RLW – FLURRY OF DELUSION (CD by Black Rose Recordings/Dirter Promotions) *
SIYANIE – MYSTERY OF LIFE (CD by Zhelezobeton/Frozen Light) *
EXIT IN GREY – HYSTERICS OF THE ETERNAL (CD by Zhelezobeton/Frozen Light) *
KRYPTOGEN RUNDFUNK – LIQUID CIRCUITS (CD by Zhelezobeton) *
MOSKUS – ULV ULV (CD by Hubro Music)
SKADEDYR – CULTUREN(CD by Hubro Music)
MOSTER – WHEN YOU CUT INTO THE PRESENT(CD by Hubro Music)
TAKAMOVSKY – SONIC COUNTERPOINT (CD by Etymtone) *
POST-INDUSTRIALE (CD & book by Goodfellas/Spittle Records)
PLY – SANS CESSE (LP by Warm Desk)
DRONE-MIND//MIND DRONE VOLUME 5 (compilation LP by Drone Records)
SHIP CANAL – THE HOUSING ESTATE SINGS (CDR by Amoebic Industries) *
DE FABRIEK – AFVLOEINGSREGELING (double CDR, private) *
CARL LUDWIG HÜBSCH – SAVE THE ABENDLAND (CDR by Berslton) *
BERTRAND DENZLER & ANTONIN GERBAL & AXEL DÖRNER – LE RING (CDR by Confront) *
DEREK ROGERS – SILENCE IS BEING SUBSTITUTED (CDR by Glistening Examples) *
CHRISTIAN MIRANDE – TRYING TO REMEMBER A HOUSE (CDR by Glistening Example) *
SUSTAINER – MEDICINA (CDR by Eilean Records) *
MOSS COVERED TECHNOLOGY – SPEICHERBANK (CDR by Eilean Records) *
INSTITUTE OF NOISE – ACHTUNG MESSARBEITEN! (CDR by Klappstuhl) *
SIMFONICA – SONG OF THE VOLCANOES (CDR by Cathedral Transmissions) *
ROEL MEELKOP & SJAK VAN BUSSEL – MEELKOP VAN BUSSEL (cassette by Midas Music)
ILIA BELORUKOV & LAURI HYVARINEN/MIGUEL A. GARCIA & HECTOR REY (cassette by
Rypistellyt Levyt)
KRVELECO – REGNO (Cassette by Stupro Rituale)
RLW – FLURRY OF DELUSION (CD by Black Rose Recordings/Dirter Promotions)
This is the fourth time that Black Rose Recordings release work by Ralf Wehwosky, formerly of
P16.D4 (seminal underground group from Germany dabbling in musique concrete as well as
industrial music) and since the early nineties best known as RLW, with a string of releases, solo
and in collaboration with others. The first time on Black Rose he delivered sound material to be
used by Splintered, some twenty years ago, and in 2009 and 2011 the label released a solo work.
At the core of this new release lies an improvisation he recorded with Giuseppe Ielasi and
instruments used include guitars, oud, sax, harmophone (I am not sure if I read that correctly
on the cover), motors, weevil, turntables and percussion. The session took place some years
ago and as with much of what RLW does he takes his time in shaping and reshaping sessions
like this and it’s a process of endless combining, cutting, editing and see what works and what
doesn’t. Not something one does overnight, and RLW is one of the best at doing that endless
work of re-creating. In the forty-four minutes RLW takes you on this excursion through sound,
going from swift cut-up of acoustic sound, to feedback like sine waves in ‘In Narrative Loops’;
sometimes these sounds appear very dry, and we are able to recognize the scratching of strings
of the guitar or the keys of the harmonium, what seems to be objects falling on the floor, and
then they are rapidly looped, fed through some ring modulation and could as easily be classified
at the brutal end of musique concrete. Sometimes things can get nasty around this place, which
are maybe the remains of his roots in industrial music, but RLW’s work has lots of subtleties to
be plainly called noise, and yet he probably breaks enough rules not to be part of any serious
music scene. And that’s what makes this composer for me a great one. His music is expertly
made, with lots of care and flair and he’s simply one of the best in his field. This new one is
another great manifestation of that. (FdW)
––– Address: <blackroserecordings@yahoo.co.uk> http://www.dirterpromotions.com
SIYANIE – MYSTERY OF LIFE (CD by Zhelezobeton/Frozen Light)
EXIT IN GREY – HYSTERICS OF THE ETERNAL (CD by Zhelezobeton/Frozen Light)
KRYPTOGEN RUNDFUNK – LIQUID CIRCUITS (CD by Zhelezobeton)
Two of these three new releases are made in collaboration between two labels, and I started with
the name I only vaguely recalled, Siyanie. It was more a case of vaguely recognizing the colourful
artwork than the name, I must say, but I reviewed ‘Shining Of Unity’, back in Vital Weekly 849.
Back then Siyanie was the solo project of Sergey Ilchuk, now he’s doing the music with Dmitriy
Shilov (of Neznamo, Peal Grim, Magickal Things). The basic material was recorded over three
covers in 2012 and 2013, and reworked and edited in the time following that. This is seventy-
seven minutes of ambient bliss. In an average piece they lay down the basic with a bunch of
endless sustaining sounds from synthesizers, I assume, a few lines together, moving slowly in
and out of each other range and on top of that they play their instruments. That might be a
synth of some kind, such as in ‘Deep Tenderness’, but it is more likely to be flutes, bells, voices
or a sitar in ‘You Are Self’. Everything gets a lot of time to evolve around here and pieces stretch
out between six and ten minutes. There is a light, trippy, hey even psychedelic feel to the music,
despite also being a bit dark at times. Just a look at the cover makes you realize it’s not all about
doomy, moody and atmospheric tunes, but rather something that is a bit more hopeful; maybe
even some kind of religious experience? Maybe my mind is spacing right now, and I could be all
wrong. Sometimes I was reminded of Organum (especially the flutes), and at other times the
more loosely organised music of Voice Of Eye; not the worst to be compared with, I think, but
Siyanie certainly has that finer Eastern mysticism captured.
Sergey, just Sergey, or just [S], is a very active man, under a plethora of names, Five
Elements Music, Radioson, Redhouse, Black Deal With Snow, Candyman And Evil Flowers and
Sister Loolomie but as Exit In Grey he seems most active; actually I have no evidence for that,
but in Vital Weekly 1031 had a review his previous release. I am never too sure what the actual
differences are between all of these names, if in fact there are differences, and not just a smoke
screen or a way to release more music than is possible when using one banner. Much of it is
about playing out atmospheric long form pieces, incorporating field recordings, electronics or
even a bit of radio noise at the beginning of part one, and then further down the lines. The
second part, a few minutes shorter but still close to twenty minutes, seems a bit more ‘noise’
based, with more radio sounds, obscured field recordings and electronics set for a slightly more
experimental tune, but this is Exit In Grey, so while it’s perhaps bits like this that make this a
somewhat different work, it still is the kind of atmospheric music that we know him best for.
This is fine release, nothing outstanding, maybe a bit different, and something perhaps for the
diehard fans.
Zhelezobeton’s label boss hides behind a musical project himself that is called Kryptogen
Rundfunk, and while I found it hard to believe, ‘Liquid Circuits’ is only his second solo release,
following ’22.SZ’, which was released in 2004 (see Vital Weekly 468). In the meantime he was
active with working with other people, and sharing split releases with them, such as Hladna,
Lunar Abyssm Neznamo, Umpio and Forgttn. I once saw one of his concerts and enjoyed his
take of the notion of ‘experimental ambient noise’, which is a route he explores also on this
new album. To that end he uses a bunch of bigger and smaller synthesizers, a guitar, record
player, flute and found sounds, which all goes into a bunch of effects (all listed on the cover).
Kryptogen Rundfunk plays seven pieces, all quite long and in some cases a bit too long. It’s
not difficult to see what he is aiming at, which is some kind of psychedelic ambience noise,
but it very well happens that some of this is then a bit on the long side, I think. Which is a pity
since it has everything I tend to like these days; the brutal harshness of those small synthesizers,
abundant sound effects, but also the control over the sounds, and the way he holds down and
makes something way more subdued. I think he’s best at that, doing that variation ‘loud’ versus
‘soft’ and the louder pieces should be trimmed down a bit; yes, loud can equal fun, but more so
for the creator than the listener, I sometimes wonder. So while ‘Collapse Of Neurotic Illusions’
and ‘Informancer’ are not well spend on me, I very much enjoyed the other pieces, which made
up some forty strong minutes of music. (FdW)
––– Address: http://www.frzl.ruhttp://zhb.radionoise.ru
MOSKUS – ULV ULV (CD by Hubro Music)
SKADEDYR – CULTUREN (CD by Hubro Music)
MOSTER – WHEN YOU CUT INTO THE PRESENT (CD by Hubro Music)
A third release by the piano-trio Moskus, with Anja Lauvdal on piano, Fredrik Luhr Dietrichson
on bass and Hans Hulbækmo on drums. Nils Økland (Hardanger fiddle) guests on two tracks
which he also co-wrote. The trio members compose all other eight pieces. After a silence a two
years this is a welcome new release, as I’m always curious how their musical language develops.
Although jazz is an important influence, I wouldn’t describe them as a jazz-trio. They tap from
many sources and compose eclectic constructions. Sound is an important ingredient as well.
The musicians of the Moskus -trio are true painters. All play a variety of instruments. In each
track they chose for a specific colouring, a well-chosen combination of instruments. They built
eccentric constructions that are always accessible and transparent. This time Japanese influences
are evident. There is an eastern influence inherent to their music because of its soberness. More
evident, the flute in ’Chimes’ or the percussion at the beginning of the opening track ‘Medstroms’
clearly point at Japan, a country where they have toured extensively before recording this new
work. Many ideas are explored and worked out. Because of their subtle and sober approach some
of the compositions don’t really take of in my perception. But from start to finish it is evident
that a disciplined and focused unit is at work here. Musicians with a strong vision and intuition.
All three members of Moskus take also part in Skadedyr that has the involvement of nine
other musicians who all participate in the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra. Skadedyr was initiated by
Moskus-pianist Anja Lauvdal and Heida Karine Jóhannesdóttir Mobeck. They offer their second
album. This big band moves along in more conventional territories and is to be experienced live
on stage for optimal pleasure I guess. Their music is full of humour and very entertaining. The
opening track for example, ‘Datavirus’, composed by member Hans Hulbakmo is a very spirited
‘copy and paste’ composition, citing from many genres. This is also the case for ‘Bie’ another
Hulbakmo composition that combines catchy tunes with unexpected turns and passages.
Initiators Mobeck and Lauvdal composed the two closing tracks. ‘Trålertrall’ is a schizophrenic
piece, switching from acoustic and melodic parts to abstract sound-oriented interludes. Plus
‘Culturen’ an accessible tune that accompanies a poem by Ivar Aasen.
To conclude there is the third album by Møster of saxophonist Kjetil Møster. Again in the
company of Hans Magnus (guitar, percussion), Nikolai Hængsle Eilertsen (bass) and Kenneth
Kapstad (drums). Like Moskus and Skadedyr Moster absorded many different ingredients and
make no mystery about it. But this is a totally different cocktail. Heavy, grooving psychedelic
music is what they are into. The opening track ‘Nebula and Red Giant’ starts with a long spacey
intro before they set foots on the ground marked by the intense drum work by Kapstad. In the
second part of the second track, ‘Bandha’, we are surprised by a funky groove. ‘Journey’ starts
as a jazzy, lyrical ballad before changing into a moody and dreamy laid-back excursion with fine
solos on top of it. ‘Soundhouse Rumble’ is built on heavy and solid drums with battling guitar
and sax in the forefront. Møster convinces above all as a very tight and solid unit, with fine and
dedicated playing by all members. A very active volcano. (DM)
––– Address: http://www.hubromusic.com
TAKAMOVSKY – SONIC COUNTERPOINT (CD by Etymtone)
Behind Takamovsky we find Juergen Berlakovich, from Vienna, I think, as he is a member of
The Vegetable Orchestra, as well as working with Sergej Mohntau. His previous solo release
was called ‘In Streams’ and reviewed (not by me) in Vital Weekly 872. On this new release he
plays guitar and on the opening and closing piece he revolved around ‘a bourree from Bach’.
Takamovsky plays classical guitar, which is also an acoustic one, it just is a bit louder (as I
unfortunately learned from someone who lived downstairs and who rehearsed on end) and
there is also a lot of electronics, which might be best described as of the ‘clicks and cuts’
variety; scratchy, hissy, clicky, even a beat like at times. In ‘Running In The Background’ he
also sings, and it is almost like a real song; I was thinking of Radiohead here. On paper this
might seem an odd couple, the sound of classical acoustic guitar and the electronic world
of laptops from the 21st century, but much to my surprise it works very well. It has definitely
that classical ring to it, of a guitar playing thoughtful tunes, full of life and joy, sadness, love
and all that it can convey. But then there is the beats, the bass, the synth, the processed
guitar, stretched out, sustaining and granulating and sometimes playing along each other
and at other times alternating between the two. Sometimes throughout ‘pop’ like, as in the
aforementioned vocal song but also in a piece like ‘Sun’, with it’s more than pleasant armchair
beats. In other pieces Takamovsky, such as ‘Tonic’ he aims for a more ambient approach, full
of atmosphere and a bit doomy as such, but it all works very well. I had to get used to the
somewhat odd pairing of the two, but after a few repeated plays I enjoyed it more and more.
This is some very refined music that is something for the modern household on a lazy Sunday
afternoon. (FdW)
––– Address: http://www.takamosvksy.net
POST-INDUSTRIALE (CD & book by Goodfellas/Spittle Records)
It’s probably no big secret that I love to read, especially when it comes to books about music.
From paper or digitally; I don’t care, really, and also the subject can be somebody I may not like
as a musician. I started Bruce Springteen’s recent autobiography, but was side-tracked by Peter
Hook’s new book on New Order, then moving back to Mike Oldfield’s autobiography (if you have
e-books to share with me, you know where to find me!). Obviously I prefer books about music
and musicians that I like, I prefer; so it’s not too difficult to push Springteen aside for Hook, or
Oldfield for ‘Post Industriale’, a book by Marcello Ambronisi, about ‘Le Scene Italiana Anni ’80’,
the Italian scene of the 80s. While I mastered Dutch and English pretty well to read about music,
in German I am always less sufficient (but that’s also because they write so intelligent) and other
languages, such as French, un petit peu; so going through this book in Italian, I pretty much have
an idea what it is about. It’s not rocket science when it that Maurizio Bainchi ‘e consideratio il
“padre” dell’industrial italiano’, and with some more guessing I can figure more about him, but
I am afraid I may not grasp the finer details that I would also like to know. That is a pity. I was
thinking a book on all the main players from the world of cassettes, from the 80s, from various
European countries, in English, would be a great thing and why is there no European grant for
getting all this stuff properly translated?
‘Post Industriale’ has an introduction by Luther Blissett (a.k.a. Vittore Baroni), and then
a few pages of introduction to the world of experimental and electronic music; friom Russolo’s
‘Art Of Noise’ manifest, to the Theremin and Onde Martenot (earliest electronic instruments),
trautonium, prepared piano, Throbbing Gristle and power electronics. Judging by the amount
of text it is not as in-depth as it could have been, and that’s great as much of that story has
been recounted elsewhere a lot, so it probably needs only a limited introduction. The second
part of the book contains biographies, very much like entries in an encyclopaedia, of Italian
musicians, from M.B., Tasaday, F.A.R., T.A.C. Enrico Piva, Lt. Murneau, Officine Schwarz, Giancarlo
and Massimo Toniutti, to Stefano Biasin, Nun and Mauro Teho Teardo as well as others. It lists
also bands that I never heard of such as Open Graves Style, The Tapes (not to be confused with
their Dutch namesakes, which I did hear of), Never Insecta, Gustoforte and what the hell is
Pankow doing in this list? It’s all the 80s scene, and then there is a smaller chapter in Power
Electronics (Mauthausen Orchestra, LXXS, Bruno Cossano, Swastika Kommando, The Sodality),
the esoteric bands such as Sigillum S, Ain Soph, Thelema and others that I never heard and then
the second generation with Nightmare Lodge, Tam Quam Tabula Rasa, Luciano Dari plus here
too a whole bunch of names I never heard of.
Throughout the book there are lots of images of cassettes and at the end an extensive
discography, which looks quite complete, but perhaps there is always Discogs to check and
double-check. So, even when the Italian language is a bit of mystery, with some knowledge of
English, French, German, a bit of imagination and Google translate, you can actually get quite
far.
Fine, but how does it sound, you wonder? There is a compilation CD that shows us all the
facets of the scene, from power electronics of Mauthausen Orchestra, the esoterics of Sigillum
S, Thee Tree Rings, Tasaday and Ain Soph, to the more regular electronics of Luke X’s Ah Nahm
Inc., TAC, F:A.R and MB, the father who is closing the proceedings on this release. An excellent
production, all around. (FdW)
––– Address: http://www.goodfellas.it
PLY – SANS CESSE (LP by Warm Desk)
In 2011 Mathias Delplanque and Guillaume Ollendorff met up in Berlin and started playing music
together, and at one (early) point they recorded a session with drummer Pierre Bougle and from
that they sculpted the music that is now released as their first LP, ‘Sans Cesse’, which means
non-stop. Delplanque is someone I heard music of, quite a bit actually, under various guises such
as Lena, Bidlo, and The Floating Roots Orchestra, and from Ollendorf also, but a lot less. His solo
release ‘La Ralentie’ was reviewed in Vital Weekly 631. He music always deals with vocals, as far as
I remember. The music they produce as Ply is also text heavy, in French, and as I wrote elsewhere it
is a language I haven’t mastered. When it comes to the language in the written form I might be
able to decipher a bit, but spoken, as Ply does here, is not something I can comprehend; reading
them on the cover realized I overplayed my hand that I might be able to understand them. That is
a pity as the voice is very much on top of the music, and the music, more or less improvised
around the occasional rattling on the kit, drones generated from cymbals and a bit of laptop
electronics, is pushed somewhat to the background. In ‘Tapis Perses’ this is all very subdued,
but in ‘Au Point Ou J’En Suis’, the much shorter piece on the first side, they rock on all out, with
some loud outbursts but with a similar feeling for drama. On the other side there are three pieces
in which Ply explores their heavy, slow rhythm music along with, along with this heavy guitar
sound, wailing off into feedback and voices/vocals (they are no all with lyrics, I think). I quite
enjoyed it but it was a bit too much for me; the grand gestures, the dramatic voice. There is
no doubt something to felt right there, and I simply may not feel it. (FdW)
––– Address: http://www.warm-ed.fr
DRONE-MIND//MIND DRONE VOLUME 5 (compilation LP by Drone Records)
Drone Records are up to Volume 5 of their on-going series of introducing four artists from the
world of drone music on a LP, and as usual these might not be the most well known artists.
From these four only the name Clade popped up a few times in Vital Weekly, with some damn
fine releases and Yrsel only had one previous release reviewed; none for Monocube and Gydja.
The latter is best known for her artwork for Cold Spring and hails from New Zealand. Her piece
uses quite a bit of reverb and very low humming voices, I would say, along with either drips of
rain or metallic percussion. It’s not a bad start, but perhaps a bit of a cliché. Clade is the only
band that has two pieces and these were already recorded in 2009. Both of these pieces are
more alike tonal experiments, of slow moving tones; ‘Furnace’ seems to be operating in a kind
of vacuum of a single drone bouncing around, and ‘The Last Summer 7:04’ has a few more,
swelling up, fly against the wall and die out. Both of these are quite slow and majestic.
The other side starts with Monocube with a fine dark piece of taking things further down
the reverb line; whatever goes into the machine is very unclear. There might be guitars, field
recordings or the highly amplified recording of an empty space, or all of it just recorded at a
cathedral. A few strokes of sound and all of this sounding for quite some time. Yrsel, like Clade
a duo, from France, have a more organic piece of drone music. I would think this duo uses guitars
and electronics, no doubt like many others in the field of drone music, but their strumming is
‘real’; not through the use of many loop pedals, creating a static sound, but together, reacting
to each other. From these four this is perhaps the kind of drone music that is closest the world
of rock music. Slowed down and spaced out, but owing nevertheless to the world of drone music.
Drone Records again compiled a wonderful LP of four diverse projects from the world of
drone music, and hopefully serving as an introduction and further recognition for these artists.
(FdW)
––– Address: http://www.dronerecords.de
SHIP CANAL – THE HOUSING ESTATE SINGS (CDR by Amoebic Industries)
Daniel Baker was born in Manchester and now lives in Newcastle. He previously released some
music under his own name, and was one-third of a dub/noise power trio called Ex-Servicemen,
released a couple of albums under his own name and when not doing music he enjoys football
(obviously, he’s English; one that doesn’t like football can only be found as easily as a needle in
a haystack. I think I know one), wrestling, anarchism and strong drink. His first release on Amoebic
Industries is under the banner of Ship Canal and called ‘The Housing Estate Sings’, so with his
anarchism in tow, there might be a political edge to it. Certainly when it comes gathering his
sources he is very political, as it’s all from YouTube and fed through ‘cracked software, free VSTs
and a stolen mic’, and no permission was asked. Then there are the titles, such as ‘Any Subsequent
Deleuzians I Meet Can Fuck Off’ or ‘Rich Folk Came And Took Away My Chep Alcohol’, adding more
fuel to the political stances, but having said and listening to the music the whole political notion is
not very present. There are no vocals, and whatever he took/sampled/stole from YouTube is quite
vague and non-descript that one could as easily suspect it’s all about the quality of the sound
rather than the political context. Which of course is no problem. This music is not easy to
categorize, something of course I love to do (well, not really, but it makes sometimes life easier).
There isn’t much in way of beat stuff going on and Ship Canal plunders freely from a bunch of
sources that contain atmospheric sound, a bit of humming/singing by people and all of this is
fed through a multitude of sound effects and the outcome we have something of a mixed bag
of dark ambient sounds, acoustic sounds, musique concrete and plundered voice material, and
oddly enough sounds like something Fat Cat could have released in their earliest days. There is
something to gain in the mastering department, as I thought some of this could have used
more power than what Ship Canal put into it, but in all it’s atmospheric vagueness I thought
this was a most promising release. (FdW)
––– Address: http://amoebicindustries.bandcamp.com/
DE FABRIEK – AFVLOEINGSREGELING (double CDR, private)
A note that came along with this, said that it was all for private pleasure and not really necessarily
to write about it. Merely a present for what I already wrote in the past months; very nice of course,
but I think reviewing two CDRs isn’t that much ‘work’ and perhaps I also like to take another
opportunity to write about De Fabriek, maybe because I didn’t get a lot of chances to write about
them in the past, mainly due to their self-chosen isolated position in the world of music. It lists a
bandcamp page here at the end of the review, but ‘Afvloeingsregeling’ (‘redundancy agreement’)
is not on there. In the world of De Fabriek that doesn’t mean much, as they always seem to release
music in very small editions. This one has a three panel cover on card stock and looks fine and lists
among a bunch of people I never heard Marc van Elburg (formerly of Fckn Bstrds) and Nico Selen
(of O.R.D.U.C.) as guest musicians and core member Richard van Dellen en Klaas Mons as those
responsible for production and assembly (which in relation to the band name is a funny way of
wording). The ‘liner’ notes are in South African/Dutch and throughout there are quite a few
voices in the otherwise moody electronic and spacious music.
Like the musical chameleons De Fabriek are, they are taking us once again on this road trip
around the world, and throughout musical history, almost like a psychedelic trip, even when it’s
not the fully formed psychedelic band they could be. It seems to me everything is sampled
together from a multitude of sources and then put together as a ninety trip along the radio
waves. As said, space is the place here, but that doesn’t mean they plunder the cosmic music
textbooks freely. It is rather music that spins your brain around. It is also a radiophonic drama,
with the various voices reciting text (not necessarily in South African it seems), sounds from
ethnic sources, a bit of industrial music, a bit of dance music, a bit of guitar solo and much more
so in the end we have ninety minutes of always changing music. Alongside Doc Wör Mirran, De
Fabriek is one of those very rare groups that always seem to sound different, and perhaps it is
just De Fabriek who wants to sound as different as possible within a single (albeit long) release.
Now let’s hope this is widely available. (FdW)
––– Address: http://defabriek.bandcamp.com/
CARL LUDWIG HÜBSCH – SAVE THE ABENDLAND (CDR by Berslton)
Tuba player Carl Ludwig Hübsch hails from Cologne where on the very first day of the last new
year there was a major incident involving women and people from other countries, and which
lead to another uproar of xenophobia. The Abendland is in danger, some feel, and with ’33:45′
Hübsch makes a statement about the migration debate. That timing is no accident, as it could
be linked to ‘4:33’ by John Cage, also given the fact there is nothing to hear in this piece; or so
it seems. This is 33 minutes and forty-five seconds of very near silence, and is perhaps the best
way to comment on the overheated debate in which the biggest mouth has the most attention.
So Hübsch feels and he’s not wrong I think. He suggests to ‘put the volume on a level suitable to
good old rock ‘n roll music, maybe even a bit more’; it is not about listening to silence or being
aware of constant sounds, as was the case with Cage. I never play ‘good old rock ‘n roll music’,
so I have no idea how loud I should play this, or perhaps whether I should hear this at all. Just the
thought of a silent piece, and what it is about, is perhaps enough? I must admit I heard quite a bit
of ‘silent’ pieces over the years and this is coming from a slightly different edge, a political one at
that, and that’s great, but strictly in musical terms I am not too sure about this work. It is
something we indeed ‘know’ already; however much I am in support of this silence. (FdW)
––– Address: http://www.nurnichtnur.com
BERTRAND DENZLER & ANTONIN GERBAL & AXEL DÖRNER – LE RING (CDR by Confront)
Confront still packs their releases in tin cans with stickers on the front and the back with
the details, and as always they arrive with dents on the cans; that’s a pity. Here we have a
recording between three musicians, Bertrand Denzler (tenor saxophone), Antonin Gerbal
(percussion) and Axel Dörner (trumpet), recorded in December last year in France. Denzler
and Dörner know each other for fifteen years, Denzler and Gerbal worked together before and
Dörner and Gerbal are both members of Peeping Tom, so there are lines between these three
players, who first played together in March 2015 in Berlin. What is interesting, I think, is that
the music is very much from the world of more traditional improvisation, which might be a bit
of a surprise, I think. Well, maybe not? All three players treat their instruments the way they
should be played, but then in a very free (jazz) like way. Not in the way that this is all very fast,
hectic, nervous and bouncing against each other, but, and that’s great, in a very controlled way.
This trio easily explores very small ground, go very quiet and introspective, all the time keeping
up with their own sound, while listening and responding to the others, and then slowly they
make bigger curves; one player starts and the others follow and take over. Each player gets a
sufficient amount of space to explore his own themes and make his own approaches towards
the whole of the group sound. I am not sure, but I don’t believe the recording has in any way
been edited down (I might be wrong though), and the forty-one minutes are as straightforward
as you can get it. At times very intense, and at other times more relaxing, and thus making
this is a great listening experience. (FdW)
––– Address: http://www.confrontrecordings.com/
DEREK ROGERS – SILENCE IS BEING SUBSTITUTED (CDR by Glistening Examples)
CHRISTIAN MIRANDE – TRYING TO REMEMBER A HOUSE (CDR by Glistening Example)
Over the years I have reviewed quite a bit of music by American musician Derek Rogers on a
whole of labels and usually inspected with great interest. His approach is that of creating vast
drones, using the computer, guitar and field recordings and is not afraid of adding a nasty
undercurrent in his music. The music on ‘Silence Is Being Substituted’ is various live recordings,
which he ‘recreated and rearranged as needed’, as he says, using ‘digital processing and granular
synthesis’. I must admit I have not seen a concert by Rogers myself, yet it seems only logical to
me everything he does can be used as further building blocks for new compositions, which is
something I strongly applaud. On the six pieces (five of them between five and eight minutes,
and one twenty-four minutes) he’s rather keen on exploring the more experimental side of his
sound; the guitar is not something one easily recognizes in this piece. A piece like ‘Alone In
Isolation’ is more like a symphony of buzzing chain saws, heavily as it is flooded by effects. It
is followed by two very quiet pieces of music, in which the guitar sounds like a piano (unless
that is a piano), with a lot quietness atmosphere being picked up from the space it is played in.
The long piece, ‘Mine Was A Minority Opinion’, is the most regular drone affair you’ll find on this
release, with mildly distorted guitar sounds and a bit of bow-on-string approach. As you see
Rogers offers quite a bit of variation in these pieces, and this makes up for a great release,
almost a compendium of various possibilities that Rogers has to offer in playing guitar and
electronics.
The other new release on Glistening Examples is by Christian Mirande, who I think is a new
name for me. The music is inspired by impressionist painter Daniel Garber, “who vividly
documented life in the Delaware River valley”, and deals with the sonic picture of Bucks County,
Pennsylvania and “this is an attempt to record the sounds of this area as they where heard and
impart them with them the essence they once embodied”, as we are told. To that end Mirande
made room and field recordings on his iPhone and tape, open-reel tape manipulations and digital
re-synthesis and with all of this he created nine pieces of musique concrete inspired pieces. Field
recordings are probably the most important thing he uses on this release, but it works occasionally
out as some very heavy-weighted stuff. There is the sound of rusty swings on the playground,
some remote traffic, animal sounds but also the heavily amplified empty room approach, perhaps
to reveal any ghostly presence is something he uses quite a bit, and all of this with quite some
extreme equalization, so that a certain extreme level is always lurking beneath the surface. Sometimes
perhaps a bit too much based on relatively simple loops of sounds, which not necessarily seem to
go anywhere, such as in ‘Shark Watch’, I thought that was nevertheless a pretty fine and interesting
first release to hear a new artist. The more sounds he seems to be using inside a single piece, the
more interesting it seemed to be, me thinks. Quite a promise for the future. (FdW)
––– Address: http://glisteningexamples.bandcamp.com/
SUSTAINER – MEDICINA (CDR by Eilean Records)
MOSS COVERED TECHNOLOGY – SPEICHERBANK (CDR by Eilean Records)
French label Eilean Records continue to find musicians I never heard of and here are two more.
Alex Alarcón hails from Barcelona and he’s been working as Sustainer since 2003, and releases
on Italic, Thinner, Room40, Tessellate Recordings. Since some time he is interested in “using and
processing acoustic instruments, using old recording devices, found sounds recorded over the
years, and amplified objects in his work and he’s trying actually to stay in a non-computer
environments”, as we are informed, and he worked between 2014 and 2016 on the seven pieces
on ‘Medicina’. Many of the sound used by Sustainer are lifted from light orchestral music, muzak,
easy listening, elevator music and such like, which he already heard as a kid in his parents house,
so in a way it is also a homage to his parents. Sustainer samples these records and creates loops
out of the stringed sounds that roll around on an endless sustain; this musician lives up to his
name I guess. These stretched out string sounds remind me of Jorge Mantas project The Beautiful
Schizophonic and his romantic notion of computer music. One could say Sustainer is very much
along similar lines, but one could also think that all of these seven pieces have a very similar
approach, both in the way the sounds are processed, as well as how these compositions are made;
a gradual fade-in of a bunch of processed string sounds, all close to each other, and a fade out at
the end. That perhaps is great for a few pieces, three or four, but not enough I think for a whole album,
unless of course the minimalist approach is something that Sustainer wants to play to its max.
Behind Moss Covered Technology we find Greig Baird, who used to work as Boomruin and
released three albums with that project. ‘Speicherbank’ is the first one under his new guise, and
that’s about all we get to know about this. There are no instruments mentioned on the cover,
except that there are field recordings incorporated recorded in and around Devon between 2014
and 2016. He has thirteen pieces in forty-eight minutes and some of these are quite short, a
mere fifty-two seconds being the shortest. While it is usual with the releases on Eilean that they
are atmospheric, and Moss Covered Technology is no different, Baird also adds something that
we don’t hear a lot on Eilean Records releases, and that is rhythm. Simply out of a rhythm
machine, rather than sampled together from old vinyl. A slow, minimalist rhythm in some of
these pieces, along with the crackling of ice, or vinyl, guitar and bass I may assume are also
present, as well as a bunch of sound effects. All of this comes to us with a fair amount of
reverb to suggest more space, more atmospheres, but somehow it works very well. The pieces
of Moss Covered Technology sound more like ‘songs’ and less as ‘pieces’, especially in those
pieces in which he uses the rhythm machine. In an odd and peculiar way I was reminded of The
Durutti Column, especially with the rhythm pieces, but then without Vinni’s doodling on the
guitar, capturing a similar ‘sad’ mood. Moss Covered Technology delivers a very strong album,
I think, with a highly varied bunch of tunes that fit wonderfully well together. One of the
highlights of this week, as far as I’m concerned. (FdW)
––– Address: http://www.eilean-records.com/
INSTITUTE OF NOISE – ACHTUNG MESSARBEITEN! (CDR by Klappstuhl)
Don’t let the name of this band or title confuse you. It may sound like ‘noise’ but it’s far from
it. If I understood correctly Institute Of Noise was a rather short-lived group of Ralf Schuster
(vocals, noise) and Tobias Richter (music, electronics), who worked on these eleven pieces in
2008 and which got a small release as two MP3 EPs. Richter later on started to work as Elastic
Doll and Schuster became a member of other projects, including Akkordeon Salon Orchestra,
in which Richter joined on drums. The music is all about synthesizers and drum machines playing
a somewhat updated version of Neue Deutsche Welle and minimal synth sound; if those are terms
that mean actually something to someone these days. A beat, not too strong or bass heavy,
synth melodies, some arpeggio and that brings us some minimalist music. On top of that there
are German lyrics, and with the voice quite on top of the music, one could easily think these texts
are very important. I do get a bit of German, but I must admit the meaning of these lyrics elude
me a bit and I like it best when it is more singing than reciting and a bit of effects (delay mainly)
is applied to the music, for instance in ‘Weltall, Erde, Ich’, which is the only one with the voice of
Richter, and unfortunately they are not many otherwise, ‘Unberührbar’ was one with a particular
strong musical backing, and ‘Neonröhren’ another. I was thinking about Anne Clark when I played
this, and how I always thought that music was good and that I was never that interested in the
lyric side. That was maybe thirty years ago, but some things never seem to change. It wasn’t
great, it wasn’t bad and that’s never enough I would think. (FdW)
––– Address: http://klappstuhl.bandcamp.com
SIMFONICA – SONG OF THE VOLCANOES (CDR by Cathedral Transmissions)
Here we have the musical project of Trevor Midgley, of whom I never heard, I think, but whose
musical career started with a band named Beau, releasing their first album in 1969 on John
Peel’s Dandelion Records label, but stopped doing music since he also had a day to day job,
married and wrote a book on Bob Dylan bootlegs. Oh and in 2015 he started a project called
Simfonica (go to his website on a rainy afternoon; there is lots to read). Simfonica comes from
two words, SIMFonic electrONICA and it is all about his love for electronic music (say Stockhausen,
say Tangerine Dream) and classical music (think Bartok, think Stravinsky and Schoenberg). ‘Songs
of The Volcanoes’ is his first release and has four long pieces, each with their own title, so it’s not
a four part symphony, which would perhaps been the most logical thing to do. I am not too sure,
but I would think that much of this is sampled from classical records, or uses a lot of orchestral
samples from the playbook. Midgley likes his orchestra to be dramatic and spacious, stretching
and granulating string sounds, and adding a bit of percussion, via a drum loop in ‘Mother Russia’,
but it stays statically the same throughout the entire piece. I am not sure what the intentions are
from Midgley with this; if it is to bring something that is entirely ‘new’ I must disappoint him,
others work extensively with orchestral sounds. If the idea is to create something beautiful I am
also not too sure; it sounds all right, but perhaps also like something that requires a simple sound
module to stretch out these sounds, add a bit of sound effects and you’ve got result, which
might be highly pleasing for the composer, but it also sounds like something anyone could
achieve fairly easily oneself, which seems to me not something I would like very much. Some
mystery would be great, I think. (FdW)
––– Address: http://cathedraltransmissions.bandcamp.com
ROEL MEELKOP & SJAK VAN BUSSEL – MEELKOP VAN BUSSEL (cassette by Midas Music)
This comes as a surprise, mainly because I know both of these musicians very well, even speaking
with them in a social context every now and then, and I have no idea this was coming. The B-side
is a 2016 edit of a concert they did together in 2006 at Vatican Analog, which occasion I also
forgot about, or perhaps never knew about. Roel Meelkop and Sjak van Bussel know each other
for some thirty years, mainly because they are both, alongside others, members of THU20, a five-
piece group of composers/improvisers from the world of live electronics and musique concrete.
There are two sidelong pieces here. The first one is ‘Dronedefdef’ and credited to both as listed
above, while the live recording is credited to Roel Meelkop and DJ DMDN, the name used by Van
Bussel for his DJing activities. The cover says that the live piece ‘contains locked grooves made
by other artists’, and sees DJ DMDN at the turntables. I am not sure if that is what he does on
the ‘Dronedefdef’ too; I must admit, another surprise, to be surprised to hear that Van Bussel is
involved in the production of drone like music; well, maybe that’s also something one could say
for Meelkop. His work is usually more cut-up/collage like, with swift changes, but on this piece
they certainly use the drones to great effect. It has a somewhat ‘live’ feel to it, with slow changes
in speed coming along the way. As I have no idea what they are doing in this piece there is surely
something to guess, I can say it moves through various stages of loudness, from something very
quiet to something mildly loud and towards the end I was thinking about motorized objects being
amplified, or simply taken from field recordings. It is quite a surprise to hear drones from them,
but in this lively piece there is certainly a lot more happening.
The live piece on the other side indeed takes a lot of sound material from the world of lock
grooves and these are heard through the eighteen minutes this piece lasts quite a lot of these
are used. I am not sure as to what mister Meelkop is doing in this piece, maybe picking up the
sound in real time and playing around with it. Despite the recent edit, one can’t help not to think
of this in terms of a live recording of improvising with records, turntables and electronics/laptop,
meaning there are several flaws in the way it is executed. It’s not as worked out as the music on
the other side, and sometimes we are a bit at a loss as to what it is they want in this concert,
but then at other moments I thought ‘yeah, this works really well’. As a document of an
impromptu get together this limited edition (50 copies) cassette worked quite well. Exactly
what this medium should be about. (FdW)
––– Address: http://www.antenne-tilburg.nl/antenne/
ILIA BELORUKOV & LAURI HYVARINEN/MIGUEL A. GARCIA & HECTOR REY (cassette by
Rypistellyt Levyt)
From the omnipresent Miguel A. Garcia here comes another release with his involved. He plays a
duet with Hector Rey, who plays percussion and violin. That’s on the B-side of this cassette and
on the first side we find Ilia Belorukov (alto saxophone, electronics) & Lauri Hyvärinen’s (acoustic
guitar, electronics) with a live recording from Helsinki, inside a 600 square meter concrete bunker.
While this is some damn fine improvised music, the fact that it is recorded in a big bunker is
something I didn’t hear on this recording. There is a fair amount of grittiness to the music,
especially with Belorukov playing something that reminds the listener of sine waves leaping
into feedback, while occasionally Hyvärinen’s is a damn loud acoustic beast. But they keep their
set quite balanced; it can also be very quiet.
The Garcia/Rey side was recorded in 2015 during their Mexican Tour, when they arrived in
Mexico City. Garcia gets credit for electronics and here too we have two musicians who play in a
very similar way, ranging from the very quiet to the pleasantly loud, very much like Belorukov and
Hyvärinen, but it seems they space out their music a bit more, going at one point even all quiet
and not a lot is happening. But then a single sound sets off a new cycle of events.
Both of these sides are quite similar and it’s not too difficult to see why appear on a
cassette together. We have here the fine combination improvisation and musique concrete/
electro-acoustic music, in the space of two concerts from two different locations by four
excellent musicians. (FdW)
––– Address: http://rypistellytlevyt.bandcamp.com/
KRVELECO – REGNO (cassette by Stupro Rituale)
With minimal information, a web site that has no server and the only reference I could find a
listing on Placenta records 2014 this is indeed an odd cassette of two short sides and I think
7 tracks of harsh noise sometimes pulsating other times not. Also the text ‘Krveleco plays
trve black harsh noise’, black and gold printing with satanic? sacrifice and a pentangle – which
again is the wrong way up and so is more of a Christian image than satanic. Never mind. Franceso
Gemelli’s web site – who is responsible for the artwork- did appear and a face book site… but no
luck on the cassette release to be found. Ah! – I take it back – of course we are in CVLT territory
so though the text is KRVELECO the website is KRUELECO! Another ah! It’s Cruel Co then! And
now I can edit the label name – Stupro Rituale. A release it seems from 2014. The Placenta
records 2014 list makes sense, a release of 200, this copy (c30 ) arrived from Frans last week?
Hmmm? Anyway if you’ve bothered to read this so far the sounds are surprising pure harsh noise
– given the packaging I was suspecting more Power Electronics Industrial black whatever with the
house of horror hammer films screams and sound effects, but no, true – sorry trve harsh analogve
sovnds. Feedback glitch and such. They allude to Japanese influences but the pieces are more
structured – even ‘musical/ dare I say? So here ends a strange review of a 2014 cassette release,
the web site says under latest news that they are as of 12th September 2016 still alive so maybe
someone might like to buy a tape if they have any of the 200 limited release left. There is also an
email link and example of this tape on a link to soundcloud. (jliat)
––– Address: http://www.krueleco.com
•
1. Frans de Waard <info@kormplastics.nl>
Saturday Nove,ber 5: WaSm at NZZN Festival in Rotterdam
whole weekend programm: http://www.nzzn.nl/
I also have a talk about my book ‘This Is Supposed To Be A Record Label’ at the start of
the evening
•
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