. The label Freedom To Spend (which perhapssays something about their resources?) speaks of 'an odd spacebetween the gloss of Kompakt records minimalism, the glue huffambiguity of a band like Mouthus and the stuttering clicks andconfusion of a Han Bennik [sic]/Derek Bailey duo'. It's not referencesI fully understand. Bulbs is certainly a duo who love to improvise,but me thinks in a pretty chaotic way, more Bennink/Bailey orMouthus, but I can hardly see the connection with Kompakt. Thedrums are at times sound quite muffled in the way they are recordedand are not really open sounding. The guitar does lots of crazythings, feeding through distortion, chaotic strumming but throughoutI must say I didn't particular enjoy this, mainly because theproduction is something that could be better. One can sense thereis more to it than this, but it has not yet come to entirely tolife yet. (FdW)
Address: http://www.freedomtospend.net
Bulbs is the new duo of William Sabiston (drums), who was formerin Axolotl, together with Jon Almaraz since 2005, when they bothmoved to San Francisco. The label Freedom To Spend (which perhapssays something about their resources?) speaks of 'an odd spacebetween the gloss of Kompakt records minimalism, the glue huffambiguity of a band like Mouthus and the stuttering clicks andconfusion of a Han Bennik [sic]/Derek Bailey duo'. It's not referencesI fully understand. Bulbs is certainly a duo who love to improvise,but me thinks in a pretty chaotic way, more Bennink/Bailey orMouthus, but I can hardly see the connection with Kompakt. Thedrums are at times sound quite muffled in the way they are recordedand are not really open sounding. The guitar does lots of crazythings, feeding through distortion, chaotic strumming but throughoutI must say I didn't particular enjoy this, mainly because theproduction is something that could be better. One can sense thereis more to it than this, but it has not yet come to entirely tolife yet. (FdW)
Address: http://www.freedomtospend.net
ANLA COURTIS & SEIICHI YAMAMOTO &YOSHIMI - LIVE AT KANADIAN (CD by Public Eyesore)
Two members of Boredoms, Yoshimi (voice, keyboard and percussion)and Seiichi Yamamoto (electric guitar & percussion) team upwith former Reynols member Anla Courtis (e-guitar, toba violin& tapes) on a night in Osaka in 2005, at a place called Kanadian.I must admit straight away that I am not the man who knows Boredomsvery well. I expected a bunch of free noise rocking about, butwhatever happens, and however free things get, things aren't freerocking noise. This trio plays around with their instruments ina total free manner, and the take back down the volume if needed,which is a fine thing. However this is an unedited live performance,which no doubt is much appreciated by completists of the workof these people, but I think it could have certainly been a bitmore stripped down and be a bit more in shape. Not every singlesecond is interesting, especially in the all out fourth piece,clocking at twenty-six minutes, this becomes clear. It's a finepiece, but it could have been improved if trimmed a bit. WhatI thought was nice is the fact that they move all over the place,from the outbursts to the more quieter moments, and that reallysaved the CD. (FdW)
Address: http://www.publiceyesore.com
Two members of Boredoms, Yoshimi (voice, keyboard and percussion)and Seiichi Yamamoto (electric guitar & percussion) team upwith former Reynols member Anla Courtis (e-guitar, toba violin& tapes) on a night in Osaka in 2005, at a place called Kanadian.I must admit straight away that I am not the man who knows Boredomsvery well. I expected a bunch of free noise rocking about, butwhatever happens, and however free things get, things aren't freerocking noise. This trio plays around with their instruments ina total free manner, and the take back down the volume if needed,which is a fine thing. However this is an unedited live performance,which no doubt is much appreciated by completists of the workof these people, but I think it could have certainly been a bitmore stripped down and be a bit more in shape. Not every singlesecond is interesting, especially in the all out fourth piece,clocking at twenty-six minutes, this becomes clear. It's a finepiece, but it could have been improved if trimmed a bit. WhatI thought was nice is the fact that they move all over the place,from the outbursts to the more quieter moments, and that reallysaved the CD. (FdW)
Address: http://www.publiceyesore.com
STEVEN HESS & MILES TILMANN - DEPARTURES(LP by Other Electricities)
By now, the name Steven Hess could be well-known. Whenever I seesomething with his name attached to it, like Pan American, Fessenden,Haptic, Dropp Ensemble or collaborating with say Robert Hampson,it's time to open the ears and listen. Hess is a drummer who canplay jazz, electro-acoustic sound and improvisation. Here he teamsup with one Miles Tilmann of whom I never heard, but who works,apparently, with ambient, experimental and dance music. Here heplays electronics, while Hess plays drums and vibraphone. Thesix pieces are richly layered, textured pieces which are one footin the ambient music and one foot in laid back, groovy rhythms.Hess plays with a great jazzy feeling, with brushes and such likeand Tilmann adds a fine blend of textured electronics to it. Thereis an influence of Pan American to be traced throughout thesepieces which is quite nice. A great pairing of improvisation,musique concrete, dub, ambient in six particular strong tracks.(FdW)
Address: http://www.other-electricities.com
By now, the name Steven Hess could be well-known. Whenever I seesomething with his name attached to it, like Pan American, Fessenden,Haptic, Dropp Ensemble or collaborating with say Robert Hampson,it's time to open the ears and listen. Hess is a drummer who canplay jazz, electro-acoustic sound and improvisation. Here he teamsup with one Miles Tilmann of whom I never heard, but who works,apparently, with ambient, experimental and dance music. Here heplays electronics, while Hess plays drums and vibraphone. Thesix pieces are richly layered, textured pieces which are one footin the ambient music and one foot in laid back, groovy rhythms.Hess plays with a great jazzy feeling, with brushes and such likeand Tilmann adds a fine blend of textured electronics to it. Thereis an influence of Pan American to be traced throughout thesepieces which is quite nice. A great pairing of improvisation,musique concrete, dub, ambient in six particular strong tracks.(FdW)
Address: http://www.other-electricities.com
AUDIOSCOOP COMPILATION 1 (2LP compilationby Audioscoop)
FREIBAND - CAPTURE (3' CDR by My Own Little Label)
Since 2005, 'Audioscoop' is an ongoing series of musicalevents, held in the lovely soundworkplace 'Intro In Situ',in Maastricht, the Netherlands. Kim Laugs, member of FeedbackSociety and who I suspect to be the brainchild behind Audioscoop,invites artists to 'explore the boundaries in sound and music'.This double LP contains a selection of artists who where partof these events, between 2005 and 2007. They were asked to deliverexclusive material or edits from their live performances at IntroIn Situ. Quite some pioneer explorers are to be found here: AsmusTietchens, Das Synthetische Mischgewebe, Aube, Kapotte Muziek,Sudden Infant and the late MSBR (sadly, one of his last concertswas the one in Maastricht). They are placed, fittingly well, togetherwith some new kids on the block: Arnoud Rivière, Meta Orcha,incite/, Thuth, Ex.Zero and (of course) Feedback Society. I shouldalso mention the fieldrecording composition made by Rinus vanAlebeek: it deals with chocolate and is really funny (with anodd erotic twist). In conclusion: highly enjoyable record thatgives a nice overview of what has been so far, and makes you lookforward to the events to come.
Freiband (aka Frans de Waard) was present at the release partyfor above mentioned double LP. He was asked to speak some wordson the history of Audioscoop and the to-be-presented compilation.After the words, followed a Freiband performance and for thisevent he made a remix of the material present on the double LP.Since I was present at the event I started off with hearing theremix, before I had actually heard the compilation itself. Notthat that is very essential, but at that moment I had no recognitionof the individual elements - I wasn't even aware of hearing myselfback in the live remix! Now that I have notion of the tracks onthe double LP I do. To some extent, this composition (dividedin three recognizable parts) also follows the mood line of thecompilation; changing from subtle sound experiments in the beginning,to a growing noisier outburst in the middle and collagesque elementsthroughout and towards the end. Quite an exciting piece and anice accompaniment to the compilation! (SDT)
Address: http://www.introinsitu.nl
Address: http://www.kormplastics.nl/moll.html
FREIBAND - CAPTURE (3' CDR by My Own Little Label)
Since 2005, 'Audioscoop' is an ongoing series of musicalevents, held in the lovely soundworkplace 'Intro In Situ',in Maastricht, the Netherlands. Kim Laugs, member of FeedbackSociety and who I suspect to be the brainchild behind Audioscoop,invites artists to 'explore the boundaries in sound and music'.This double LP contains a selection of artists who where partof these events, between 2005 and 2007. They were asked to deliverexclusive material or edits from their live performances at IntroIn Situ. Quite some pioneer explorers are to be found here: AsmusTietchens, Das Synthetische Mischgewebe, Aube, Kapotte Muziek,Sudden Infant and the late MSBR (sadly, one of his last concertswas the one in Maastricht). They are placed, fittingly well, togetherwith some new kids on the block: Arnoud Rivière, Meta Orcha,incite/, Thuth, Ex.Zero and (of course) Feedback Society. I shouldalso mention the fieldrecording composition made by Rinus vanAlebeek: it deals with chocolate and is really funny (with anodd erotic twist). In conclusion: highly enjoyable record thatgives a nice overview of what has been so far, and makes you lookforward to the events to come.
Freiband (aka Frans de Waard) was present at the release partyfor above mentioned double LP. He was asked to speak some wordson the history of Audioscoop and the to-be-presented compilation.After the words, followed a Freiband performance and for thisevent he made a remix of the material present on the double LP.Since I was present at the event I started off with hearing theremix, before I had actually heard the compilation itself. Notthat that is very essential, but at that moment I had no recognitionof the individual elements - I wasn't even aware of hearing myselfback in the live remix! Now that I have notion of the tracks onthe double LP I do. To some extent, this composition (dividedin three recognizable parts) also follows the mood line of thecompilation; changing from subtle sound experiments in the beginning,to a growing noisier outburst in the middle and collagesque elementsthroughout and towards the end. Quite an exciting piece and anice accompaniment to the compilation! (SDT)
Address: http://www.introinsitu.nl
Address: http://www.kormplastics.nl/moll.html
MOLJEBKA PVLSE - IODE/IVX (7' by DroneRecords)
NOISE DREAMS MACHINE - IN/OUT (7' by Drone Records)
SHRINE - DISTORTED LEGENDS (7' by Drone Records)
XABEC - FEUERSTERN (7' by Drone Records)
With something of pure amazement I can look at the releases ofDrone Records, now up to their 7' number 89 to 92! And what'salso amazing is the fact that Drone always seems to be able tofind names I never heard of, except, in this case, Moljebka Pvlse.To start with what we know. Mathias Josefson has already a bunchof releases at his name (his latest was a very nice project thatincluded a CDR in an edition of 10 copies of processed singingwith his mother!), but here on 'Iode/Ixv' he returns to the fullform drone music that Moljebka Pvlse is best known. Two introspectivepieces of music that move like lazy, slow animals. That, or it'sthe slowed down pastoral chords on a church organ. A drone recordsblue print this one. Dark, atmospheric and highly drone like.
Noise Dreams Machine is one Oscar Martin from Spain, who is partlybased in Berlin and partly in Barcelona, working on homemade softwarefor 'sound deconstruction and realtime performance'. Here DroneRecords moves away from the pure drone music field into electroacoustic music. It's very hard to tell what it is that Martindoes here, or what sounds are used in this input. They are allblurred somewhere in the computer into a somewhat harsher setof sounds, but that also works well as a piece of drone music.Very nice one, this.
Shrine hails from Bulgaria, not a likely place for the avant-garde,but perhaps things are growing over there. Here too it's not easyto tell what is done, but my best guess would be that Shrine hassome analogue gear which he recorded on a four track to createa little more melodic version of drone music on the a-side. Onthe other side he puts on some more noise and to that end he usesa guitar. Shrine makes things a bit more 'gothic' style, withhummings created by the presets of his synthesizers, but he cleverlymanages to stay on the right side (of the brain?).
The best package is kept until the end. Xabec has two versionsof his 'Feuerstern' (Firestar), which is 'a choreographed performancefeaturing music and fireworks'. The studio version of the mainthem has a lush ambient texture to it, with some deep end soundand faint sounds of things falling. That could be fireworks butperhaps its something else. On the other side there is a liveversion that includes Micheal Northam moving around with microphonesand Xabec also adds some pre-recorded material by Northam. Itstarts with fireworks, but it turns out to be an entirely differentpiece of music. Moving around with a harsher texture and evensome rhythm this is also a great piece, albeit a big more rough.This 7' comes in a cardboard box with embossed gold printing.The best of the otherwise not bad either rest. And now Drone Recordsis reaching number 100, isn't it time for a 10 CD (well, or so)of all the releases so far?
Address: http://www.dronerecords.de
NOISE DREAMS MACHINE - IN/OUT (7' by Drone Records)
SHRINE - DISTORTED LEGENDS (7' by Drone Records)
XABEC - FEUERSTERN (7' by Drone Records)
With something of pure amazement I can look at the releases ofDrone Records, now up to their 7' number 89 to 92! And what'salso amazing is the fact that Drone always seems to be able tofind names I never heard of, except, in this case, Moljebka Pvlse.To start with what we know. Mathias Josefson has already a bunchof releases at his name (his latest was a very nice project thatincluded a CDR in an edition of 10 copies of processed singingwith his mother!), but here on 'Iode/Ixv' he returns to the fullform drone music that Moljebka Pvlse is best known. Two introspectivepieces of music that move like lazy, slow animals. That, or it'sthe slowed down pastoral chords on a church organ. A drone recordsblue print this one. Dark, atmospheric and highly drone like.
Noise Dreams Machine is one Oscar Martin from Spain, who is partlybased in Berlin and partly in Barcelona, working on homemade softwarefor 'sound deconstruction and realtime performance'. Here DroneRecords moves away from the pure drone music field into electroacoustic music. It's very hard to tell what it is that Martindoes here, or what sounds are used in this input. They are allblurred somewhere in the computer into a somewhat harsher setof sounds, but that also works well as a piece of drone music.Very nice one, this.
Shrine hails from Bulgaria, not a likely place for the avant-garde,but perhaps things are growing over there. Here too it's not easyto tell what is done, but my best guess would be that Shrine hassome analogue gear which he recorded on a four track to createa little more melodic version of drone music on the a-side. Onthe other side he puts on some more noise and to that end he usesa guitar. Shrine makes things a bit more 'gothic' style, withhummings created by the presets of his synthesizers, but he cleverlymanages to stay on the right side (of the brain?).
The best package is kept until the end. Xabec has two versionsof his 'Feuerstern' (Firestar), which is 'a choreographed performancefeaturing music and fireworks'. The studio version of the mainthem has a lush ambient texture to it, with some deep end soundand faint sounds of things falling. That could be fireworks butperhaps its something else. On the other side there is a liveversion that includes Micheal Northam moving around with microphonesand Xabec also adds some pre-recorded material by Northam. Itstarts with fireworks, but it turns out to be an entirely differentpiece of music. Moving around with a harsher texture and evensome rhythm this is also a great piece, albeit a big more rough.This 7' comes in a cardboard box with embossed gold printing.The best of the otherwise not bad either rest. And now Drone Recordsis reaching number 100, isn't it time for a 10 CD (well, or so)of all the releases so far?
Address: http://www.dronerecords.de
MYSTIFIED - SUBDIALOGUE (CDR by Verato Project)
While doing so many small things around here, I played 'Sub Dialogue'by Mystified twice in a row. Perhaps I was not entirely convincedwhat I heard, or some such reason. Or perhaps I wanted to doublecheck things. Mystified belong to the sort of musicians who playmusic as a hobby. Switch on the machines, create some music throughsound manipulation and see who is going to release it. No plan,no grandiose schematic to change the world of music. Just do whateverneeds to be done. Nothing wrong with that. But on this end, thereviewer's end, things aren't that easy. First of all there areso many things by one and the same artist that it's hard to seewhat is going on and secondly, for some of the people goes, heardone, heard all. Actually I do like Mystified low resolution samplingambient industrial wall paper. Not a lot, but it's nice and itreminds me of say City of Worms or some early Hands To, and 'Subdialogue'is no different. No development and interchangeable. Its somethingyou hear and go 'oh nice', but you wouldn't necessarily play itagain (unless of course you are reviewer). (FdW)
Address: http://www.verato-project.de
While doing so many small things around here, I played 'Sub Dialogue'by Mystified twice in a row. Perhaps I was not entirely convincedwhat I heard, or some such reason. Or perhaps I wanted to doublecheck things. Mystified belong to the sort of musicians who playmusic as a hobby. Switch on the machines, create some music throughsound manipulation and see who is going to release it. No plan,no grandiose schematic to change the world of music. Just do whateverneeds to be done. Nothing wrong with that. But on this end, thereviewer's end, things aren't that easy. First of all there areso many things by one and the same artist that it's hard to seewhat is going on and secondly, for some of the people goes, heardone, heard all. Actually I do like Mystified low resolution samplingambient industrial wall paper. Not a lot, but it's nice and itreminds me of say City of Worms or some early Hands To, and 'Subdialogue'is no different. No development and interchangeable. Its somethingyou hear and go 'oh nice', but you wouldn't necessarily play itagain (unless of course you are reviewer). (FdW)
Address: http://www.verato-project.de
STEVE PETERS - FILTERED LIGHT (CHAMBER MUSIC4) (CDR by Dragon's Eye Recordings)
Part four in an ongoing series of site-specific sound installations'derived from recordings of the empty rooms in which the workis exhibited'. Here it's the turn of Steve Peters, whom we knowthrough his releases on his own Nonsequitur as well as for otherlabels. Sitting in an empty room is something we hardly do ofcourse, filled as they are with furniture, music and activity.But should you have the possibility to listen to empty spacesthan you would realize there is a lot to hear. Peters recordedthe room for an hour and selected fourteen frequencies between70Hz an 3Khz. The hour was divided into thirty-two segments ofvarying length, played at random on a four channel installation.As such that what we get here is just one possible interactionof this. Cut as one track, leaving no room for us to further randomizethe event, this is an absolute great piece of music. Very microsoundof course, but things move around, change color, change shapeand keep evolving throughout the course of the piece. Music tobe played in a full room, sit back, relax and enjoy. It's verymuch a Brian Eno piece updated to today's technology. What elsecan I say? Simply gorgeous. (FdW)
Address: http://www.dragonseyerecordings.com
Part four in an ongoing series of site-specific sound installations'derived from recordings of the empty rooms in which the workis exhibited'. Here it's the turn of Steve Peters, whom we knowthrough his releases on his own Nonsequitur as well as for otherlabels. Sitting in an empty room is something we hardly do ofcourse, filled as they are with furniture, music and activity.But should you have the possibility to listen to empty spacesthan you would realize there is a lot to hear. Peters recordedthe room for an hour and selected fourteen frequencies between70Hz an 3Khz. The hour was divided into thirty-two segments ofvarying length, played at random on a four channel installation.As such that what we get here is just one possible interactionof this. Cut as one track, leaving no room for us to further randomizethe event, this is an absolute great piece of music. Very microsoundof course, but things move around, change color, change shapeand keep evolving throughout the course of the piece. Music tobe played in a full room, sit back, relax and enjoy. It's verymuch a Brian Eno piece updated to today's technology. What elsecan I say? Simply gorgeous. (FdW)
Address: http://www.dragonseyerecordings.com
OZMADAWN - RISE OF THE MOTH (CDR by ChambaraRecords)
HORSEFLESH - SYNTHENESIA 1 (CDR by Chambara Records)
With titles like - Synthenesia 1, tracks called The Breath OfOrion and notes' For the Ra of the Sun and the Eye in thePyramid' its difficult to be serious - or should it be 'Sirius'(boom boom). Actual I think Stockhausen (R.I.N.) claimed he hailedfrom the neighborhood of said star and spoke approvingly of 9-11- both facts kept quiet by his minders- I digress, Freudian avoidance-Synthenesia has fairly straight FM sounding works - long quitesparse - and well - I just don't get the point? - The Rise ofthe Moth (there is nothing more dangerous than a cornered moth)is a little more interesting as Dereck Donohue has support fromJonah Rust, he really does spell his name Dereck. and readingon 'Recorded at Vahalla Summer 2007 Post Production by SkozeyFetisch' - umm two things - its sounding like a Douglas Adamshitch hiker cast list - so the whole thing might be a giant pun(to set the controls to the heart of..) and I recently got flakfor commenting not on the music but extraneous detail- as if itmatters what planet they think they are on to criticizing themusic, but Hitler's watercolors are still crap- so TROTM - moreinteresting frippery but the opening track sounds a little likethe theme music to Marathon Man - sets your teeth on edge then?is it safe - yes very- Actually an old Aunt of mine (RIP) wasonce bitten by a moth which drew blood. So careful with that mothEugene? ..oh and 'Style: Krautrock, Drone, Space Rock, Noise,Experimental' .....(jliat)
Address: <[email protected]>
HORSEFLESH - SYNTHENESIA 1 (CDR by Chambara Records)
With titles like - Synthenesia 1, tracks called The Breath OfOrion and notes' For the Ra of the Sun and the Eye in thePyramid' its difficult to be serious - or should it be 'Sirius'(boom boom). Actual I think Stockhausen (R.I.N.) claimed he hailedfrom the neighborhood of said star and spoke approvingly of 9-11- both facts kept quiet by his minders- I digress, Freudian avoidance-Synthenesia has fairly straight FM sounding works - long quitesparse - and well - I just don't get the point? - The Rise ofthe Moth (there is nothing more dangerous than a cornered moth)is a little more interesting as Dereck Donohue has support fromJonah Rust, he really does spell his name Dereck. and readingon 'Recorded at Vahalla Summer 2007 Post Production by SkozeyFetisch' - umm two things - its sounding like a Douglas Adamshitch hiker cast list - so the whole thing might be a giant pun(to set the controls to the heart of..) and I recently got flakfor commenting not on the music but extraneous detail- as if itmatters what planet they think they are on to criticizing themusic, but Hitler's watercolors are still crap- so TROTM - moreinteresting frippery but the opening track sounds a little likethe theme music to Marathon Man - sets your teeth on edge then?is it safe - yes very- Actually an old Aunt of mine (RIP) wasonce bitten by a moth which drew blood. So careful with that mothEugene? ..oh and 'Style: Krautrock, Drone, Space Rock, Noise,Experimental' .....(jliat)
Address: <[email protected]>
K.E. REVIS - BANISHING ANXIETIES (CDR byBXR Records)
K.E. REVIS - LETTING GO (CDR by BXR Records)
Only two weeks ago we were introduced to the music of K.E. Revis,who started to release his music for the first time in 2007, butwho had been around for years dabbling around. Here he sent usa slightly older release, the first from 2007 and a most recentone. 'Banishing Anxieties' is the older one, and has four superlong tracks, almost spanning the entire eighty minutes of theCDR. Revis tells us that 'both (are) quite different from eachother and from the previous one you reviewed'. That is true, butthe differences are not that big. Come to think of it: I am notsure if I could tell they are from Revis, if you wake me up andasked me this all important question. On the 2007 release thereis a touch more ambient sounds going on. But it's ambient witha small 'a' and a lot of industrial music influences. Using keyboards,sometimes to be recognized and sometimes not, as the main sourceof music, there is also quite a lot of sound effects applied here,which is of course o.k. had it not been that the sound gets quiteblurry. That is a pity since with some more creative mixing guessthings would have certainly improved, as the fourth (untitled)piece proofs - the best of the lot.
On 'Letting Go', Revis explores the noise route more. Shortertracks and more this time around. Here too things dwell extensivelyon the use of sound effects, albeit in a more gritty manner. Rightfrom the start things explode, rumble and distort, but in an oddway Revis actually composes more with the sounds at hand. On hisother releases it's more like a free flow of sound, here he triesto compose music with the components at hand. Perhaps I hearda bit too much noise in my days to get overtly excited about this,but this is actually his best release yet. Maybe apply the composingmethods to his other, more ambient oriented music, and turn outa really great release. (FdW)
Address: http://www.bxrrecords.com
K.E. REVIS - LETTING GO (CDR by BXR Records)
Only two weeks ago we were introduced to the music of K.E. Revis,who started to release his music for the first time in 2007, butwho had been around for years dabbling around. Here he sent usa slightly older release, the first from 2007 and a most recentone. 'Banishing Anxieties' is the older one, and has four superlong tracks, almost spanning the entire eighty minutes of theCDR. Revis tells us that 'both (are) quite different from eachother and from the previous one you reviewed'. That is true, butthe differences are not that big. Come to think of it: I am notsure if I could tell they are from Revis, if you wake me up andasked me this all important question. On the 2007 release thereis a touch more ambient sounds going on. But it's ambient witha small 'a' and a lot of industrial music influences. Using keyboards,sometimes to be recognized and sometimes not, as the main sourceof music, there is also quite a lot of sound effects applied here,which is of course o.k. had it not been that the sound gets quiteblurry. That is a pity since with some more creative mixing guessthings would have certainly improved, as the fourth (untitled)piece proofs - the best of the lot.
On 'Letting Go', Revis explores the noise route more. Shortertracks and more this time around. Here too things dwell extensivelyon the use of sound effects, albeit in a more gritty manner. Rightfrom the start things explode, rumble and distort, but in an oddway Revis actually composes more with the sounds at hand. On hisother releases it's more like a free flow of sound, here he triesto compose music with the components at hand. Perhaps I hearda bit too much noise in my days to get overtly excited about this,but this is actually his best release yet. Maybe apply the composingmethods to his other, more ambient oriented music, and turn outa really great release. (FdW)
Address: http://www.bxrrecords.com
THE LAMB AN THE TYGER (CDR by I Had An AccidentRecords)
SAM FEMINO - THE ROARKIAN TEMPLATE (CDR by I Had An Accident Records)
TUGBOAT - THE ASTORIANS (CDR by I Had An Accident Records)
As long as the promotional budget is spent it's all fine. It reallydoesn't matter where things go. The Lamb And The Tiger is describedas 'indie rock from Gettysburg, PA. Two boys Joe and Rob write/singabout liberal arts'. Music with balls by and for boys. 'Powerful'indie rock, latin text in the opening 'The Tyger', which is likea prog rock piece. Then things slow down, a ballad even, and itstays there for much too long before speeding up in 'Cellblock'.All the time I was thinking, why did I get this. But I wasn'tprepared for Sam Femino, 'a folk singer from New England', whichstarts out a cappella, but then straps on his guitar and mumble/singshis way through a bunch of songs. Cheap low recording, false singingand playing the guitar. Perhaps I'm missing the outsider pointentirely here, which might happen, but I'm prepared to take thatrisk. One to forget.
Tugboat are two boys living in Portland, Oregon and deliver 'themost intriguing music to date. Very deliberate material' we arepromised. They two have a guitar, an amplifier, the same cheapmicrophone, but there is some feedback and a whole bunch of obscuredsounds, which make it more nicer than the other two releases.Intriguing perhaps for what they want to do, but otherwise itsounds like another attempt at being outsider, strange or suchlike, which is also, at times, an excuse for mediocare ideas andlikewise playing. (FdW)
Address: http://www.ihadanaccidentrecords.com
SAM FEMINO - THE ROARKIAN TEMPLATE (CDR by I Had An Accident Records)
TUGBOAT - THE ASTORIANS (CDR by I Had An Accident Records)
As long as the promotional budget is spent it's all fine. It reallydoesn't matter where things go. The Lamb And The Tiger is describedas 'indie rock from Gettysburg, PA. Two boys Joe and Rob write/singabout liberal arts'. Music with balls by and for boys. 'Powerful'indie rock, latin text in the opening 'The Tyger', which is likea prog rock piece. Then things slow down, a ballad even, and itstays there for much too long before speeding up in 'Cellblock'.All the time I was thinking, why did I get this. But I wasn'tprepared for Sam Femino, 'a folk singer from New England', whichstarts out a cappella, but then straps on his guitar and mumble/singshis way through a bunch of songs. Cheap low recording, false singingand playing the guitar. Perhaps I'm missing the outsider pointentirely here, which might happen, but I'm prepared to take thatrisk. One to forget.
Tugboat are two boys living in Portland, Oregon and deliver 'themost intriguing music to date. Very deliberate material' we arepromised. They two have a guitar, an amplifier, the same cheapmicrophone, but there is some feedback and a whole bunch of obscuredsounds, which make it more nicer than the other two releases.Intriguing perhaps for what they want to do, but otherwise itsounds like another attempt at being outsider, strange or suchlike, which is also, at times, an excuse for mediocare ideas andlikewise playing. (FdW)
Address: http://www.ihadanaccidentrecords.com
BABA LLAGA - GESAMTKUNSTWERK (CDR by Hamaika)
You can watch at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpfOSehym9c andget some idea of the sound/concept - but on this recording theyplay magnificently with the stereo field and excellent sound qualities- samples - voices clips etc.- this is a very peculiar disk -the cut ups are short clearly and cleverly defined - you'll geta better idea of the sound @ http://www.myspace.com/baballaga- the work despite the youtube extravaganza is remarkably refined- almost a genre of its own though not surprising - not beingin the mainstream of LA or even perhaps not their native country- are- (they deserve a name check!) miguel a garcía (mixes,effects, feedbacks, rhythms), raul dominguez (metallic percussion,radio, musical instruments) daniel llaria (voices, shouts, thrashdrums, performance) itziar markiegi (mediatic sampling, effectspedal, ixi software)- from Bilbao - and produce really excellentand original material -after listening to just too much pretentiousindustrial clankery from across the pond this makes a very refreshingchange - well *novelty* - it reminds me of some strange animationsof the 60s - pop/fast frame - BABA LLAGA - could be consideredpop at times - avant garde at others- all I can say in closingis I recommend you take a listen - if only to see how reverenceand pretension can make for pretentious crap which is a politeway of referring to some other recent material I've been listeningto. And if any A&R people read this - god why- sign this group-the next Autechure or Pansonic? Brilliant- neo-fluxus. marx brosmeet Stockhausen.. off the wall out of the frame leftfield.. (Imust stop- but track 16 baba llaga though it's just aaaa- scream!.jliat.)
Address: http://www.xedh.org/baballaga/
You can watch at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpfOSehym9c andget some idea of the sound/concept - but on this recording theyplay magnificently with the stereo field and excellent sound qualities- samples - voices clips etc.- this is a very peculiar disk -the cut ups are short clearly and cleverly defined - you'll geta better idea of the sound @ http://www.myspace.com/baballaga- the work despite the youtube extravaganza is remarkably refined- almost a genre of its own though not surprising - not beingin the mainstream of LA or even perhaps not their native country- are- (they deserve a name check!) miguel a garcía (mixes,effects, feedbacks, rhythms), raul dominguez (metallic percussion,radio, musical instruments) daniel llaria (voices, shouts, thrashdrums, performance) itziar markiegi (mediatic sampling, effectspedal, ixi software)- from Bilbao - and produce really excellentand original material -after listening to just too much pretentiousindustrial clankery from across the pond this makes a very refreshingchange - well *novelty* - it reminds me of some strange animationsof the 60s - pop/fast frame - BABA LLAGA - could be consideredpop at times - avant garde at others- all I can say in closingis I recommend you take a listen - if only to see how reverenceand pretension can make for pretentious crap which is a politeway of referring to some other recent material I've been listeningto. And if any A&R people read this - god why- sign this group-the next Autechure or Pansonic? Brilliant- neo-fluxus. marx brosmeet Stockhausen.. off the wall out of the frame leftfield.. (Imust stop- but track 16 baba llaga though it's just aaaa- scream!.jliat.)
Address: http://www.xedh.org/baballaga/
MAIKKO - TLAYACAPAN (CDR by Gruenrekorder)
TBC - PFALZ II (CDR by Gruenrekorder)
SUSPICION BREEDS CONFIDENCE - THE FAUNA AND FLORA OF THE VATICANCITY (CD by Gruenrekorder)
LASSE-MARC RIEK - ISLANDS (CDR by Oem Records)
I believe I never heard of Maikko, who is from Italy and is aco-founder of Otolab and works with electronic music and visuals.He is also a member of Newtone2060, with Cristiano Calcagnileand turntablist MM. He has some solo releases, on Polarity Recordsand Stasisfield. On his third solo release he works with fieldrecording - putting the kettle on - along with highly processedcomputer generated music and sound. All in quite a minimal fashion,but not very coherent. Sometimes he tries to be microsound, thenfield recording and then even a bit of rhythm is used, but itfails to impress me. Overall it's not unpleasant to hear but nothingreally sticks.
Thomas Beck has been around for a long time. I never knew he wasbehind H64, which I once called the loudest in Europe. He's alsoresponsible for the Wachsender Prozess label, Odradek magazineand his own radio programm. These days his solo project is calledTBC and as such he has done already a couple of releases. ForGruenrekorder he made a work that falls in the section of fieldrecordings (the label works with various categories). We hearTBC mostly dealing with wind sounds, out there in North Germany'scold forest in one piece that lasts about thirty minutes or abit less. Cleverly divided into smaller blocks with silence inbetween, this is almost like a Lopez like work and certainly thebest work I ever heard coming out of his hands. Away is the roughnessof the electro-acoustics of before and replaced by a subtle pieceof field recordings most easy to capture event: wind. Very niceindeed.
I am a bit puzzled by fact why the release by Suspicion BreedsConfidence, a.k.a. Tobias Schmitt and his friends is releasedon a CD. Maybe the band had money to spend. They play electronicmusic, based around slow rhythms, that, well why not, could maybebe described as dub rhythms. Around these float a whole bunchof sounds, but I must admit it all sounds very tame to me. Noneof the pieces could really interest me or grab me. I have no ideawhat inspired them to make this, other than perhaps the smokingof cannabis while recording this.
Labelboss Lasse-Marc Riek goes away from his own label to OemRecords for the release of his 'Islands' CDR. Recorded on twosmall islands, Amrum and Poel in the northwest and northeast ofGermany. This is a work of pure phonography: take a microphoneinto the country side and record whatever happens there. We hearseagulls, cows, sea, wind and human activity, most likely farming,I think. Riek takes all of these sounds and presents them as pureblocks of untreated field recordings. Nice to hear, but probablynicer to record while there. He does a fine, but not great job.Stuff like this has been done before, better or, if you want thereal thing, go out and listen.
Address: http://www.gruenrekorder.de
Address: http://www.oemrecords.net
TBC - PFALZ II (CDR by Gruenrekorder)
SUSPICION BREEDS CONFIDENCE - THE FAUNA AND FLORA OF THE VATICANCITY (CD by Gruenrekorder)
LASSE-MARC RIEK - ISLANDS (CDR by Oem Records)
I believe I never heard of Maikko, who is from Italy and is aco-founder of Otolab and works with electronic music and visuals.He is also a member of Newtone2060, with Cristiano Calcagnileand turntablist MM. He has some solo releases, on Polarity Recordsand Stasisfield. On his third solo release he works with fieldrecording - putting the kettle on - along with highly processedcomputer generated music and sound. All in quite a minimal fashion,but not very coherent. Sometimes he tries to be microsound, thenfield recording and then even a bit of rhythm is used, but itfails to impress me. Overall it's not unpleasant to hear but nothingreally sticks.
Thomas Beck has been around for a long time. I never knew he wasbehind H64, which I once called the loudest in Europe. He's alsoresponsible for the Wachsender Prozess label, Odradek magazineand his own radio programm. These days his solo project is calledTBC and as such he has done already a couple of releases. ForGruenrekorder he made a work that falls in the section of fieldrecordings (the label works with various categories). We hearTBC mostly dealing with wind sounds, out there in North Germany'scold forest in one piece that lasts about thirty minutes or abit less. Cleverly divided into smaller blocks with silence inbetween, this is almost like a Lopez like work and certainly thebest work I ever heard coming out of his hands. Away is the roughnessof the electro-acoustics of before and replaced by a subtle pieceof field recordings most easy to capture event: wind. Very niceindeed.
I am a bit puzzled by fact why the release by Suspicion BreedsConfidence, a.k.a. Tobias Schmitt and his friends is releasedon a CD. Maybe the band had money to spend. They play electronicmusic, based around slow rhythms, that, well why not, could maybebe described as dub rhythms. Around these float a whole bunchof sounds, but I must admit it all sounds very tame to me. Noneof the pieces could really interest me or grab me. I have no ideawhat inspired them to make this, other than perhaps the smokingof cannabis while recording this.
Labelboss Lasse-Marc Riek goes away from his own label to OemRecords for the release of his 'Islands' CDR. Recorded on twosmall islands, Amrum and Poel in the northwest and northeast ofGermany. This is a work of pure phonography: take a microphoneinto the country side and record whatever happens there. We hearseagulls, cows, sea, wind and human activity, most likely farming,I think. Riek takes all of these sounds and presents them as pureblocks of untreated field recordings. Nice to hear, but probablynicer to record while there. He does a fine, but not great job.Stuff like this has been done before, better or, if you want thereal thing, go out and listen.
Address: http://www.gruenrekorder.de
Address: http://www.oemrecords.net
STEINBRÜCHEL & MACHINEFABRIEK -STAUB (3' CDR by Machinefabriek)
Following his long string of 3' releases Machinefabriek isnow expanding more and more his horizon and ready to take overthe world. To reach that goal, Machinefabriek collaborates withothers, such as Freiband, Stephen Vitiello or in person with RalphSteinbrüchel. A mere two weeks ago, Rutger Zuydervelt wasin Zürich to play a concert and did a concert with Steinbrüchel,all based on samples from Machinefabriek's 'Stofstuk', of whichhe also released a double CD with remixes. In twenty two minutesthe two stretch out the music into a wealthy tapestry of sound,with a big gigantic flow underneath and on top things flow inand out of the mix. There is a certain roughness to the musicthat no doubt has to do with the fact that this is a live recording,but its a roughness that I quite like. It keeps the listener attention,and presents him from lulling asleep, which might have done whenit was a more subtle studio version. Heavy mood music for heavymoods. Spacious but with a strong bite. (FdW)
Address: http://www.machinefabriek.nu
Following his long string of 3' releases Machinefabriek isnow expanding more and more his horizon and ready to take overthe world. To reach that goal, Machinefabriek collaborates withothers, such as Freiband, Stephen Vitiello or in person with RalphSteinbrüchel. A mere two weeks ago, Rutger Zuydervelt wasin Zürich to play a concert and did a concert with Steinbrüchel,all based on samples from Machinefabriek's 'Stofstuk', of whichhe also released a double CD with remixes. In twenty two minutesthe two stretch out the music into a wealthy tapestry of sound,with a big gigantic flow underneath and on top things flow inand out of the mix. There is a certain roughness to the musicthat no doubt has to do with the fact that this is a live recording,but its a roughness that I quite like. It keeps the listener attention,and presents him from lulling asleep, which might have done whenit was a more subtle studio version. Heavy mood music for heavymoods. Spacious but with a strong bite. (FdW)
Address: http://www.machinefabriek.nu
ORIGAMI BOE - ACOUSTIC LAPTOPS (MP3 by Ambolthue)
Just what is an acoustic laptop? Its a suitcase of objects thatcan be played, by hand, with sticks. It has a contact microphoneso that the box can be amplified. It's an invention that is madeby Origami Boe and which he used to play concerts with throughoutEurope. Since Origami Boe is a visual artist these boxes looklike art objects and since he has made various, there is now anexhibition of them in Oslo. On Ambolthue you can make this downloadand there is a nice booklet (full color, glossy printed) bookletavailable. In the booklet photo's and information on these laptopsand some background. The music is highly acoustic. Boe uses noelectronic processing, but the sounds are as clear as possible.Pieces of metal, glass, strings, bolts and egg slicer are playedwith great care and style, solo or with others, making a finedelicate electro-acoustic sound play that owes more to KapotteMuziek than Merzbow. More than the music, the booklet is the realtreasure of information and inspiration. Do it yourself didn'tcame much closer to you than this. (FdW)
Address: http://www.ambolthue.com
Just what is an acoustic laptop? Its a suitcase of objects thatcan be played, by hand, with sticks. It has a contact microphoneso that the box can be amplified. It's an invention that is madeby Origami Boe and which he used to play concerts with throughoutEurope. Since Origami Boe is a visual artist these boxes looklike art objects and since he has made various, there is now anexhibition of them in Oslo. On Ambolthue you can make this downloadand there is a nice booklet (full color, glossy printed) bookletavailable. In the booklet photo's and information on these laptopsand some background. The music is highly acoustic. Boe uses noelectronic processing, but the sounds are as clear as possible.Pieces of metal, glass, strings, bolts and egg slicer are playedwith great care and style, solo or with others, making a finedelicate electro-acoustic sound play that owes more to KapotteMuziek than Merzbow. More than the music, the booklet is the realtreasure of information and inspiration. Do it yourself didn'tcame much closer to you than this. (FdW)
Address: http://www.ambolthue.com
BLINDHEAO - IT'S A BIT LIKE PLAYING A GAME- FRUSTRATING GAME IN WHICH THE RULES MIGHT CHANGE AT A MOMENT'SNOTICE (MP3 by Ruidemos)
It's a bit hard to write the name correct of this band, as the'a' and 'e' should be together and the 'o' has something to it.It's all Icelandic and means blind spot. I type Blindheao, ifyou don't mind. I don't know where they are from, but perhapsnot Iceland. Some of the pieces on 'It's A Bit Like Playing AGame - A Frustrating Game In Which The Rules Might Change At AMoment's Notice' were presented at Cinema Nova in Brussels andfor its source the band (?) used field recordings made in Brussels,Komarom, Bamberg, Jakarta, Bandung and Makassar. Not that is possibleto recognize any of that, since they are all electronically transformed,beyond recognition. Throughout Blindheao creates a fine microsoundlike work, which only very occasionally goes to a bit more noisyand/or rhythmical area of work. Not really the most surprisingpiece of work, but it works quite well as a backdrop for musicwhile you work. Very electronical in approach, a sort of experimentalambient. (FdW)
Address: http://ruidemos.freelinuxhost.com
It's a bit hard to write the name correct of this band, as the'a' and 'e' should be together and the 'o' has something to it.It's all Icelandic and means blind spot. I type Blindheao, ifyou don't mind. I don't know where they are from, but perhapsnot Iceland. Some of the pieces on 'It's A Bit Like Playing AGame - A Frustrating Game In Which The Rules Might Change At AMoment's Notice' were presented at Cinema Nova in Brussels andfor its source the band (?) used field recordings made in Brussels,Komarom, Bamberg, Jakarta, Bandung and Makassar. Not that is possibleto recognize any of that, since they are all electronically transformed,beyond recognition. Throughout Blindheao creates a fine microsoundlike work, which only very occasionally goes to a bit more noisyand/or rhythmical area of work. Not really the most surprisingpiece of work, but it works quite well as a backdrop for musicwhile you work. Very electronical in approach, a sort of experimentalambient. (FdW)
Address: http://ruidemos.freelinuxhost.com
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