FABRIZIO MODENESE PALUMBO – ELP (CD by Dissipatio) *
DUNCAN PINHAS & YERRI-GASPAR HUMMEL – VOYAGE INITIATIQUE (CD by La But) *
ROMAIN PERROT & QUENTIN ROLLET – LE VIEUX FUSIBLE/THE SINGLES (2CD by ReQords) *
DAMARGE – 1981 TO 1984 (CD/DVD by Equation Records) *
TAMING THE OUTBACK – 1986-1989 (CD by Equation Records) *
SENESTRA – STANDFORD (CD by Fourth Dimension) *
KODIAN PLUS – DISENGAGE (CD by A New Wave Of Jazz) *
CHRISTIAN RØNN – TRAVEL THROUGH STONES (CD by Nische Records) *
BRANDON LOPEZ TRIO – MATANZAS (CD by Relative Pitch Records) *
MALCOLM GOLDSTEIN/FRED LONBERG-HOLM – MISSA AMISSA (CD by Relative Pitch Records) *
BXMR – EVE’S NAVEL (LP by BX Mart)
GIOVANNI LAMI – MONUMENTO FIUME (LP by Kohlhaas)
PIITU LINTUNEN PRESENTS 7AI9 (compilation LP by Sahko Recordings)
JAMES FELLA & GABRIELLA ISAAC – PERFORMANCES (LP by Gilgongo Records)
AWKWARD GEISHA/EUGENE CHADBOURNE (split 7″ by Love Earth Music)
TOM BETTERIDGE – LINTS (CDR, private) *
TOM BETTERIDGE – DRY ROT / CLOT POSSET (CDR, private) *
+DOG+ – THE FAMILY MUSIC BOOK VOL 4 (2CDR by Love Earth Music) *
GÜNTER SCHLIENZ – CURRENT (cassette by Muzan Editions) *
FABRIZIO MODENESE PALUMBO – ELP (CD by Dissipatio)
When I see ELP, I don’t think of “Ethos, Logos, Pathos”, the subject of a “choreography research project” by musician Fabrizio Modonese Palumbo and choreographer/dancer Paola Bianchi. I think of Emerson Lake & Palmer, ELP being the three letters for everything wrong about music in the 70s. As there is nothing to see about this research, I must use a lengthy quote from Bandcamp, which may (or not) explain what this is about; “{the] choreography deepens its study of the body and the relationships between bodies and the cultural images upon which bodies are represented. The project studies the relationship between the descriptive word and dances through the transmission of audio archives of posture created by starting with images and then removing from the choreography the body as a model to be imitated in such a way as to negate the hierarchy of power over the transmission of dance.” Long quote and I honestly have no visual image of that. I always believe that if you release a soundtrack (to dance, film or installation), and there is nothing to experience beyond the music, then the music can (or should?) be experienced as a standalone work. Here too, I take a lengthy quote (sorry if you think this is poor reviewing on my part); “The music does not hide as an accompaniment to the movement, nor the movement as a transposition of the sound, but rather taking form in a continuous dialogue, now synergetic, now conflictual but anyway never descriptive between the languages in action, all the way from the conceptual process to the final performance”. Of course, my eye caught that “ever descriptive between the languages in action” as a confirmation that this is a standalone work. I like what I hear, even when I think the music is scattered everywhere. In the closing piece, ‘Energheia’, some repeating guitar sounds (sort of Branca-like), modular electronics, and slow percussion. In other parts, the emphasis seems to be on modular electronics, sometimes from a slightly more noisy end, but also dark ambient drone-like. Sometimes the latter appears to mix with the guitar being played with an e-bow, creating more sustaining sounds. Then, there is also a more collage-like approach at times, so that at one point, there is even an orchestral bit; I am sure created with samples from the orchestral pack. One common thing in the music is that it is all rather dark and moody, which is one of the main attractions for me. The music was solid, experimental and excellent, even when it was part of a project in which the totality somewhat eluded me. (FdW)
––– Address: https://dissipatio.bandcamp.com/
DUNCAN PINHAS & YERRI-GASPAR HUMMEL – VOYAGE INITIATIQUE (CD by La But)
ROMAIN PERROT & QUENTIN ROLLET – LE VIEUX FUSIBLE/THE SINGLES (2CD by ReQords)
Here we have two discs, received in the same parcel and which share a love for electronics and saxophones. I am never too fond of lumping things together, but it, in this case, is hard to avoid. Duncan Pinhas was born in 1979 and is a guitarist (any elation to Richard Pinhas is not mentioned), while Yerri-Gaspar Hummel (1982) plays the saxophone. Both musicians have a background in serious (read: composed) music and met “around the composer La Monte Young”, as the bio says. I found the opening piece, ‘Aurora’, a powerful piece of intertwining drones, with both instruments playing long-form sustaining sounds. It is a most promising start, especially with that La Monte Young thing in mind, but already in the second piece, they flow into a proper free jazz/improvisation mode, with the saxophone playing short jazzy bits. An album of variations, and, no doubt, it’s great that they want to show whatever skills they have in performing their music, but for this particular listener, the variation is a bit too much. Free jazz, drones, a bit of noise guitar at the end (in the overlong ‘Lava’), free improvisation; it keeps bouncing back and forth, like being on a rollercoaster. At more than an hour, this is a long ride. Some beautiful vistas and some, well, not so great. Each listener will have a different opinion, I guess.
Romain Perrot, you may best know from his harsh noise wall project Vomir. He has a few other projects, with outsider music projects, such as Trou Aux Rats, Roro Perrot, KILL, Free As Dead, Maginot, Meurs and others. Quentin Rollet is a saxophone player best known for his work with Nurse With Wound, but he also toots his horn with The Red Krayola, Emmanuelle Parrenin, Pointe Du Lac, Jours de Greve and so on. ‘Le Vieux Fusible’ is their second album, following ‘L’impatience Des Invisibles’ (see Vital Weekly 1229), and this new one comes with a second CD, ‘The Singles’, collecting two 8″ lathe cut record, a 3″CD and a 23-minute live recording with Richard Frances on synthesizer. What ties this release with the Pinhas/Hummel disc is how both saxophone players approach their instruments; jazzy and free jazzy. Combined with the electronics of Perrot (who also gets credit for voice, drum machine and alto saxophone), this is quite a different release. An odd pairing doesn’t describe the music. Perrot stays clear from overtly loud noise blasts but doesn’t hide this background. Maybe because Rollet also plays synth, electronics, voice, and drum machine, the music on their double disc is quite varied. The saxophone is a less dominating feature than Pinhas/Hummel. When it is present, it is very clearly present, but in some of these pieces, the saxophone’s role is either less or, in some ways, transformed. Perrot’s approach to music remains rough, occasionally leaning towards the noise and sometimes even very loud, but generally, he keeps his stuff well under control. Sonically, this is all quite heavy music, which left me out of breath. There is also some variation to be noted, but not as much as with the other one, and it made a much more coherent album. The element of free jazz is definitely part of this album, but working with the more noisy electronic components makes a surprising album, one I enjoyed quite a bit! (FdW)
––– Address: https://voyageinitiatique.bandcamp.com/
––– Address: http://reqords.bandcamp.com
DAMARGE – 1981 TO 1984 (CD/DVD by Equation Records)
TAMING THE OUTBACK – 1986-1989 (CD by Equation Records)
I reviewed releases from the American label Equation Records with some great irregularity. Their releases come in lavish packages, and these are no different. Today, when I talked with Jos Smolders, part of our Thursday Afternoon Talks, about re-issues, this package landed on my desk. I didn’t know that the label boss comes from the UK and that he had a short-lived group, Damarge. I had never heard of the group, but maybe because they never had a proper release, that is no surprise. Damarge, named after Killing Joke’s label Malicious Damage, but dropping malicious and spelling Damage in a sort of French language way, was a four-piece with Kirt (Bailey) on keyboards, tapes, rhythms), Oaf (bass), Cliff (vocals) and Snowboy (Latin percussion). In a letter with this release, Bailey says I may not like this music, but he’s wrong. I enjoy this a lot. It’s pretty funky music, in that best 80s way. A bit naive, not always aimed at the dance floor, heavily on the synthesizer but with the addition of Latin percussion with a pretty rare sound at the time. The music is from 191 to 1984, and not even Quando Quango was that far with percussion if memory serves correctly. In our chat, we discussed a connection between the re-issue and personal past and that sometimes music isn’t that good, but because one had the record/cassette back then, the re-issues make more sense. I don’t have such a connection with Damarge, and I am hearing their music for the first time this week. Still, I am enjoying quite a lot, relationship or not. Some of the songs are way too long, not saved by some smash editing, but the two parts of ‘Body Rock’ make quite a stellar freaky Latin jam. In good 80s fashion, the music is dark, and the voice is inspired by the all-present postpunk/Joy Division etc., scene. An odd pairing, perhaps with the Latin percussion, but that works quite well. A bizarre cover of ‘I Feel Love’ tops off the fun; if it’s a great cover, it is a different discussion.
The package contains an in-depth booklet, which hides nothing about everything that went wrong, missed opportunities, and endless drinking at gigs. In addition, there is a poster, as well as signed inserts, printed by Bruce Licher of Savage Republic/Independent Project Press. Finally, the DVD contains some old live footage, a radio interview and other pieces of music; excellent, but after 78 minutes of music on the CD, perhaps something for another day?
On the same label, also a re-issue is a group I also never heard of, Taming The Outback. This trio was from Southend in Sussex and was described as if “you like Echo & The Bunnymen or Killing Joke, then you should enjoy this”. They released a 7″ and a cassette, and an unreleased LP, all of which can be found on this CD, along with some live material. The band existed in the second half of the 80s when I was no longer listening to anything postpunk, not even the bands I liked in the early half of that decade. As with the Damarge release, there is an extensive booklet, which is, again, a fun read, with some nice shots of guys with big hair and everything about the controversy they caused over a band photo, shot showing them crucified. Gigging and drinking are keywords here too. I enjoyed all of this, but this music is not particularly interesting for Vital Weekly. Perhaps, thinking back on my earlier conversation with mister Smolders, the lack of personal memory is a thing here. Had I heard their 7″ at the time, the distance wouldn’t be as significant, but now I am hearing an interesting postpunk/gothic music that doesn’t sound all too surprising, but good nevertheless. (FdW)
––– Address: http://chronoglide.com/equation.html
SENESTRA – STANDFORD (CD by Fourth Dimension)
The name Alan Rider popped up in recent years, relating to two books about fanzines: a complete collection of his ‘Adventures In Reality’ fanzine (Vital Weekly 1281) and one about the fanzine culture in Coventry (Vital Weekly 1329). Rider is also a musician. Back in the 80s, in a duo called Stress, he was also connected to Attrition, Dance Naked and Mumies & Madman (I am culling this from Discogs), and these days he has a duo with Austria’s Puppy38, who also works as Hiroshimabend and Opiumdenpluto. I had never heard of them. ‘Standford’ is their first release together. Rider plays the Roland Juno 106, Arturia mini brute, Korg MS20, Korg Mono Poly, Wasp, Boss DR55 and the guitar, while Puppy38 plays Korg Radias, Ensoniq ASR-X, atmospherics and noises. We can see ‘Stanford’ as a concept album (isn’t that very seventies? Never mind) about what is now the Standford prison experiment. In this experiment, volunteers were used to be prison guards, and during the experiment, these volunteers became very violent against the prisoners, who were also volunteers, arrested by real police. They were not informed when they would be arrested. The idea was to see how people would exercise given authority of others. It was shut down after six days. The experiment became known as one of the most unethical psychological experiments ever. The cover text, or Wikipedia entry, makes a good read while you play the music. There are some taped voices to be heard, which I am sure relates to the experiment. Much of the music here is instrumental, so the link/story isn’t that apparent. The music, ten pieces in total, looks like a movie soundtrack. ‘Opening Credits’ is the first piece, followed by ‘Prologue’, ‘Day 1 – The Beginning’, etc., to ‘Epoligue’ and ‘Aftermath’. The music has that dark 80s feeling and sounds like a time machine, bringing back the music of Stress, Attrition, Bushido, Konstruktivits, and We Be Echo, but with mild variations and, no doubt, better equipment these days. Let’s call it the sound of British electronic music in the early 80s, progressing from traditional industrial music and moving away from proper harsh noise. The music gets dark and darker, it seems, as days follow, but maybe I believe to hear something that others, who don’t know about the concept, may not hear. In many ways, all of this, music, idea and packaging, sounds like a re-issue of an ancient cassette, but it’s not. I enjoyed this, new or old, as a subtle reminder of the days of musical discovery. In this case, the retro sound can surprise me! (FdW)
––– Address: https://fourthdimensionrecords.bigcartel.com/
KODIAN PLUS – DISENGAGE (CD by A New Wave Of Jazz)
There are a few genres of music that I wouldn’t say that I am a big fan of (anymore!), but of which I can handle a few releases a week. Noise is one such genre, and free jazz, perhaps, another. Whereas noise I could go to a few, with free jazz, I’d like to limit it to one or two a week. Especially when it comes with force such as Kodian Plus delivers. Kodian Trio, without Plus, is a trio of Colin Webster (alto saxophone), Andrew Lisle (drums) and Dirk Serries (electric guitar), with the addition of Charlotte Keeffe (trumpet, flugelhorn) and Marine Verhoeven (piano). It becomes quite the power quintet. In March last year, they made a recording in the Sunny Side Inc. studio in Anderlecht, a forty-two-minute sound explosion. Not always the wild ride you may expect this kind of free jazz to be, as it comes with that tension underneath, such as in the opening of the first piece, ‘Latching Effect’. But a piece such as ‘Caurous’ is full of chaos but is captured with great clarity. You follow what the drums are doing, then play it again and concentrate on the piano or wind instruments. What helps is that all instruments sound as you’d expect them to sound (which one could also see as a disadvantage; no further exploration of the sound qualities was done), making it easier to follow. It is not easy to say if the interaction is great; sure, it surely is in the group’s quieter moments, but in the chaos, the dialogue may be lost a bit. As a non-expert and not the biggest fan of the genre, I’d recommend this one if you want to dip in the water of free jazz. (FdW)
––– Address: https://newwaveofjazz.bandcamp.com/
CHRISTIAN RØNN – TRAVEL THROUGH STONES (CD by Nische Records)
We reviewed music from Christian Rønn in the past, and this time I really mean ‘we’, as in various authors. He’s a keyboard player, piano (mainly) and (church) organ (also). On his latest CD, he has four pieces of improvised piano playing. In the information, he writes that his music has been linked to that of Cecil Taylor, Keith Jarret and Sun Ra. I wrote before that a lot of the piano music on our desk is in the spirit of Erik Satie but not music by Rønn. I only have a very superficial knowledge (and yes, I know for some this will be blasphemy) of the music of mssr Taylor, Jarret and Ra. Maybe I am not mister Right to review this? But with so many releases these days and not enough free jazz minds here anymore, also increasingly difficult. That doesn’t make it easy music for me, and maybe, this is also the kind of music I think is a bit out of place in Vital Weekly. Sure, I enjoyed hearing this CD. Rønn’s style is quite lyrical, and he stays away from the chaos and energetic, wild playing of all too free jazz. Rønn is undoubtedly a highly gifted piano player and knows his way around improvisation. But strictly for me, this music lacks the urgency and abstractness I look for in music. Most enjoyable for the forty-four minutes this disc lasts, but I was already thinking about the next release. (FdW)
––– Address: http://nische.bandcamp.com
BRANDON LOPEZ TRIO – MATANZAS (CD by Relative Pitch Records)
The second release by the Brandon Lopez trio. The first one, ‘Live At Roulette’, was reviewed in Vital Weekly 1307. ‘Matanzas’ is a recording made on October 28 2021, at 2223 Fish, a first-time venue for Fire Museum Presents, an organization that curates various musical performances primarily in Philadelphia. As the venue is also a church building, the trio’s sound has a spacious quality due to the hall’s resonance. The first three improvisations are bundled in track one, and track two has two improvisations. The first piece Dithyramb (a choral song to the Greek god of wine and fertility, Dionysos) starts the party with a metallic-sounding sax. Steve Baczkowski put a metal can in the bell of his sax, which resonates while he’s blowing his baritone sax. In various tempos, Lopez supports this with plucked notes on the double bass. And all the while, Gerald Cleaver bangs on his drums like a madman, not unlike Animal from the Muppets and overall controlled ecstasy from all three men. It wouldn’t surprise me if, at one point, the metal can flew out of the sax bell. The other two impros are less forceful but equal in energy. Fluttering notes in the sax, martial action in the snare drum, arco bowing in the double bass: I don’t know if this is the piece called Sodomy. Salt is even more subdued with long, slow, rising glissandos in double bass and a siren quality in the sax (with impressive circular breathing, if I’m not mistaken) and supported by an infectious groove courtesy of Cleaver. The other two pieces form a kind of inverse universe. More spacious, intimate and subdued, apart from a ferocious crescendo at the end. Now the titles of the pieces (Dithyramb, Sodomy, Salt, Gomorrah, Philadelphia). According to the Bible the people of Sodomy and Gomorrah were turned into salt. Lot’s wife, unnamed in the Bible but someties called Ado or Edith, didn’t obey God’s warning of not looking back to Sodom and consequently was turned into a pillar of salt, Sodom and Gomorrah’s main source of income: the trade in salt. And ‘matanza’s means slaughter in Spanish; the city in Cuba is named after a big massacre of French troops by their Spanish counterparts. It can all be heard in the music. This is, to these ears, exhilarating free jazz/noise/modern classical at its best. Play this as loud as possible! (MDS)
––– Address: https://relativepitchrecords.bandcamp.com/
MALCOLM GOLDSTEIN/FRED LONBERG-HOLM – MISSA AMISSA (CD by Relative Pitch Records)
A recording by cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm, not an unknown name at Vital Weekly and violinist Malcolm Goldstein, a name mentioned a few times as a composer but never as a performer. This is a recording from 2003, Goldstein was 67 at the time, and Lonberg-Holm was 41. Two sides of a cassette: 25 and 20 minutes of two string players that are both accomplished musicians and deliver their music with gusto. At times they get so fierce and diabolical, so that it’s like you hear more than two players. That may well be the first side: a mass for the diabolical. Twisting and turning with precision on each string, sometimes a vocalizing voice, the sounds are restless and just a few places of relative calm. The other side (Amissa) is much more subdued, with longer pauses between notes. Which doesn’t mean the diabolical is wholly forgotten. it comes back in a slightly more civilized manner, just slightly. And I don’t know if they ever played together before, but they make this sound easy as if they have been an established duo for several years. This is dense music with a lot of details. Some might say: what the hell is this? But with an open mind (and ears), there’s much to discover here. And I could throw all sorts of analogies at you. Just listen and be blown away. At least I did. Not only that, but now I have to look into the work of Malcolm Goldstein. (MDS)
––– Address: https://relativepitchrecords.bandcamp.com/
BXMR – EVE’S NAVEL (LP by BX Mart)
When I got this LP handed, the person delivering said, “I am not sure if this is for you because you will think it’s poppy and when you believe that, a record won’t sell”. The man is a musician whose work I reviewed before, but I am unsure what his involvement is here. BXMR is an acronym of Bruno Ferro Xavier da Silva (acoustic bass guitar, upright bass, tabla, foot percussion, vocals and Marten Ruiten (acoustic guitar and vocals. Bruno is also part of a “relinowaveband Cantos Deus” and other projects, and Ruiten played in Cheech Wizzard, a prog postrock band from Rotterdam. This record has sixteen songs, some as short as a minute but also a few in the four to five-minute range. Taking the risk of providing another no-sell record review, the music by BXMR is borderline pop and something else that I can’t put my finger on. The most remarkable thing here is that the music is all acoustic. Of course, many improvised music records are that too, but BXMR plays songs, chords, structures, rhythms, and melodies. It all sounds ‘pop’ to my ears, but I am the first to admit that I have no idea what a pop song is or what would make something popular. I believe hearing in this music sets it apart from ‘real’ (alternative) pop music, but I found it hard to pinpoint something specific. There is undoubtedly a weird edge in this music, something freaky and free, as in psychedelic and sixties, which I found fascinating, as was the whole album. It is not music I hear daily; maybe the whole vocal side to it is not really my ‘thing’, but I sense an unusual approach here, which made this a great record. I feel I fall short of words describing this release, so I invite you to listen. (FdW)
––– Address: https://bxmr.bandcamp.com/
GIOVANNI LAMI – MONUMENTO FIUME (LP by Kohlhaas)
If you look at the record, the inner sleeve, you have difficulty figuring out what this is about; or even who made this record. Going on Kohlhaas’ Bandcamp, you learn this is ‘Monumento Fiume’ by Giovanni Lami. His work was reviewed before in Vital Weekly, and he primarily works with field recordings and very specific concepts. The concept here is lost as the liner notes are in Italian, and Bandcamp doesn’t provide a translation. The basic idea is that Lami was invited by the Municipality of Cotignola, Ravenna, for “an artist residency as part of a broader project aiming to investigate the anthropic landscape of the local area”. To that end, Lami collected a lot of field recordings, “which is going to contribute to the soon-to-be Sound archive of Cotignola”. According to Bandcamp, “Massimiliano Fabbri points out in the liner notes, “Monumento Fiume” is an oxymoron: this may reflect both static and dynamic ecology rendered in these two pieces almost entirely crossed by a constant, throbbing tension”. Google translates ‘Monumento Fiume’ as ‘Monument River’. I am sure I miss out on something here. The two pieces are relatively short, around twelve and a half minutes each. In ‘M’, on the first side, the field recordings are embedded into a musical mix of percussive sounds, string instruments and such, but all of which sound very much like they are processed inside the computer. Something similar can be found, but then much more extended on the other side, ‘F’. A zither perhaps, maybe a bass, some electronics and along, there are field recordings of a building site, church bells and birds. I prefer ‘F’ over ‘M’, as I enjoyed the fact that the musical elements brought in by Lami lifted the music to another level, whereas ‘M’ stayed more on the side of field recordings/documentation, and of which the relation with the overall project is a bit lost on me. Overall, I thought this was a most enjoyable record, of which I didn’t understand certain aspects. (FdW)
––– Address: https://kohlhaas.bandcamp.com/
PIITU LINTUNEN PRESENTS 7AI9 (compilation LP by Sahko Recordings)
Who is Piitu Lintunen, you may rightfully ask? You may then think, Sahko Recordings, it’s probably a bunch of weird techno tracks. Wrong, absolutely wrong. Lintunen had a fanzine in the 80s in his hometown of Turku, meeting a young Mika Vaino and Ilpo Väisänen (later to become Pan Sonic), Esko Routamaa and Tommi Grönlund, early organisers of the rave scene and the latter the main man behind Sahko. At one point, Lintenunen released a compilation of Finnish noise music and corresponded with musicians abroad. Still having a box of old contributions under his bed, Grönland asked Lintunen to compile an album that depicts his musical history. ‘7Ai9’ is the result. Now, you know me and compilations; in the 80s a big fan as they often proved to be great resources for exploring new music, and these days often poorly themed or plain label samplers. Some of my 80s excitement returned when I was playing this compilation. There are familiar names, such as 80s big shots (that’s how I remember looking at these names in the 80s when they were on a compilation), such as DDAA, Konstruktivits, Ramleh and Tasaday, but also my then close friend Odal, with a stunning no-noise piece from 1986 (Peter Zincken on the piano, who would have guessed?) and Tasaday. This group was known for their ritual meet industrial music sound but somewhat remained obscure. For others, Jimi Tenor might be the main attraction here, but that came much later for me. All of these musicians deliver something we would expect them to do, except, as said, Odal. The unknown quantities, the terra incognita musicala, comes from bands such as CLAIR, Pekka Airaksinen, Corum and Neljän Seinän Jumalat. Only the last recorded a piece in 1986, the others are from 2022. Maybe known in a different universe, of course. Neljän Seinän Jumalat has a fine slab of industrial noise. In contrast, Corum and Clair explore the ambience of electronic music. At the same time, Airaksinen offers a piece close to modular synthesis, old-world electronic music meeting a bit of techno-inspired music. I guess that makes the circle round again concerning the label. A highly varied compilation, offering new names, old names, and surprises and holding onto expectations; that’s how I liked my compilations in the 80s best! (FdW)
––– Address: https://sahkorecordings.bandcamp.com/
JAMES FELLA & GABRIELLA ISAAC – PERFORMANCES (LP by Gilgongo Records)
I missed the previous release by James Fella and Gabriella Isaac, ‘CCTK Music’. Side A of that album was “recorded in real-time, later cut to 6 single-sided reference lacquers to be used in a performance setting. Side B is a studio collage using the six reference lacquers”, and on ‘Performances’ they use the second side as source material in concert at the 15th anniversary of Gilgongo Records. From James Fella, I reviewed an LP in Vital Weekly 710, which slipped out of my memory, and Isaac is a new name for me. In this release, captured on a night in 2019, they first play together, using these reference lacquers as source material, a concentrated piece of noise for about eight minutes, a solid live collage of sounds, like an endless yet intertwining stream. Isaac follows with a solo piece, in which she plays her laptop as a “feedback loop/sound source/physical device”, which results in quite a chaotic piece of noise music. I might be entirely wrong, of course, but the music suggests quite a physical approach to playing this music. This is one of those examples of noise in which you need to turn up the volume and re-create some of the experience the music would give you when you hear this in concert.
James Fella has one piece on the other side for reel-to-reel machines, cassettes, Dictaphones and such, so I believe the cover isn’t clear. As much I like the noise from Isaac, in the end, it is something I heard enough of in my life that I could do with such a small dose, but the music by Fella, essentially also noise music, is something I like too. The distortion is present (check), there is a bit of chaos (check), loops (ditto), feeding through electronics (duly noted); all the essential elements are in place to do a loud noise piece (mostly), compelling, in some ways taking a very reassuring route (as in, ‘this too we may have heard quite a bit’), and maybe something that also needs a visual component; seeing is believing, I think, but more than Isaac’s piece, this one holds up by itself a bit better. I don’t know much about these musicians and Fella’s Gilgongo Records, but the whole package looks and sounds like a successor of RRRecords, and that’s a great thing. (FdW)
––– Address: http://www.gilgongorecords.com/site/index2.htm
AWKWARD GEISHA/EUGENE CHADBOURNE (split 7″ by Love Earth Music)
My third encounter with the music of Ade Rowe, also known as Awkward Geisha, following two split releases on the same label (see also Vital Weekly 1334 and 1351), and both I found mildly confusing and irritating. The second was a piece of power electronics, the first a kind of improvised music, and that’s what he offers here as well, but now packed as a proper song, ‘Psycho’. He sings and plays the guitar, and it is a sort of country ‘n western song backing couple with a weird saxophone. Again, a strange song, but of all his work so far, I liked this best. Still quite confusing but less irritating. It has dark lyrics that some C&W songs have, and the hired hand on the saxophone makes it weird.
On the other side Eugene Chadbourne. I can safely say I heard less than 1% of the man’s output, but I immensely like him. There are fond memories of him and Jon Rose visiting my radio show. I intended to do a proper interview, but they confiscated the mixing desk and started spinning records and cassettes all at once while chatting, laughing, and making weird sounds. The whole thing was fun, and didn’t do well on the local radio waves where my show was already much hated. Later on, I saw Chadbourne playing a rake in concert. From the few times, we met, lovely chap. But, as I said, how much of his music did I hear? Here he has a piece from January 2003, and he plays the guitar with Walter Daniels on harmonica, Barry Mitterhof on mandolin and Roy paci on trumpet. ‘Up Against The Wall, Redneck Mother’. They also serve a country ‘n western song, poking fun with the genre in what seems to be a protest song against redneck mothers from the lone star state. Is this music for Vital Weekly? Absolutely not. Do I like it? Yes, sir, I do! (FdW)
––– Address: http://www.loveearthmusic.com/
TOM BETTERIDGE – LINTS (CDR, private)
TOM BETTERIDGE – DRY ROT / CLOT POSSET (CDR, private)
These two relatively short (twenty-two/three minute) releases are my introduction to the music of Tom Betteridge. His brief Bandcamp description goes like this, “DIY concrete collage, field recording, voice & tape experiments”. Both CDRs are in an edition of 25, with handwritten information and a small image stuck on the front. About ‘Lint’, we learn that these are “three improvised songs, out of context voice, feedback, tapes and objects”, recorded on a single day last January. The voice plays an essential role in this release, and being a bit tone-deaf, I have no idea if he sings out of tune. It sounds a bit like sound poetry, captured most peculiarly, either by its use of sound effects or the space he is in at the moment of recording. The three pieces are somewhat improvised, but I found them all quite compelling. It has quite a direct feeling, this music; is not too complex but also nothing sparsely orchestrated. Music that could appeal to people who like music to be improvised or electro-acoustic with a hint of sound poetry.
On ‘Dry Rot/Clot Posset’, we find two pieces (as mentioned in the title), both around eleven minutes, and this time the instruments are “cassette players, objects, FRs, violin”, and the recordings were from Autumn last year. The voice is absent here, and Betteridge works with concrete sounds. I’m unsure what “FRs” are; also, after I heard the music, I was clueless. Maybe they are radio sounds. I am very much reminded of the early work of Stuart Chalmers, especially in ‘Clot Posset’. It shares a similar approach to working with lo-fi sounds, low-resolution samples, some sound effects and creating an electro-acoustic collage of textured sounds. I enjoyed ‘Lints’, but this one I enjoyed more. Perhaps because the voice stuff isn’t always my cup of tea, but there is something in the density of these field recordings, mixed with radio (?) sounds from the kitchen sink, that I found very compelling. An interesting new name! (FdW)
––– Address: https://tombetteridge.bandcamp.com/
+DOG+ – THE FAMILY MUSIC BOOK VOL 4 (2CDR by Love Earth Music)
With a cover that made me think of first-person shooters from the past, I did not know what to expect because … well … It’s +DOG+. The project where Steve Davis, owner of Love Earth Music, seems to be the key member, has been reviewed many times in Vital and this last year already several times by me. So I’ve made it a quest to search for what +DOG+ is all about because the information is scarce, and this time it’s not too much more than that; this is a family music book. So yeah, this time +DOG+ is Steve, Lob, Edward, MacKenzie, Chuck, Ron and Jack, and all tracks are recorded live over two years all over the US, albeit with the epicentre in the New England area.
It doesn’t say who was in which recording and which recording was done where because it would be fun to see if there was a connection there. For example, if there’s the use of vocals or a particular specific sound, are the members from that session also in other sessions? Who knows, maybe this release will turn up on Discogs, and everything will be there. Or not, of course, and +DOG+ remains the illustrious noise collective it has been for 20+ years.
Titles on this double CDR are in sync with each other “Bearing The Unbearable”, “Loving The Unlovable”, “Breaking The Unbreakable”, and then ‘Seeing’, ‘Dreaming’, ‘Touching’, ‘Forgiving’, ‘Sharing’ and ‘Imagining’, of which the last three are on the second CDR. Musicwise, it’s what we can expect from live sessions in the noise territory: Crude, loud, in-your-face recordings. I think relentless is the word that maybe fits best. There are tracks which know a bit of restraint (like the ‘Breaking’, ‘Touching’ and ‘Imagining’ tracks), but take, for example, the ‘Imagining’-track: This one is 30 minutes, and even if it has a bit of restraint soundwise, it’s laced with feedback and creepy noises, and it’s a whopping 30 minutes … So even the quiet tracks are what noise should be, and that’s relentless. My favourite is “Sharing The Unshareable”, but it might be the throbbing droney character in the beginning or the build-up towards the emptiness in the end that trigger my dopamine levels. (BW)
––– Address: http://www.loveearthmusic.com/
GÜNTER SCHLIENZ – CURRENT (cassette by Muzan Editions)
I saved the new release by Günter Schlienz for the end of the day. Playing music all day and thinking about what to write is not always an easy job. However, I am not complaining. Sometimes, towards the end of the day, there is room for one more before my machine is overloaded, and providing Schlienz didn’t switch to death metal or rap music, I know he’s my man to end the daily work with some of his soothing synthesizer music. ‘Current’ is his latest (although you never know, the man is quite active) album and once again, he’s at the control; “DIY modular synth, synthesizer, tape machines, electric organ and field recordings”. In the past, I had the impression that one-day Schlienz’s music might topple towards new age, but luckily that never happened. Sure, he has a careful approach in his music, placing his tones sparsely around. On top of that, he waves a melodic line, sometimes even two. In ‘Soft Breeze On Skin’, Schlienz uses a theremin or a voice-like sound, which gives it a friendly, ghosts-like atmosphere. The music is darkish at times, but it also has a light touch. It is music that balances on those too, and, be warned, another end-of-day metaphor, this music is a fine soundtrack for all matters day turning into night. Twilight music. Preferably on a sunny day, such as I’m experiencing right now, gazing out my window. A bit cloudy, so the sun gets all sorts of coloured textures. And these textures change as clouds move and the sun sets; the music has a similar colouring, slow-moving and painting different and darkening colours. There is quite some variation to be spotted, so one never lulls into a big sleep. Another damn fine release! (FdW)
––– Address: https://muzaneditions.bandcamp.com/