Number 1014

ASCANIO BORGA – ALTERED STATES (2CD by Sonic Boundaries) *
KAZUYA MATSUMOTO – MIZU NO KATACHI (CD by Spekk) *
ALEJANDRO FRANOV – RIO (CD by Nature Bliss) *
ANDERS LONNE GRONSETH – MINI MACRO ENSEMBLE -2ND EDIT VOLT (CD by Pling Music)
WÍEMAN – CRYPTONESIA (LP by ini.itu) *
NEXT DELUSION – SAME (LP by Shameless Records)
THE NORDIC SOUND ART (compilation LP by Nordic Sound Art)
LEGENDARY PINK DOTS – FIVE DAYS (CDR by The Terminal Kaleidoscope) *
JONATHAN KAWCHUK – NORTH (CDR Eilean Records) *
ALEX KELLER – BLACK OUT (CDR by Mimeomeme) *
SAVVAS METAXAS – SCENES (CDR by More Mars) *
DOC WÖR MIRRAN – SYMPHONY IN A(NNOY) (CDR by Attenuation Circuit) *
LE SCRAMBLED DEBUTANTE – NUDE SKY (CDR by Attenuation Circuit) *
NEARFALL (cassette by Audio Visuals Atmosphere)
SEQUENCES – A DARKNESS VISIBLE (cassette by Audio Visuals Atmosphere)
RICHARD FRANCIS – COMBINATIONS #1 (cassette by Entr’acte)
HOW TO CURE OUR SOUL – LUNA (cassette by Low Point)

ASCANIO BORGA – ALTERED STATES (2CD by Sonic Boundaries)

It’s hard to believe but it seems that I wrote about Ascanio Borga three times in
Vital Weekly, in issue 550, 600 and 657, but not after that. I have no idea why
there is such a long gap in producing some new music (and I surely would have
believed it wasn’t that long ago), but he manages now to release a double CD of
recent works. Like before Borga’s main instrument is the guitar but unlike before
it’s just the guitar and no percussion, wind chimes, Japanese carillon, frog guiro,
samples, found sounds and objects as on the last release. He writes that ‘Altered
States’ is an album of ‘guitar solos’ and that they were all recorded live in the
studio, with no additional overdubs. That still is something that leaves many
options open, and Borga certainly explores a few roads here. Drones are, obviously,
an important part of these twelve pieces (close to ninety minutes in total), with
some of these being viciously loud and noisy, or, as in ‘Magma’ or ‘Radiance’ with
an orchestral touch. Sometimes there is a more rock like approach to his guitar
sound and Borga layers many of these on top of each other: effects such as loopers,
delay and reverb play an important role, as well amplification. In ‘Harsh Ground’
the resemblance with guitar sound is virtually gone in favour of a more abstract,
controlled feedback. A minority of the pieces consist of more open ended strumming
of the six strings, which I think is a pity; the release could have used a little
more variation I think. The balance is now in favour of the noisy nightmares of
burning distortion boxes, wandering off in the endless void of reverb and feedback.
I think a stricter selection of pieces, ultimately fitting on a single disc,
would have made a much stronger release. But now, spread out over two discs, this
is just a ‘great’ one as well. (FdW)
   Address: http://www.ascanioborga.com

KAZUYA MATSUMOTO – MIZU NO KATACHI (CD by Spekk)
ALEJANDRO FRANOV – RIO (CD by Nature Bliss)

Both of these are from the same house, but by different labels. I started with the
album by Kazuya Matsumoto, of whom I never heard, a percussion player from Tokyo.
‘Mizu No Katachi’ is his debut album and the title means ‘shape of water’. He was
born in Kanazawa, Ishikawa, which is, apparently, known for it’s traditional arts
and crafts, surrounded by nature. Matsumoto is very much inspired by nature and
on his album he uses a lot of field recordings. For Matsumoto nature is like an
orchestra and he’s the conductor; nature sounds form accidental compositions.
There is a lot of water recording on this album, such as rain, wells, oceans and
to that Matsumoto adds his sparse percussion, if at all. Mostly bell and chime
like sounds, which he plays like they were also part of nature. It’s almost like
they are being played by the elements of wind and water. Dripping water in a can,
randomly hanging in the wind; but, as said, some of these pieces also come without
any percussion and deal only with environmental sounds. Matsumoto doesn’t like,
so it seems, very loud sounds, as everything about this is very careful and planned.
All wild things seem to have been weeded out here. That perhaps is a pity? Nature
can be violent too.
   Still big in Japan, this Alejandro Franov, so Nature Bliss is still concerned
with his back catalogue, such as ‘Melodia’ (see Vital Weekly 924). ‘Rio’ is even
a bit older, dating back to 2003, and was his third album by then. One might think
Franov is Brazil – ‘Rio’, gettit?, but he’s from Argentina. On this album he plays
electric and acoustic guitars, sitar, electric bass, keyboards, sequences programming
and is responsible for the vocals. It’s especially the latter that I don’t enjoy very
much. Some of things that I know Franov for are in place here, his minimal treatment
of a few chords on the guitar and the piano, but it now comes with this parlando
singing, jazzy rhythms and such like which made one think this is all a bit night-
club like; on the beach of Rio perhaps, sipping a nice cocktail and sun bathing
(one of those I wouldn’t mind), but in reality this is not my cup very much. And
that is especially thanks to what the label thinks it’s his greatest asset: ‘the
super laidback voice’. Maybe I am not the right person to like vocal music? (FdW)
   Address: http://www.spekk.net
   Address: http://www.naturebliss.net

ANDERS LONNE GRONSETH – MINI MACRO ENSEMBLE -2ND EDIT VOLT (CD by Pling Music)

Gronseth (soprano, tenor and baritone saxophones, bass clarinet) is a young
performer and composer from Oslo who studied performing arts, classical composition,
Indian classical music, in Oslo and Göteborg. His career started with Sphinx in
2000, a quartet of fellow students. After six albums they stopped. In 2007 he
established the Mini Macro Ensemble that is into combining classical composed music
with improvisation. In 2008 this ensemble debuted with a cd of the same name. After
a period of silence, Gronseth  made a new start with this ensemble, combining the
talents of eight musicians playing saxes, clarinets, bass, flute bassoon, tuba,
cello, contrabass, piano, fender Rhodes, tabla, percussion. They present now for
their new release.  It is a long suite of accessible, tonal music that integrates
many musical influences. Eastern flavoured for sure, with room for improvisation
within clearly composed structures.  Although it’s intelligent and eclectic in
nature, this does not result in radical cross-bordering music. We hear good
craftsmanship in the playing and arrangements. Well-balanced chamber music of
an ethereal beauty. (DM)
   Address: http://www.plingmusic.no

WÍEMAN – CRYPTONESIA (LP by ini.itu)

Wíeman, previously known as Zèbra, consists of course of our own Frans de Waard and
long-time collaborator Roel Meelkop.
   The opener for the album is a short erratic micro techno track that reminded me
of Ken Ishi’s work in the mid 90s. Whereas Ishi’s bangers were intended to hit either
the dance floor or the charts, Wíeman immediately stifles the expectations that come
with that comparison; Two minutes in we get sucked into the chirping deep end, with
crispy synths, repetitive melodic phrases and slow paced developments that give the
whole thing almost an kraut rock kind of air, albeit an electronic oriental
incarnation of the kraut spirit.
   The A side features four nameless tracks while one single track covers the whole
b-side. The latter was cooked up with a similar recipe as described above, though
in this case the first eight minutes are mainly crammed with sonorous bell loops.
Quite a hypnotic, if not, almost meditative piece which has “gamelan” written all
over it. Halfway through the track loses most of its rhythmic qualities and descends
into something I can only describe as the electronic representation of an intense
tropical fever. Complex bell-like timbres gradually make way for the rhythmic
throbbing and surging of those high end synth leads that were abundantly present
on the A side, while the progressive xylophone percussion has a Sylvian/Sakamoto
kind of quality to it – that is to say it made me think of the track “Bamboo Houses”.
Gave the album a couple of spins to take it all in. Great stuff.
   Furthermore, word is out that apparently in the next couple of weeks Wíeman
will release a recording of the gig they did at the album presentation night that
features parts of this LP. Check it out too, it’s probably on their bandcamp. (PJN)
   Address: http://www.iniitu.net/

NEXT DELUSION – SAME (LP by Shameless Records)

In 2010 Hauf made a first recording with his sextet, released two years later on
Cleanfeed, titled  ‘Next Delusion’ by the Boris Hauf Sextet. It took five years
before Hauf invited his companions for another recording. The same players, the
same unusual instrumentation: Frank Rosaly, Steven Hess and Michael Hartman on
drums, plus three blowers: Keefe Jackson (tenor sax, contrabass clarinet), Jason
Stein (bass clarinet) and Boris Hauf (baritone saxophone). Three drummers (!)
and three blowers. An equivalent of this line up does not pop up in my mind.
I guess there are none. From the musicians involved I only know Jackson and Rosaly
from their work with that other European blower who has a link with Chicago:
Christoph Erb. All of them operate mainly in different Chicago-based scenes. Hess,
for example, is a member of the drone rock band Locrian (as a Popol Vuh-watcher
I was surprised by their energetic cover of ‘Dort is der Weg’!). Logically recordings
took place in a Chicago studio. Because of the backgrounds of  most musicians,
one expects to hear jazz. But that is not an adequate label. Nor is improvisation,
as Hauf composed the three tracks that we find on this vinyl release on his new-born
Shameless Records. Well then, what is it? All three pieces are composed from a very
different angle. In the opening track ‘Bleed’ we have the blowers in the forefront,
playing distinct but fine intertwined lines. The drummers make a contrast with a
slow beat. ‘Steps’ is the opposite in a sense. Here drummers and blowers together
paint a very abstract work. In this sound investigation the sounds produced result
in a multi-coloured work. ‘Magus’, the third track, opens with a rolling and
thundering intro by the drummers. After a few minutes the blowers start to produce
their individual – improvised? – lines. There is tension and drama all over that
finds its way out in short climax. For all three compositions counts that Hauf is
not seeking complexity, but seeks for something archaic and rough. Call it sound
sculpting in concrete. When I try to visualize this music, I see a huge animal
that is a bit uncomfortable about its size, but with a very sensitive heart.
Charming! (DM)
   Address: http://www.shamelessrecords.rocks

THE NORDIC SOUND ART (compilation LP by Nordic Sound Art)

There are two of these releases with the same title, but one is a LP, and the other
is a cassette, but with different music altogether. Different music and different
artwork, as both of these releases have also art in the form of prints and some
essays. I understand these to be exhibition catalogues. A review of the cassette
is to follow shortly. Many of the names don’t mean much to me; just coordinator
Jonas Olesen is a somewhat familiar name (see a review of a LP by him in Vital
Weekly 1006). Money doesn’t seem to be a problem in Denmark! You know Vital and
reviewing compilations, never much of a favourite pastime (hence the delay in
getting to this), and on LP it’s even more difficult to see where a track starts
and ends, certainly when it comes to sound art: anything goes, probably. On the
LP it works actually quite all right in terms continuing listening; there are
field recordings by Troels Noeh Holmstrøm, spoken word by Georgia Rodger, voice
poetry by Tuukka Haapakorpi and Hannah Anbert towards more musical pieces, such
as the lovely drone by Tuukka Salonen. It is quite a diverse collection and in
the meantime you can read about these artists and what they are doing as well as
more in-depth essays by Brandon LaBelle and Imri Sandström, or simply gaze at
the images. It’s like buying you a small gallery. (FdW)
   Address: http://nordicsoundart.com/

LEGENDARY PINK DOTS – FIVE DAYS (CDR by The Terminal Kaleidoscope)

I find it hard to come up with another band that has been responsible for such
a constant stream of new (and sometimes old) music as the Legendary Pink Dots.
For over 35 years now, the Dots have been creating music going through various
memberships, musical styles and – how could it be otherwise – quality phases,
yet they have always, which I think is unique, managed to ‘sound like the Dots’
without turning into a cliché. I have been discovering, perhaps even re-
discovering, the Dots the last couple of months. Recently I was quite taken by
‘Echo Piece’, the CDR by Silverman Phil Knight, which features him playing solo
in 1983-1984 and is one of the loveliest and intimate Dots-related recordings I
know. Then there was the double CDR for ‘Chemical Playschool 16/18’, which
represents the Dots and the ‘Chemical Playschool’ at their best: long, spacious,
mysterious and beautiful. And now there is a copy of ‘Five Days’ in my hands.
The Dots like to create their music in chapters (think ‘Premonitions’, ‘Chemical
Playschools’, ‘Four Days’, ‘Five Days’): like everything they do is a chapter of
something bigger, a kaleidoscopic soundtrack of their lives. ‘Five Days’ sounds
title-wise like the follow up to ‘Four Days’, that most wonderful cassette/CD
dating back to 1990, but I like this one even better. This is the Dots at their
best, working close and hard to create a sound that is sparse and intimate,
without indulging in Krautrock sequences squeezing the life out of a song. On
‘Five Days’, much like ‘Chemical Playschool 16/18’, the music is given the chance
to breathe and come alive. Listen to this with headphones on and you’ll be amazed.
It is all the years of Dots-craftsmanship and experience, but it never becomes
self-indulging. Tracks like ‘All About Control’ and the 10+ minutes journey that
is ‘Shades Of Sorrow – The Oxygen Tent’ feature Edward’s vocals more as an
additional instrument rather than being in the lead of the song, which I always
like, and ends with a lovely tiny keyboard sequence. In ‘Search Of The Golden
Crest’ is a gorgeous instrumental track, with a slightly Eastern tint – a bit
like ‘Alchemical Playschool’ but more restrained. Soft keyboard chords open ‘They
Shall Not Grow Old’ to which Edward adds a spoken word poem. Good you say? Yes!
But the Pink Dots cunningly keep the best for last: The First World Flag features
odd sounds in the background and echoes the mid 80s Pink Dots a bit in the staccato
keyboard chords which makes it, not necessarily because of that, something of a
personal favourite – slow, open and gripping music. Even better is closing song
‘Beside The Seaside’ with its weird NWW-like click, the sound of opening a gate
(to the sea?), ascending chords, loops and a distant radio – why is there always
radio at the beach? Another question never answered. I think ‘Five Days’ is a
stunning album and I hope you will agree with me. There is also a ‘Five Days –
Instrumentals’, which, when looking at the track list is a completely different
album, so I will have to get that one as well. Bastards. (FK)
   Address: http://legendarypinkdots1.bandcamp.com/

JONATHAN KAWCHUK – NORTH (CDR Eilean Records)

Eilean Records keeps surprising me with names of people I never heard of, such
as Jonathan Kawchuk, whose primary interest lies in playing the piano. It’s a
rather short album, only twenty-six minutes long and has eight tracks, but it has
been recorded in Canada, Norway, Iceland, UK, Israel and Portugal, using field
recordings from a bunch of these countries. For whatever reason that eludes me
it says that tracks appear in chronological order of their composition (maybe we
need to look for development in compositional techniques?), but more interesting
on the cover was this: “all tracks were played back and rerecorded in the forests
of Jostedal national park.” If I understand correctly that Kawchuk is a composer
writing a bunch of notes but is not necessarily the performer, as the cover also
lists a bunch of performers. His music has that modern classical music touch;
not the academic plink plonk kind (to put it unfriendly), but that gentle touch
that one also finds in the music of Nils Frahm, but also with some more voices
and additional cello. Throughout the mood in these pieces is quiet and atmospheric.
I found it hard to think of this as recorded outside in a natural environment
(however so it seemed to be), but maybe it added to the atmosphere of these
pieces? Not easy to say, but it is surely something that has been played with a
lot of sense for melancholy and drama, capturing early evening moods, with daylight
fading away. The same thing goes for the use of field recordings, which are surely
appear to be here and there, but far from playing a big role; it’s all quite
decorative. The music instruments, primarily piano, a bit of strings and perhaps
some of this sampled is what it is all about. I think this is some wonderful
music and the only downside is that I think this is way too short. (FdW)
   Address: https://eileanrec.bandcamp.com/

ALEX KELLER – BLACK OUT (CDR by Mimeomeme)

A very long time I reviewed a CD by The Phonographers Union (Vital Weekly 423)
and it listed among its members one Alex Keller. I am not sure if that is the
same one as this one (but it shows that I sometimes investigates these things,
and not always write: here’s someone I never heard off, and it turns out I already
reviewed a bunch of things). This Alex Keller is an audio artist, sound designer,
curator and teacher, who has interest in architecture, language, abstraction and
music. In the piece ‘Black Out’ he used the empty theater at Salvage Vanguard
Theater in Austin and recorded his analogue synthesizers, humming in low frequencies
through this space, picking it up and re-transmitting them as they travel again
through this space. Think Alvin Lucier’s “I’m Sitting In A Room”, but less about
the concept of decay. This piece rumbles through the space and sounds very good.
There is not a lot of variation in each section; it quickly arrives at what it
is and then stays there for the entire duration of a section, which is usually
aboutsix minutes. The low-end frequencies are very suitable for playback at a
low volume and still make a strong presence in your own space. Each of the five
sections starts with a few breaths, like some exhaling. It ends on the lowest
note with everything vibrating and shaking, buried under that heavy weight of
low, oscillating humming sounds. This release comes in a great risographic cover,
silver on black. With a label name like that you could hardly expect something
else. Excellent release. (FdW)
   Address: http://mimeomime.com

SAVVAS METAXAS – SCENES (CDR by More Mars)

Every year Scott Foust of the Idea Fire Company sends out his ‘Anti-Naturals
annual Report 2015′ and in this year’s issue there is a diatribe against ‘too
many computers/laptops, field recordings, and objects, not enough instruments’
and that he heard ‘enough mic bumping, digital ticking, cable failure or misuse,
hyper lo-fi recordings of anything (‘decaying’ or not) and unidentifiable rumbling’
and that it seems that every new album is made this way. While I may not necessary
agree with all that Foust writes, I can see his point. There is a lot of music out
there, which seems primarily made with these musical sources. Obviously I wouldn’t
have told you all of this, if there wasn’t a relation to this particular release,
and it could be that this is either the exception or the example. It’s the latter.
Metaxas plays modular synthesizer, Korg MS-20, zoom H2 and contact microphones and
in the four pieces on this album sounds very much like what Foust calls ‘anonymous’.
Exactly what he describes is what Mextaxas sound like: the low humming, the cracks,
mic bumping and cable failure. He does that not in a bad way, but also, I’m sad
to say, not in a very original way either. It sounds like whatever many others are
doing in this field too; the careful editing, the processed field recording, the
humming of a modular synthesizer and the scraping of the surface with a contact
microphone: there are indeed “too many computers/laptops, field recordings, and
objects” in the world and not enough instruments (come to think of it: there might
be enough guitars and loop stations also). (FdW)
   Address: http://www.moremars.org

DOC WÖR MIRRAN – SYMPHONY IN A(NNOY) (CDR by Attenuation Circuit)
LE SCRAMBLED DEBUTANTE – NUDE SKY (CDR by Attenuation Circuit)

As much as I love to see my name as being part of Doc Wör Mirran releases, I can’t
remember, for the love of god, as they say if you don’t believe in such a deity (not
even at Christmas), recall when or what I ever contributed to their music. I am sure
it was a long time ago, and the twelve pieces on ‘Symphony In A(nnoy)’ were recorded
between 1987 and 1993, so surely it must have been in those days. Anyway hardly of
importance this, as the cast of members is again large, besides the usual Joseph B.
Raimond, Bernard H. Worrick, Ralf Lexis and Peter Schuster (also of Tesendalo) it
also includes Michael Wurzer (then of Clockwork Tapes), Eric Hysteric, Ron Lessard
(of RRRecords) and Namm; and more! As you obviously know by now, Doc Wör Mirran is
a band that has many musical tastes; there is always something to be enjoyed for
everyone. Now I don’t like all their guises, but the sheer fact that they operate in
so many musical genres makes that every new release is real surprise (name included
or otherwise), which can’t be said of many other musicians. In these twelve songs
Doc Wör Mirran sound lovingly electronic, with sequences, synthesizers and guitars,
almost like an alternative 80s pop band; Attenuation Circuit may link it to Suicide
and TuxedoMoon, but I think that’s all a bit too far. With Doc Wör Mirran’s music
being all-instrumental, it is also a bit more avant-garde than those two bands. It
shares with them a love of all things a bit darker and doomier, but hey, this was the
80s/early 90s, things were a bit darker then (or so popular belief wants of course).
Doc Wör Mirran taps as easily out of the cosmic music textbook to create this music,
but then, as we could expect from them, a more daring cosmic textbook it is. It
bounces and collides; it is a adrift all the time, but it’s not a safe ride, this
trip. Voices and guitars are reversed, sounds drop in and out of the mix, all along
while the synthesizer keeps playing. This is the kind of Doc Wör Mirran I like very
much: playful, experimental, offering quite a variety of sounds.
   By now Allan Zane’s project Le Scrambled Debutante is a mainstay on the Attenuation
Circuit label. Having just reviewed a split LP with them on one side only two weeks
ago, now it’s time for another work, clocking at a full hour. As I wrote before about
this group, there is always a psychedelic element to their music, and that’s not just
because LSD could also mean Le Scrambled Debutante. But as the label correctly notices,
‘it is not necessary to consume any drugs whilst listening to achieve the effects
described here’. True that, obviously. If I would space out with every release that
invites the listener to take drugs, I would not be able to write all these reviews
(although some would argue they might be better). The pace of this new piece is a
bit slow; it sure takes its time to develop. I hear voices, as always with this
group, guitars, xylophones and electronics. All of this in the now usual Le Scrambled
Debutante style: everything is layered together, at slightly different speeds, in
a wide stereo spectrum, with everything going in reverse at the same time. There are
three main sections to be detected in this piece, but within each section not always
a lot changes. That is a pity I think. It could have used some rigorous cut-up
techniques here and there, marking a profound change in mood, making it more collage
and less stream-like. The way things are now, so it seems, makes it easy to create
loads of pieces like this; maybe they should re-think this strategy? This is not their
weakest release to date, but maybe one too easily made. (FdW)
   Address: http://www.attenuationcircuit.de

NEARFALL (cassette by Audio Visuals Atmosphere)
SEQUENCES – A DARKNESS VISIBLE (cassette by Audio Visuals Atmosphere)

The website of Audio Visual Atmosphere is not particularly forthcoming with information
about the bands they release, nor is there much information on the covers. On the cover
of the cassette by Nearfall for instance we find the band name, the label name and the
catalogue number and nothing else. The website says: “Each building collapsed, each
prosperity crashed. As nature takes over, these are the traces amidst the debris.
Perfect harmony of life and death. Maximum minimalism.” There you go. You can try to
write essay long reviews but without much assuming and guessing you don’t get very far.
So, I have no idea who or what Nearfall is and how they muck about, the music itself
is also not particularly forthcoming. This could be heavily distorted field recordings,
stuck onto a Dictaphone and placed inside a dishwasher, while a microphone outside is
desperately attempting to record what is on said Dictaphone. It might also be the slowed
down rainfall on some giant metal plates. It can be some synthesizers and sound effects.
I have no idea but as can imagine it is all very dark around this place and it is surely
also quite noisy and lo-fi. This is the perfect music for a release on cassettes:
deliberate vague and anonymous.
   The other release is called ‘A Darkness Visible’, hence the cover is black print on
black paper, which must the joke. Here too, beyond band names and titles, nothing.
Let’s refer to the website again: “A relentless search for a god. Venerable memories as
resolution, darkness visible converged. Carved excavation of the psyche. A symbiosis of
improvisation and careful composition.” I assume Sequences use quite a bit of synthesizers
and amplification, which some of the results into some more old school industrial music/
power electronics, but not exclusively. While the feedback in the opening part of the
first side can easily be related to Ramleh on a mellow day, some of the other stuff
reveals an interest in the world of ambient meeting industrial music, with the sound
going down a notch or two and Sequences allow pieces to develop as they move along.
Perhaps that’s what the label means with a ‘symbiosis of improvisation and careful
composition’? I would think so, as it all sounds very good. It may be as obscure and
vague as Nearfall, but its quite world’s apart in terms of approaching music. Nearfall
mucks about (and do that quite well, mind you) but Sequences plans their music and
executes accordingly. This is an excellent tape of daring electronic music; perhaps
nothing new either, but made with great care.  (FdW)
Address: http://audiovisualsatmosphere.com/

RICHARD FRANCIS – COMBINATIONS #1 (cassette by Entr’acte)

A few weeks back I reviewed ‘Combinations #2’ by Richard Francis (see Vital Weekly
1011) and I didn’t realize that if there was a ‘Combinations #2’, there might also be
a ‘Combinations #1’. There is indeed such a thing, and it’s very much the companion to
the one I already heard. It’s about a similar length, around thirty minutes, and has
seven pieces. It uses the same modular synthesizer set-up and was also recorded in Worm
(Rotterdam) and Worpswede. There is nothing much else going on here that wasn’t on the
previous release. A few sounds are used to build a piece and stays lovingly minimal in
one place. This is in between that place that is both ambient and noisy, but more the
first than the latter, I’d say, but Francis’ music goes quite deep in production terms.
A beautiful rumble, a lengthy field, delicate and poetic. This is a great buzz. Like
the previous release I played this immediately a second time and for that sake the A
and B-side of this are the same; how convenient. One could of course argue that both
‘Combinations’ could have been on one CD(R) release, but I am afraid that would not
have worked as well. It’s the limited intake that works best here. That would be too
much. Rather play the same twice (here both sides contain the same songs) than the
complete thing all at once; that may sound a bit odd, but I found that this worked
best for me. (FdW)
   Address: http://entracte.co.uk

HOW TO CURE OUR SOUL – LUNA (cassette by Low Point)

This is, I think, my first encounter with Low Point releasing a cassette; maybe it has
to do with changes in the market place? Or maybe How To Cure Our Soul is not that well
known yet? In either case, ‘Luna’ is the third release of this Italian duo, consisting
of Marco Marzuoli (tapes, mixing board, effects) an Alessansro Sergente (guitars,
effects). Not represented on this tape is their visual side, which expands to photography
and film/video. On this thirty-minute tape there are three pieces, which all sound quite
alike, but I must say I very much enjoyed this little variation approach. How To Cure Our
Soul play drone music with little to no changes. A drone is set to motion and it stays
there for the duration of the piece, if it is seven or sixteen minutes. Maybe what I
found most attractive about this was the organ like quality of the music. I am, after all,
a sucker for organ type sounds, whether it is a church organ, a farfisa or a philcordia,
a good organ sound always gets me going and it seems that’s what How To Cure Our Soul
does here. Three very static pieces of music are to be found on this release, which work
very well. Music that winds things down at the end of the day, day becomes the night (to
paraphrase a pop song, but also to stay with the titles of these pieces), dark becomes
darker; night has truly fallen at the end of the second side, with the sound slowly
dying out. Excellent tape! (FdW)
   Address: http://www.low-point.com

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