RADBOUD MENS – CONTINIOUS (CD by ERS) *
RADBOUD MENS – MOVEMENT (CD by ERS)
MAYA BENNARDO & ERIK BLENNOW CALÄLV & KRISTOFER SVENSSON – TWO SKIES (CD by Thanatosis) *
DIE HOCHSTAPLER – BEAUTY LIES (CD by Umlaut Records) *
DIE HOCHSTAPLER – WITHIN (CD by Umlaut Records) *
CYPRIEN BUSOLINI & BERTRAND GAUGET – MIROIR (CD by Akousis Records) *
GUILLAUME LOIZILLON – COLLAPSES (CD by Trace Label) *
SMEGMA – SUB-UNDERGROUND (CD by Exklageto) *
GADAGU – THE WEATHERMAN IS WRONG (CD by Gold Bolus) *
MICHAEL FRANCIS DUCH – MIND IS MOVING (IV) BY MICHAEL PISARO-LU (2LP by Sofa Music)
JEROME NOETINGER – SUR QUELQUES MONDES ETRANGES (2LP by Gagarin Records) *
BROMP TREB – BALD EAGLE OVER FOOD CITY (LP by Artsy Records) *
AIRAKSINEN PEKKOLA TANNER – UUDET JES OPOT (LP by Artsy Records) *
L’ARBRE NU & BARDO TODOL – UN SUPER GROUPE NOMMÉ SAPITO (cassette by Artsy Records) *
MARCIA BASSETT – UNDULATING AKRASBONING (cassette by Artsy Records) *
RUDOLF EB.ER/AWKWARD GEISHA – MALEDICTI (LP by Love Earth Music)
CLAUS POULSEN & BOBAN RISTEVSKI – THE CATCHER IN THE RYE (CDR by Love Earth Music) *
THE NEW HARNESSIANS – DOLOR (CDR by Love Earth Music) *
INSTAGON – WHEN THEE EARTH MAKES OIL (CDR by Love Earth Music) *
GOD PUSSY – RUDIMENTAR DESEJO DE LIBERDADE (CDR by Love Earth Music) *
THE HATERS UND KADAVER (split cassette by Tribe Tapes) *
NEW GRASPING MACHINE – DEPRAVED (cassette by Tribe Tapes) *
O.R.D.U.C. – ELEMENTS (cassette by Motok)
RADBOUD MENS – CONTINIOUS (CD by ERS)
RADBOUD MENS – MOVEMENT (CD by ERS)
Just as Reinier van Houdt did recently, Radboud Mens now also releases a double CD as two separate entities. Radboud Mens first appeared on the international scene as a man who used a dog brush to scratch records and broken tape decks. The early days of noise brought him some notoriety and were quickly replaced with more advanced computer technology. Since the late 90s, Mens worked in techno music (among which a few grand 12″s on the long-lost Audio.NL label) and drone music. He is also at the core of the Staalplaat Soundsystem, creating large-scale musical installations, which he also does solo. The music on the two new CDs has been around in one shape or another for twenty years. Back then, there was an interest in releasing these on vinyl, but these labels disappeared around 2005. The reason for that might be the waning of interest in this particular brand of minimal techno. Following Mens’ harsher minimal techno for Audio.NL, these works are found in a gentler area of minimal techno. The element of ambient music plays a big role here. I found myself on a quiet Wednesday morning listening to this music whilst engaged in various activities. I briefly had a visitor (who, for once, didn’t comment on the music, so both ignorable and pleasurable?), spoke to a few people on the phone, did some mail and email; the usual stuff one does when ‘at work’ or ‘at home, which, in my case, is, of course, the same thing. The pieces here are lengthy, between six and eight minutes, and meandering in clicky, dubby rhythms with evolving tones and drones. Think (if you remember) Alva Noto, Pole, Chain Reaction label and such. Mens’ rhythms are slower and perhaps less engaging for a dance floor, but me? Dancing on a Wednesday morning? I rather have the downtempo, dubby beat and ambient patches and pads that help me talk to people, read or mail. Throughout, the music is slow but punchy. The music may seem a little interchangeable, making it somewhat faceless perhaps, but I assume that is the whole idea here; to have music that isn’t demanding your attention because they are different, but music that is the same(ness), so one can engage in other activities. Just as ambient music says on the bottle, “it must be as ignorable as it is interesting,” these two CDs do precisely that, with the steadfast heartbeat at the core. (FdW)
––– Address: https://radboudmens.bandcamp.com/
MAYA BENNARDO & ERIK BLENNOW CALÄLV & KRISTOFER SVENSSON – TWO SKIES (CD by Thanatosis)
Here I find a new trio of players. Maya Bernnardo on violin, Erik Blennow Calälv on bass calrinet and Kristofer Svensson on the kacapi. The latter is a traditional zither of Sundanese people in Indonesia, like the guzheng, koto and string instruments. ‘Two Skies’ is the first recording they did as a trio, and the music is somewhere along the lines of modern classical music (but without a score, perhaps) and improvisation (but without the chaos, perhaps). The music is quiet and introspective, like a small chamber orchestra. There is a fine balance between longer, sustaining tones and shorter, staccato ones. It doesn’t stay on the same volume level but it feels like it does. It never goes towards a point, further away in time. It is like waves washing ashore and going away, but then with some distance between the observer and the sea. Turn up the volume, and you realize that within the subtle approach, more layers of subtleness are hidden beneath. Play it all again, and note the many differences. The kacapi gives the whole music a slightly exotic feeling. Svensson plucks away at his instrument slowly and solemnly, like throwing small stones in a pond, whereas the violin and the bass clarinet play longer, sustaining sounds – they are the pond, I thought. Music to play on a quiet day, with or without too much concentration. I noted that both worked for me very well, even if I have no idea if that is an insult to the music. Maybe the musicians require a full concentration modus? My experience is that it both ways are fine. (FdW)
––– Address: https://thanatosis.org/
DIE HOCHSTAPLER – BEAUTY LIES (CD by Umlaut Records)
DIE HOCHSTAPLER – WITHIN (CD by Umlaut Records)
This French-Italian-German quartet started in 2011. Core members are Louis Laurain (trumpet), Pierre Borel (alto saxophone), Antonio Borghini (bass) and Hannes Lingens (drums). They debuted in 2013 with ‘The Braxtornette Project’, an album with compositions by Anthony Braxton and Ornette Coleman. In 2016 the album ‘Die Hochstapler plays the Music Of Alvin P. Buckley’ followed. For this one, they invented Alvin P.Buckley as a collective alter ego. In 2018 their third album saw the light: ‘The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over The Lazy Dog’. “The title is borrowed from the literary exercise of building a sentence including all the letters of the alphabet. This is no coincidence, as four out of six tracks are based on a collectively developed musical alphabet.” I take these quotes to illustrate that this quartet works from different angles and perspectives in order to determine the game they want to play. This also counts for their project ‘The Flop, The Turn and the River’, realized in collaboration with WUK Theater Quartier in 2019. With guest musicians Félicie Bazelaire, Patricia Bosshard, Emilio Gordoa and Michael Thiecke, they worked out again a specific set of rules that allowed the performers to combine composing music with free improvisation, resulting in a dynamic and playful performance. Now, with their latest release, they return to the quartet format. They released two new albums. Playing two new cards simultaneously, as it were. Umlaut releases both albums. ‘Beauty Lies’ is a collection of 25 short and ultra-short (four seconds!) compositions. Very punctuated works that are played as written, polished and dry, with a minor role for improvisation. Recorded this year on February 14th and 17th. In between on February 16th they recorded ‘Within’, an album of two lengthy improvisations, during their residency at Au Topsi Pohl-venue in Berlin. Where ‘Beauty Lies’ may sound cerebral because of the dry performance, ‘Within’ is a much more emotional and spirited album, performed for ama small audience with much more swing and drive. The lengthy improvisations feel like a conglomerate of many patterns and ideas chosen along their game-based strategies. But the improvisations surely unfold organically, with changes in dynamics and intensity. A Coleman-like motive returns every now and then in the first improvisation. The performers play with enthusiasm and focus, giving way to joyful interaction. Fine work! (DM)
––– Address: https://www.umlautrecords.com/
CYPRIEN BUSOLINI & BERTRAND GAUGET – MIROIR (CD by Akousis Records)
Although I feel it is not my ‘duty’ to mention artwork, I must say that I haven’t seen a great design cover this label, and this new one is no exception. This is a pity, as the music is most enjoyable. Here we have a duet between Cyprien Busolini, a new name for me, on viola and Bertrand Gauguet on alto saxophone. They have been playing together for several years, and both have a long history in improvised music. Gauguet, perhaps more so than Busolini. The latter is also a member of the Dedalus and Once ensembles. On the day I wrote about this release, one year ago, they recorded the music at La Muse En Circuit in Alfortville. The cover mentions that both musicians worked on the editing of the music, which I am not sure how to understand. Not in this case, but also, so I believe, in many cases of improvised music. To what extent does this kind of music need editing? To what extent should things be as they were recorded? The two long pieces are examples of tranquil music. The overall tone is austere and not engaging. I don’t mean this in a negative way. It is what it is. Following ‘things to do earlier today, it was time for me to sit down and do nothing. I realized that this is not the kind of music for ‘things to do, but, rather, for ‘things not to do. If you don’t pay a lot of attention and the volume is not up, one might have a problem hearing this, let alone appreciating this. The interaction between players is very subtle, with each player taking time to play nothing. In both pieces, they go for the more extended, sustaining notes. Slowly these sounds merge. Gauguet’s saxophone is at times more akin to sine waves, whereas the violin is more conventional sounding, perhaps because it is possible to play more extended notes on this instrument. The music has a strong meditative character and is slow in development. Yet, it never sounds like traditional minimalist drone music, as there seems to be more happening here, and the two bring out a fine amount of variation. (FdW)
––– Address: https://akousis.bandcamp.com/
GUILLAUME LOIZILLON – COLLAPSES (CD by Trace Label)
Here’s a thing that sometimes happens: I start to play a release but realize I have no idea what I am playing. With this release, that happened when I heard the second track, mainly because both that one and the first had a female voice, electronic music and especially the second sounded like Belgium’s Human Flesh. Had I started a CD by them? Oh no, it is this Guillaume Loizillon, whom I had not heard of before. He is the man behind the label here, and a professor in the conservatory, and he played with jazz musicians, African music, and sound poetry and worked with Bikaya and Zazou for Crammed Discs. He has a lengthy list of guests on his CD, including Bikyaa, David Fenech, Quentin Rollet, Michel Bertier, Andrew Crocker and many more. They contribute guitar, voice, trumpet, saxophone, and violin. Loizillon started the process by recording sequences using modular synthesizers and the software version (maxmsp, voltage modular, VCV rack and such) and sending these to his collaborators. They added their contribution at home (work started before the pandemic, but this helped the idea) or came to Loizillon’s studio to record material. Quite an interesting idea that delivers a very diverse bunch of tracks. I like it best when it is all electronic, and voice material is added. Say, when it sounds like music from the Human Flesh/Bene Gesserit/Cortex scene. Incidentally, Human Flesh is a group working along similar lines of sending sounds back and forth. The combination of electronics and, at times, free range of vocalizations, poems and stories work very well. When the saxophone and trumpet come into play, it all becomes jazzier, free improvisation, but with an electronic backing, which didn’t do much for me; the same goes for some pieces with a heavy prog-rock guitar soloing on top. That makes some of these pieces far from a few others. I believe the ones I like are the majority here; I would select a few for mobile entertainment and some I leave home. (FdW)
––– Address: https://tracelabel.bandcamp.com/
SMEGMA – SUB-UNDERGROUND (CD by Exklageto)
This Portland group has been around since the mid-70s and plays regular concerts in their hometown. But over the years, the group gained some notoriety, so post 2000, the group played shows across the pond. On this new CD are recordings from 2011-2017 from the group’s studio and two live cuts from the Tusk festival in Newcastle and Jazzhouse, Copenhagen. That may account for the presence of special guests Johannes Lund, Tobias Kirstein, Dennis Tyfus and Mette Rasmussen. The last track on the CD is called ‘Big jam with Guests (Live in Copenhagen)’, so maybe this is where all guests appear? Although not mentioned, I assume they appear on the aforementioned live cuts. The CD comes in a box made from an old vinyl LP; there are sub-editions with acrylic art, one small edition with a lathe cut and a cassette box set. As I wrote before, not so long ago (Vital Weekly 1337), I only heard a tiny portion of their output, and I always enjoy it. There is no single way of describing their music, but a review should, so I believe, always include such words as ‘freedom’, ‘punk’ and ‘noise’. Smegma’s music is a free fall of spontaneous playing by musicians. It never descends into rampant chaos, or at least not that much, as percussion is there to keep everybody in line; until all goes wrong, of course. Smegma’s music is one of controlled chaos, of minimalist repetitions by a few players and derailings by others. In the latter camp, we surely find whoever is playing the saxophone. Often this instrument takes its free jazz leanings and goes off to wail around. There is an element of free-rock at work here, stomping around, with everybody jangling along (‘Last Call’ or ‘In Fairyland’), and it reminded me of bands like No-Neck Blues Band. I am trying to figure out if Smegma is the influencer or influenced here; I couldn’t say. The music is full of aggression, punky speed, and the ‘do what you will be the whole of the law’ approach. Somebody plays a radio or a bit of vinyl, and it all blends in nicely. Freedom and anarchy: going strong for close to fifty years now. (FdW)
––– Address: psychkg@online.de
GADAGU – THE WEATHERMAN IS WRONG (CD by Gold Bolus)
The Gold Bolus label has been around for many years, and its releases are on the fringes of many musical styles. Improvisation, free jazz, rock music, or even pop music. But, keep in mind that I have no idea what rock or pop music these days mean. Behind Gadagu, we find the couple of Hannah Selin (voice, viola) and Nicki Adams (piano, synth), along with Patrick Adams (trumpet), Ayumi Ishito (tenor sax), Dan Stein (bass) and Arthur Vint (drums). Their music is very melodic, very soulful and jazzy. Sometimes it reminded me of trip-hop, sometimes, it leans more toward jazz, and there is a nightclub atmosphere. While the summer never seems to go away, sitting back on another slow day, reading and drinking cold water, this music is quite nice. There is nothing much to think about. The world’s misery is far away. Yet, simultaneously, there is the unholy task of saying something about this for Vital Weekly. That’s where I go wrong if that is the right word. I feel this music is too far off for Vital Weekly, how sympathetic I feel the label is, no matter that I enjoyed it. My frame of reference is just not within the scope of this music. Intrigued? Then dig in and find something unusual for these pages, yet something you may feel is entirely up your alley. I imagine the audience for this group is way beyond our little band of noise heads, and as such, they should reach a big crowd. (FdW)
––– Address: https://goldbolus.com/
MICHAEL FRANCIS DUCH – MIND IS MOVING (IV) BY MICHAEL PISARO-LU (2LP by Sofa Music)
I can get on my soapbox to talk about formats for musical releases for this particular release. I have no preferences for one or another. I think ambient music should be on a CD (properly mastered. But that goes for all music, right?); techno or any form of loud music should be best served on vinyl and lo-fi gritty ambient/noise on a cassette. A flag waving in the wind is not the flag moving or the wind but the mind moving. That’s the explanation here, a composition by Michael Pisaro-Liu. It contains sixty sounds for the contrabass, and “any performance may include anywhere from thirty to all sixty sounds in the score. One sound per minute, all “pizzicato and pianissimo”. The player should not move afterwards, so the sound rings as long as possible. Here comes the thing about the formats. When you play one sound per minute and put that on double vinyl, totalling sixty minutes, then there is a lot of quietness, but on vinyl (and I am not talking expensive turntable stuff here at chez weekly). But this silence is never silent as the record has the occasional glitch, hiss, scratch and hum. Well, my turntable does, anyway. There is no bigger story to tell about the music. Sounds born and die, and in between, there is nothing. Just like life, although we please ourselves with music to fill the void – or rather, as I do. But I am slightly annoyed by the extra noise (and, again, this says nothing about the pressing quality, just my rather plain turntable, and I went to Bandcamp and played the record from there and enjoyed the silence there is. Not that the music made more ‘sense’, as it remains what it is, fragmented notes and lots of silence, but I found all of this more enjoyable this way. Less interruption, if you will and more room for contemplation to do. Now it all becomes powerful, and I found the impact of sound versus silence is now fully explored. (FdW)
––– Address: https://sofamusic.bandcamp.com/
JEROME NOETINGER – SUR QUELQUES MONDES ETRANGES (2LP by Gagarin Records)
Here we have two surprises. A rare solo record from Jerome Noetinger, whom we best know from his collaborations with Lionel Marchetti, Antoine Chessex, Anthony Pateras and his audio-visual group Cellule d’Intervention Metamkine. Also, it is a surprising release for Felix Kubin’s label. For this record, Noetinger travelled to Hamburg and set up shop in a studio. His primary instrument is the ReVox B77 reel-to-reel machine, analogue synthesizers, mixing desk, microphones and everyday objects. Noetinger’s music must be seen in the best musique concrete tradition, but throughout his 30+ year career, he learned to do many tricks with these machines and record them live; Noetinger is not the man to sit down and compose his music in a studio. The sound comes via “tube broadcast monitors and (is) picked up with room microphones”. All music on this double LP is recorded live. That gives the music an excellent vibrancy. It is already quite raw, this music, but this way, it is meaner and stronger. The music is never quiet, never near silent, and, perhaps, never contemplative. And yet, the music is never too loud, not too single-mindedly turned towards absolute noise, but rather somewhere in between; the balance is always towards noise. There is the odd bit of radio thrown, giving the music a good radiophonic drama effect, and with some of the synthesized sounds sparking and buzzing, the drama is high. Noetinger’s brutalist attack is never a slap in the face but a beautiful bumpy ride along a volcanic landscape of electro-acoustic sound montage. Re-directed on the spot, morphing and changing as things move along. Not over-thought, composed meticulously but basically the result of many years of experience on how to compose with live sound. To top it off, the fourth side contains twelve locked grooves. Try this at home, it seems to be saying, and use my sounds. The staff of masters and legends. (FdW)
––– Address: https://gagarinrecords.bandcamp.com/
BROMP TREB – BALD EAGLE OVER FOOD CITY (LP by Artsy Records)
AIRAKSINEN PEKKOLA TANNER – UUDET JES OPOT (LP by Artsy Records)
L’ARBRE NU & BARDO TODOL – UN SUPER GROUPE NOMMÉ SAPITO (cassette by Artsy Records)
MARCIA BASSETT – UNDULATING AKRASBONING (cassette by Artsy Records)
To start a record label in times when everything is economically great is a risky business; to start one when the shit hit the Covid fan is a bold move. The person behind Artsy from Helsinki plays in bands like Avarus and The Anaksimandros, but when gigs dried up, he started Artsy Records. So far, there are more than twenty releases, and I only know a hand full of these artists. Let’s start with the vinyl, and on the first, we find music by Bromp Treb. This musical project has been around for some twenty years and was masterminded by Neil ‘Cloaca” Young. You may know him as Fat Worm Of Error and a filmmaker. I had not heard the music of Bromp Treb before. He recorded the music between 2019 and 2021 “using several tape machines”, which is the only bit of information, next to the location of the machines. The music is quite an interesting mixture of improvised sounds, mainly on wind instruments and electronics. These are manipulated with the use of old gear, and that makes the whole record a bit, well, old too. At first, I thought this was a band playing a sort of Mnemonists or Motor Totemist Guild kind of music; Avant-rock music but with the studio being an equally important instrument. However, as the record progressed and I read the background of the music, I could also see this one man using multi-track possibilities and lots and lots of sound devices. A one-person orchestra at times with many layers of sound. Then I thought of Nurse With Wound, once the same sort of one-man orchestra, but on this record, Bromp Treb stays more on the Avant-rock side of music, in which a more considerable portion is reserved for improvisation. Bromp Treb organises his music using studio technology and moves away from the stricter improvised music scene. Great record!
The other LP is a trio recorded around Pekka Airaksinen. He was a “pioneering composer of electronic and experimental music” from Finland and lived from 1945 to 2019. He never performed many concerts during his life, but in 2015 he formed a trio with saxophonist Sami Pekkola and electronic musician Samuli Tanner. In February 2017, they played their first concerts, and recordings from the third concert found their way onto this LP. Airaksinen plays keyboards, and Pekkola also bongos and small objects. The record starts with a very much free jazz saxophone, which made me think ‘not for me’, but it turns out that this is much more than ‘just’ free jazz. Sure, elements of that play a significant role, but not always, with the saxophone playing an authoritative role. When electronics play a significant role, the music brings out a dreamier element without ever reaching for the ambient side of music. An element of abstraction is never far away. Such as at the opening of the second side, with sounds tough to define, a toy piano and rattling of percussive objects. Here, the music is almost akin to electro-acoustic music, including a record of baroque music being destroyed; that’s what it sounds like, it is not that. A roller coaster ride, this music, and recorded in such a way that it is all very direct and in your face, which works very well. At less than thirty minutes, a bit short, perhaps, but a pretty powerful statement.
A super group named Sapito, is the title of the cassette between Bardo Todol (Pablo and Nico Picco Salsipuedes, Argentina) and l’Arbre nu (Guy-Pierre, Timothé and Maya Milin, Bretagne, France). I had heard of the Argentinean side of this but not the French. All players went outside into the woods to play music, which they later put together and mixed. I couldn’t say who contributes what here, which is for the strength of the piece here. It sounds like these people are in one room, playing together. Of course, there is an element of free-folk here, which comes with the natural habitat of recording in a forest, I’d say. Bell sounds, mumbling, some strumming on a detuned guitar and no rhythmic banging on percussive instruments. There are also elements of tape manipulation, maybe played on the spot or added later on. These add a fine additional layer to the music, overstepping the whole ‘we’re making some free music in a forest thing’. You could think of this as planning with the benefit of hindsight and creating order out of apparent chaos. I found this expanded sound most enjoyable, especially when it all became electro-acoustic, field recording-like, and along with the free-folk, it became the soundtrack of a weird folk-horror tale. Close your eyes and be scared.
Marcia Bassett was the only name I recognised. Over the years, we reviewed some of her work, solo, as Zaïmph, and she is a member of Double Leopards, GHQ, and Hototogisu and has duets with people. I always thought her primary instrument was the guitar, but that is not the case here; perhaps, it is, but also the Buchla Music Easel, a modular synthesiser. But just as well, it might be that this is the only instrument on the four pieces, which last thirty-two minutes. The modular synthesiser is a very popular instrument/construction these days. Not really a specific instrument, but whatever modules one has. Many of the works I come across with this instrument have a rather improvised nature, and the four pieces by Bassett are not different. Sounds bubble and burst, oscillate and rotate, drift and space and are graced with a bit of reverb to suggest atmosphere; most dominant in the piece ‘In Process’. I enjoyed it best when Bassett used more extended tones and less of the more chaotic shorter pieces. But throughout, I was thinking, is this it? It is not bad, not great either, four fine exercises of what modular electronics are capable of, but is there more to this? Somehow I had the feeling there could be more to it indeed. I see this as a work in progress. (FdW)
––– Address: https://artsyrecords.bandcamp.com/
RUDOLF EB.ER/AWKWARD GEISHA – MALEDICTI (LP by Love Earth Music)
CLAUS POULSEN & BOBAN RISTEVSKI – THE CATCHER IN THE RYE (CDR by Love Earth Music)
THE NEW HARNESSIANS – DOLOR (CDR by Love Earth Music)
INSTAGON – WHEN THEE EARTH MAKES OIL (CDR by Love Earth Music)
The first time I heard music by Awkward Geisha, the musical project of Ade Rowe was also on a split release (see Vital Weekly 1334). I wasn’t blown away by the improvised sounds of “guitar playing, xylophone, saxophone abuse, and mumbling”. If I were cynical as some people think I am, I’d say that doing split releases is a good thing to get your name out there, certainly when it comes to someone like Rudolf Eb.er, who has quite some following. I could have gone for playing Eb.er’s side first and seen how that would work out for Rowe, but I didn’t. Awkward Geisha’s ‘Opera Of Death’ is a side-long piece of power electronics. To that end, he uses bass voices and noise. The lengthy, crashing onslaught of distortion, wielding away as if there is no end, but with a few variations to the theme. These alternations keep the music away from the dreaded harsh noise wall thing and are actually quite enjoyable. Like an engine revving up, amplified and distorted, there is beauty in decay. Part of what made me enjoy this was that there was an end to it, roughly after about twenty minutes. Eb.er’s noise music is of an entirely different world. He uses field recordings and voice material, along with working with the frequencies, to emphasize or reduce particular parts. He places his material next to each other to create eerie sound collages. I hear these as a soundtrack to horror movies, dystopia or anything such as black. More than some of his other recent work, this one seems to work with more obvious looped material. That adds a more mechanical feeling to the music. Noise, as in loud, distorted work, this is not. Rudolf Eb.er’s music is way more subtle and not easily be labelled noise. I always enjoy the way he works with sound.
In my little, non-existing book of labels, I have Love Earth Music down as ‘mostly a noise label’, but the release by Claus Poulsen and Boban Ristevski is certainly not noise at all. The first I know from his many solo releases and collaborations, with the second working his butt off, now he’s back on track with computer manipulated sounds. We are kept in the dark about the basics of this release, who does what and such. Maybe we don’t always need to know. The result is what counts, and like much of Ristevski’s recent material, I enjoy this a lot. My uneducated guess would be that he treats sound material delivered by Poulsen and does that in his usual ambient industrial manner. There is a highly delicate process with the sound material, reshaping the material into small particles, buzzing and zooming. In ‘The Catcher 1’, this stays on a slightly more abstract side of things, but in the other three pieces, it all leans more towards the musical side. In ‘The Catcher 2’, for instance, a sort of repeating, broken rhythm machine amplifying all the sounds from the machine. We get four pieces, from almost eight to almost twelve minutes, and they are all equally great, and, sadly, at thirty-eight minutes, a bit too short for my taste. In the current flow of releases by Ristevski another great one, with a slight change of scenery.
Not as ambient, yet also not as noisy, is the music by The New Harnessians. I have no idea who or what they are, other than there is a previous release on Love Earth Music. I am going by ear on this one, and my best guess is that The New Harnessians are synth wielders and field recorders. Sometimes these field recordings go into a synthesizer for some processing, while other pieces stay in a pure synthesizer modus. Maybe there is also some kind of processing of instruments going on here; I am not all too sure of it all. There is not a particular sound they are going for. Partly based on the world of ambient, the group (if, in fact, this is a group) also leaps out to more rhythmic things, such as in the opening piece, ‘A Piano’. Sometimes it all becomes gritty and noisier, but, as said, it never goes totally over the top and never is all too distorted. Noise that I like! The New Harnessians keep their pieces to minimalist lengths, going from a minute to almost seven, but on average, they are about three minutes. They tell a story of repeating lines with minimal changes within such a time frame. However, they are not too minimal, so these pieces stay on for long enough to be interesting. The variety of musical interests, which also includes the occasional melodic touch, is cast wide and gives the music quite a nice drive and urgency along with the brief music.
Instagon is not unknown in these pages. The musical project by one LOB and a rotating cast of players. And the rotation of players also means rotation in music. The opening salvo here is a noise/feedback segment from the Norcal Noisefest, followed by a short synth improv, a spacious slow groove synth/bass improvisation, and some gentle bell-like sounds. Free improvisation is at the group’s heart, and many of the pieces they release are based upon earlier recorded sessions, in one instance, as old as 2009. Noise is an important feature, such as in the opening piece and in ‘Bass Improv With Spiders And Eyeballs’, but the group freely meanders about with more rockist leanings, space rock, funky, funky bits and ambient, sampled extractions of earlier sessions. Not every track is a winner in my book, to be honest, taking on a bit too much time, but here too, the variety saves the total. Bouncing left and right, all over the (space is the) place, Instagon always surprises. (FdW)
––– Address: http://www.loveearthmusic.com/
GOD PUSSY – RUDIMENTAR DESEJO DE LIBERDADE (CDr by Love Earth Music)
With more or less zero given in the way of information, this CDR by God Pussy (Jhones S.) is of eight harsh noise tracks. I guess the tracks and CDr title are in Portuguese, down to how the Pope divided the world back in the fourteenth century, but having no text I can translate save the title, Rudimentary Desire for Freedom, that’s it. The blog, Godpussy.blogspot.com, doesn’t list this release. Though there was a LEM release back in 2019, Never Mind – Here’s The God Pussy (10 Years Of Harsh Noise) Hmmm. “The intention… political aesthetics of direct attack on a humanly deficient society and its hypocritical ambitions corrupted by capital.” As in all noise, from Merzbow’s love of animals, Boyd Rice’s neo-Nazism through to TNB’s love of nothing is a zero-sum game. So how do we begin… listening… The sounds use processed white noise and various glitches throughout, at times not particularly harsh, but not pitched in anyway, some whistles and chirrups… the shortest around 3 minutes, the longest around 20 in which white noise static forms the basis. Bandcamp or SoundCloud clips would help. I admit I’ve no proclivity for noise or music that aims at illustration, even at its most seeming academic, serial music. Or profane, punk? At least in communication, I’m more like Atali as Noise ‘A music produced by each individual for himself, with maybe more than just sound, but then outside of the sound, a personal totemic. Even, to the extent, more for want of description as seeing the process-oriented away from the Freudian Super-Ego, of “MUSIC”, and “Politics”, “Activism”, and even less to the ego as to a ‘materialization’ of the ‘ID’. But I’m only using Freud as a metaphor, nothing more as such noise music can exercise a very primitive ontology of the ID. Getting us back to the garden, or maybe better, frightening away the evil spirits. (jliat)
––– Address: http://www.loveearthmusic.com/
THE HATERS UND KADAVER (split cassette by Tribe Tapes)
NEW GRASPING MACHINE – DEPRAVED (cassette by Tribe Tapes)
Another great batch of tapes from the amazing Tribe Tabes from North Carolina. Two short ones this time – C20s – but with some really outstanding material.
The first one to be played is a split between The Haters and Kadaver. The Haters fill their full 10:00 minutes with the almost painful “Pump-Powered Permawave (2021)”. I suppose this should be considered HNW, which is mostly a type of music where the energy is high, and the variation is low. But I have a bit of a problem because there is so much happening here that it doesn’t fit the ‘2nd rule’. Yet the energy is so incredibly high that … Damn … Fuck labels and descriptions. This is The Haters. The deep bass pulse and the nagging high-frequency tones … Incredible track. Kadaver is Michael Zolotov, and his track “Venomous Agent” is different from the material I knew from him. The track has several layers of what seems to be bass-based feedback and noise. Well executed, and properly massaged into an uneasy feeling and a loving message in the end. We love you too, Michael <3
The second tape is from a relatively new project, according to the info on Discogs, though there are already quite a few releases available. New Grasping Machina is Luk Henderiks from Ocean Township, New Jersey and from what I thought, I heard his profile pic confirmed. A setup with the amazing Lyra in combination with samples, attributes, contact mics and heavy processing of sounds. Expect erratic structures, no beautiful formed compositions, but straight-to-tape raw emotional expression through sound. The tracks are titled “Broken Breath From Fatigue” (side B) and “The Right Time To Die” (side A), and well, side A might be the right music for your funeral in that case. Brutal honesty through sounds. (BW)
––– Address: https://tribetapes.bandcamp.com/
O.R.D.U.C. – ELEMENTS (cassette by Motok)
Let me start by saying that I am not entirely sure if this cassette needed reviewing. ‘Elements’ by Dutch group O.R.D.U.C. is a promotional cassette containing eigth pieces of music from previous releases, all of which are still available. So, a promotional cassette needs reviewing, but I think all these releases have been reviewed before. Maybe you should think of this as a teaser release for the uninitiated, of which I am no part. My first encounter with O.R.D.U.C. was in 1980 when I first heard their piece ‘Crazy Computer’ on the ’17 to 7 to 33′ compilation 7″ by Plurex. I can’t say I was won over straight away, but when I heard their first cassette, ‘Pre Pink & Purple’, and later the LP ‘Pink & Purple’, I was won as a fan. There is a great charming naivety in the music of O.R.D.U.C., which I enjoy very music. The music isn’t exactly straightforward synth-pop, the vocals not smooth and rhythms not for the dance floor. Taking cues from early German synthesizer music, this music explores that further, but without too much technology, so it remains in that charming, naive world. I could decide not to play this cassette, go back to another full-length release by O.R.D.U.C., and still write a glorious review; everything to help the group. But I played this cassette, all the same, maybe to check what I thought of the selection. The music here gives a fine overview of what O.R.D.U.C. is, from the more uptempo ‘Decadent’ (technically the oldest song, from 1981, but here in a 2012 version) to the introspective ‘Compositie In Rood, Geel En Blauw’, and their more political oriented material, such as ‘Uranium’ and ‘Four warnings’. This cassette is released in an edition of twenty-five copies and has the usual pro-printed cover. (FdW)
––– Address: http://www.motok.org/