KIM CASCONE – BLUE CUBE (CD by Rastermusic)
COH – ENTER TINNITUS (CD by Rastermusic)
RAMUNTCHO MATTA & SAMON TAKAHASHI – SOUNDCARDS FROM CHILE (CD by Ananana)
MULTER – DAGHALLMY (LP by Genesungswerk)
JOANE HETU & CASTOR ET COMPAGNIE: METS TA LANGUE (CD by Ambiances Magnetiques)
JEAN DEROME & JOANE HETU – NOUS PERCONS LES OREILLES (CD by Ambiances
Magnetiques)
JEAN DEROME ET LES DANGEREUX ZHOMS – TORTICOLIS: LIVE AT TLC (CD by
Ambiances Magnetiques)
KIM CASCONE – BLUE CUBE (CD by Rastermusic)
COH – ENTER TINNITUS (CD by Rastermusic)
It has been quiet around Kim Cascone for a couple of years. For the
uniniated: Kim once had a ambient-industrial group PGR, who released
records on his own Silent Records. When ambient went sky high, in the early
nineties, Kim did rhythmic ambient doodlings as The Heavenly Music
Corporation, after he sold Silent Records and did stuff for computer
businesses. Now he’s back with the first release under his own name (the
more serious approach?), in Rastermusic’s clear series. Everything here is
computer generated sound, with tons of software doing the sound
synthesizes. I’ll spare you the details. In general the eight pieces are
short (except the last two are over 10 minutes) and display (still?) an
interest in ambient sound. But Kim goes back to PGR, rather then the
Heavenly Music. To compare PGR with this, is much more a technical thing
then an artistic thing. This is much cleaner, sterile if you may, then the
old PGR. It is very synthetic ambient music that is never offensive to
listen to. A pleasent passing of time. In that respect it may be a very
nice work, well executed. But if you follow Rastermusic for the recent
developments in dance music, then this may be a disapointment. No rhythms,
beats or the like, just waves.
Rastermusic work in series. Besides the clear series, in which the Cascone
CD is just released, the now have the static series. The first one comes in
a silkscreened freezer bag and is by one Ivan Pavlov. This one comes closer
to what Rastermusic stands for, and bears many marks of frozen beats. It’s
the kind of music that has no word yet. It’s not really minimal techno, or
ambient, or industrial. The people working this area, like Pan Sonic,
Ikeda, Goem, Noto try to get a harsh, crispy clear, minimal beat with tonal
variations in the mid and high range. Great care for the detailled changes.
At times to beaty for home listening, and enough weirdness to avoid the
dance floor. Pavlov comes from Sweden and works as an acoustic engineer.
He’s interested in ‘observing known “hidden” activities (such as planetary
motion, cellular life of electro.magnetic disturbances)’… well whatever.
He delivers a fine disc of electronic bubbles, which appeal probably to
those who already like the label or the unnamed genre. Only the track
“Space Odyssey Revisited” is a miss and seems out of place. (FdW)
Address: www.rastermusic.com
RAMUNTCHO MATTA & SAMON TAKAHASHI – SOUNDCARDS FROM CHILE (CD by Ananana)
To explain who these two men are, or what they do on this CD is something
that could fill a long essay. To explain it simple: they recorded
environmental sounds and precolumbian instruments in Chile, put it together
into a piece of music that was used on 12 random playing CD’s in Lisbon’s
World Exhibition. Matta and Takahashi recorded before together and with
others, such as Brion Gysin. This stereo mix of the sounds, is a very
private, intimate travelogue through Chile. Even though the sounds have
been processed on harddisc, it comes to the listener as a very natural
event. Overtone singers, a bang on a pot and the occasional crackling, it’s
all there and it all makes sense in a way. No sound seems to be out of
place (only on paper the mongol singer seems to be) and seems to be, who
has not been in Chile, an accurate sound picture of the country. Desolate
desert atmosphers are evoked, clear cold skies above, dry land below. More
soudscaping then say, Jorge Reyes, whose work is more traditional
ethnological research. Simply beautiful. (FdW)
Address: <ananana@esoterica.pt>
MULTER – DAGHALLMY (LP by Genesungswerk)
I’ve overlooked this LP (so altogether it’s not really a fresh review), but
I’m making up now. Multer are a German group who are clearly inspired by
drone/post rock, at least on 2/3 of this LP. Only the small section on side
A, were they are toying around with guitarized noises and harsh loops, I
thought was just a bit too simple. But, as said, 2/3 are very nice
ambientesq doodlings, of synth wind blowing, stretched drones for guitar
and a dark atmosphere to top it off. It works best, as usual with this kind
of music, when it gets a long breath – i.e. the long tracks work best.
Lovers of Ultrasound, Maeror Tri and the like should check this out. (FdW)
Address: <www.prima.de/home/cyberela/multerw
JOANE HETU & CASTOR ET COMPAGNIE: METS TA LANGUE (CD by Ambiances Magnetiques )
JEAN DEROME & JOANE HETU – NOUS PERCONS LES OREILLES (CD by Ambiances
Magnetiques)
JEAN DEROME ET LES DANGEREUX ZHOMS – TORTICOLIS: LIVE AT TLC (CD by
Ambiances Magnetiques)
Ambiances Magnetiques is the outlet of a pool of musicians of the
french-speaking community in Montreal, Canada since 1983. It all started at
the end of the seventies with the group Conventum, with now relatively
wellknown musicians like Rene Lussier and Andre Duchesne.
Once discovered
by Chris Cutler of Recommended Records this scene came in contact with
other local scenes of ‘avant garde-rock’, etc. That’s history. Nowadays
everyone played with everyone. Thanks to distribution activities of
Recommended Records and many others later on, this kind of music is now
spread all over the world.
On the other hand, the scene of Ambiances
Magnetiques is still very recognizable as a local one. On many records and
cds you find the same musicians, playing together in different
combinations and under different names. It’s also a very active and
creative scene considering the output of cds. This cannot be said of many
other comparable centers of the ‘rock avant garde’.
Take for instance Jean
Derome, a man from the first hour (played with Conventum) and present on
all 3 cds discussed here. With his group Les Dangereux Zhoms he delivered
his third cd. With this group Derome tries to evoke feelings and
impressions from his life on the road. Derome demonstrates again he is a
very capable composer, arranger and saxophone player. The music –
contemporary chamber music – is well performed. Not sounding like a dry
academic ensemble, but with the power of rock or jazz, being neither both
of them.
Joane Hetu is known for her work with all-women-groups like
Wondeur Brass, Justine and Les Poules, all part of the Ambiances
Magnetiques circle. With ‘Mets ta langue’ (Put your tongue) she presents
the second cd of her group Castor et Compagnie with compositions and
arrangments of her own. Not an all-women-group this time, as the line up is
as follows: Jean Derome (sax, voice), Pierre Tanguay (drums, voice), Diane
Labrosse (accordion, voice) and Joane Hetu (saxophone, voice). The (erotic)
texts are by Hetu and are enclosed in a little booklet in french and
english translation. They describe their music as erotic songs, love songs.
The songstructure is evident in most pieces, but in a much more complex way
then the word ‘song’ suggests.
Joane Hetu and partner Jean Derome together
released ‘Nous percons les oreilles’. Their first duet as far as I know.
Both are playing sax, voice and diverse objects in 11 duets. Carefully
collected over a periode of three years (1994-1996).
Songs if you want, but
improvised. Intense, personal and intimate. Of the three cds this one is
sounding the most improvised.
All three cd’s demonstrate the high level of
craftsmanship of these people as musicians, composer and improvisers, and
meet the standard that is common for most releases on this magnificent
label.
(DM)
Address: http://www.cam.org/~dame_cd/