PIRLY ZURSTRASSEN & JEAN-PIERRE CATOUL – SEPTIMANA (CD by Carbon 7)
MERZBOW/JAZZKAMMER – LIVE AT MOLDE INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL (CD by Smalltown
Supersound)
POMASSL – 2001 (CD by Laton)
CONVERTER/ASCHE/MORGENSTERN – ERODE (Cd by Ant-Zen Recordings)
NEEDLE SHARING – MY KIND CAME FIRST (Cd by Hands Productions)
SHERIFF – SHERIFF (CD by Hpna)
SAGOR & SWING – ORGELFRGER (CD by Hpna)
GROUPOV RAWANDA 94 (CD by Carbon 7)
DENIS SMALLEY – SOURCES/SCENES (CD by empreintes DIGITALes)
FRRRANCK C – THERE’S NO JELLYFISH (EXCEPT U)
NECK DOPPLER/STRAIGHT OUTTA MONGOLIA (7″ by Mouthmoth)
NECK DOPPLER – FUTURE HITS VOL. 1 (CDR by Consume)
EYE AND EAR CONTROL – SKELETAL AIRBAG DEFICIENCY (CDR by Consume)
DRONA PARVA/ULTRASOUND – SONGS FROM THE ENTOPTIC GARDEN VOL. 1 (LP by Time Lag)
DUAL – KEIMAR STY (CD by Coombe Records)
WIGS ON FIRE (2CD by Panixville)
PIRLY ZURSTRASSEN & JEAN-PIERRE CATOUL – SEPTIMANA (CD by Carbon 7)
Septimana is an excellent release by the jazz duo of Pirly Zurstrassen (piano)
and Jean-Pierre Catoul (violin). The virtuoso interplay of violin and piano is
nothing short of outstanding. You can just picture yourself sitting at a table
in the French or Belgium countryside sipping on a glass of wine. Unfortunately
for use, Septimana was the last recording by Jean-Pierre. He passed away from
an accident on January 22, 2001, shortly after finishing the sound mixing for
the CD. Pirly, a self-taught jazz pianist, dedicated this CD to his friend
Jean-Pierre. You can tell from the music and the photos that these two
musicians respected one another. The music works on several levels. You can
leave it play in the background or you can listen carefully and concentrate on
the intricacies of the music. Both experiences will be rewarding. HIGHLY
RECOMMENDED. (SH)
Address: www.netbeat.com/carbon7
MERZBOW/JAZZKAMMER – LIVE AT MOLDE INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL (CD by Smalltown
Supersound)
Well, picturing the lads of Jazzkammer and noisegod Merzbow at a jazz festival
is pretty difficult for me. Then again, if the norwegian jazz scene is as
openminded as this, they deserve respect. These are indeed live recordings, I
mean, there are track numbers, but basically it’s one long track here. And
surprisingly enough, the show starts off pretty quiet, with some rhythm samples
and it takes a while for the noise to set in. But when it does, it does! Still,
with due respect to both bands, there is a strong structure and the dynamics
are excellent. Things must have gone very well during the live set and if not,
a lot of editing has done the trick. Noise and rhythmic and yes, even melodic
samples are combined in such a way that this record is a true gem in the genre.
This is defenitely not only a must for hardcore Merzbow fans. (MR)
Adress: www.smalltownsupersound.com
POMASSL – 2001 (CD by Laton)
A very apt title for this releas of course. Pomassl presents 12 new tracks of
digitronics, ranging from bursts of noise to stuff that would blend well into
the microwave genre. Processing is the key word here, not unlike the works of
Stephan Mathieu, Ekkehard Ehlers or Akira Rabelais. The track titles might
actually convey the mathematical functions used for these processes. Rhythmic
structures blend with digital ambiences to create soundscapes of electronic
machines working on the same processes that shape them. Sometimes noisy and
even erratic, sometimes slowly evolving, these tracks reveal the calculating
machine, the one that is so often used in contemporary music. The cD featurse
two tracks of over twenty minutes and the other tracks can be seen as
interludes, I guess. And I must say that most of my attentionwas captured by
these….(MR)
Adress: www.laton.at
CONVERTER/ASCHE/MORGENSTERN – ERODE (Cd by Ant-Zen Recordings)
Erode was released in close connection to the three Ant-Zen-profiles Converter,
Asche and Morgenstern touring the U.S. last summer. I guess they have performed
some tracks on this so-called Cd-Ep (Playing time approximates 50 minutes),
since quite a few of these tracks would be perfect floor-fillers. Erode opens
with three up-beat danceable tracks, which might have been developed under the
main-charge of Andrea Schramm aka Asche. Culminating with the energetic
rave-bomber “Monster”, the three first tracks uses a lot of vocal samples and
fast broken beats. After that the tempo goes into slow, with subdued power
electronics, that rumbles into some heavy noise drones. The style of these next
three tracks especially track 7 called “Impiety” reminds a lot of what could be
heard on Morgenstern’s Cold-album. Best track on the whole cd has to be
“Hypnotism”. The way it slowly built up to a pretty haunting atmosphere, with
its monotonous high frequent sound and the processed vocals of Andrea Brner of
Morgenstern, is awesome. As track 7 arrives, “Erode” turns away from the deep
rumbles, back to the up-beat style. Not as dance-oriented as the opening
tracks, it is still pretty up-beat. Especially track 8 called “Another
monster”, that most of all reminds me of the “Blast furnace”-album from Scott
Sturgis aka Converter. Positively Erode would be a nice souvenir from the
U.S.-concert-tour. Still though, I prefer the single albums released by each of
the three artists!
Address: www.ant-zen.com
NEEDLE SHARING – MY KIND CAME FIRST (Cd by Hands Productions)
“Very distorted hard sounds…”. After the repeated message on the intro, no
one should question what we are dealing with here on Needle Sharing’s debut
album “My kind came first”. Musically the intro could be taken from Download’s
outro on “The eyes of Stanley pain”. But apart from that the only common
denominator between these two albums is the heavy use of wild beats. Needle
Sharing fits well into the musical area of Hands Productions with heavily
distorted beats and harsh industrial-sounds. Mostly headed towards the fast
growing
drum’n’noise-style, Needle Sharing takes quite a lot from the darkside-area in
their use of explosive beat-blasts combined with claustrophobic ambientscapes.
Thus Needle Sharing has managed to create a successful cocktail of Industrial
noise and wild tech-step on this very promising debut. (NMP)
Address: www.handsproductions.com
SHERIFF – SHERIFF (CD by Hpna)
SAGOR & SWING – ORGELFRGER (CD by Hpna)
Sheriff is Magnus Granberg (guitar, piano and vocals) and Henrik Olsson (drums
and cymbals). With a line up like this one can expect almost anything, but I
can tell you I wasn’t prepared for this. With sheer soul these two guys present
a collection of tracks/songs that are so straightforward and so utterly simple
that nothing but the soul counts. And they know how to do this: there is a
certain melancholy and also some humour in all of these tracks. The tempo is
pretty low and the sound is as straight as can be. In some ways it reminded me
of Giant Youth (when was that again?), with such a minimal line up and such
results. This is the perfect record for one of those lonely evenings, when one
needs a little comforting, without getting sentimental. An excellent pop
record.
Sagor & Swing is also a duo with Eric Malmberg on organ and moog and Ulf Mller
on drums. Again a collection of moody, almost loungy music that relaxes without
getting boring, that has some melancholic features, but not too oppressive and
that manages to escape sentimentality. Perfect easy listening music with nice
keyboard riffs and jazzy drums. I wonder if it will prove possible to keep both
bands away from big recording studio’s with clever producers………(MR)
Adress: www.hapna.com
GROUPOV RAWANDA 94 (CD by Carbon 7)
Rwanda 94 is a limited edition release that is Ïan attempt at symbolic
reparation to the dead, for use by the livingÓ. It is an artistic testimony to
the genocide of the Tutsi and the massacre of the Hutu opposition in Rwanda in
1994. Rwanda 94 is a five-and-a-half-hour play that resulted from a four year
collaboration between Western and Rwandan artists. The story of Rwanda is so
complicated that the authors used different forms to tell it: monologue,
oratorio, and an hour-long lecture on the historical roots of the genocide.
This release is an edited down version that contains the music and a 270-page
book with photos and lyrics in both French and English. Mixing elements of
African music with western music, they have achieved a mournful aspect that
conveys the horror genocide and also some lighthearted French jazz. As the
music is sung in French, the emotional impact is somewhat lessened for us
English speakers. This play has been performed to sold-out audiences across
Europe and Canada. Rwanda 94, to be fully appreciated, must be listened to
carefully and should not be considered background music, simply because of its
message. One difficulty for the listener in navigating this monumental work is
that it does not contain a track listing for the two CDs. The listener has to
laboriously work his or her way through the libretto to locate a specific
track. Rwanda 94 is not for everyone, but should be considered by Human Rights
proponents around the world. (SH)
Address: www.netbeat.com/carbon7
DENIS SMALLEY – SOURCES/SCENES (CD by empreintes DIGITALes)
Denis Smalley is an electroacoustic composer from New Zealand who has spent a
year in Olivier MessiaenÌs composition class at the Conservatoire de Paris and
is currently the Head of the Music Department at the City University of
London. Denis has received a number of international awards for his work over
the past 25 years. The music on this CD is a collection of four pieces from
his long career. Base Metals, Empty Vessels, and Tides are the realization of
the idea that a principal sound source can be the provider of the central
material. In Base Metals the source was metallic sound sculptures created by
the artist Derek Shiel. The result is an ambient sonic journey through the
cosmos. The sound sources for Empty Vessels are large garden pots from Crete
and an olive jar from Turkey. This piece incorporates many other elements
(birds, airplanes thunder, and rain) and is akin to LustmordÌs Where the Black
Stars Hang. The sonic images of Tides are based on the analogies between water
and sound. In the first movement Pools and Currents, digital scraping,
bubbling, and squelching sounds surge with the ebb and flow of the tides. The
second movement, Sea Flight, uses crashing waves of sound. The final piece,
Pentes, brings into play loud bursts of sound, chugging rhythms, slow
crescendos of chords, and small alien critters to achieve the sonic equivalent
of slopes and inclines. All in all, an interesting release that is fairly
accessible for this genre. (SH)
Address: http://www.electrocd.com
FRRRANCK C – THERE’S NO JELLYFISH (EXCEPT U)
I know that Frrranck C released a 7″ on Staubgold a while ago, but frankly I
missed out playing that. I may turn to that one, since his CDR on EE Tapes is
short (under 21 minutes), but nice. His eight tracks are therefore also short,
and show an interest in using hip hop, techno, reggea and even walz rhythms, in
combination with radio or voice samples. Despite the fact that I know nothing
about Frrranck C, I am lead to believe he has quite a career in music, because
his songs sound worked out (albeit on a bunch of lo-fi keyboard probably),
which sound very entertaining, with small changes, breaks, with a fresh dose of
no boring experiments. A well entertaining CD. (FdW)
Address: <eetapes@hotmail.com>
NECK DOPPLER/STRAIGHT OUTTA MONGOLIA (7″ by Mouthmoth)
NECK DOPPLER – FUTURE HITS VOL. 1 (CDR by Consume)
EYE AND EAR CONTROL – SKELETAL AIRBAG DEFICIENCY (CDR by Consume)
Mouthmoth Records operate on the shady terrain were techno, postrock and
popmusic may or may not meet. Here is another, no doubtely limited, split 7″
single. Neck Doppler is Murray Johnston, known for his Consume evenings (known
of course if you care to browse our events listenings), also a CDR of same name
and half of Serious Naan. Straight Outta Mongolia is one Jeremy Alan Smith, who
has releases on the Fencing Flatworm label. He records a track by the UK band
James from 1990. Being unfamiliar with the original – James never was big in
The Netherlands, I guess – I can state it’s a rhythmbox versus synth and organ
sounds, with a plain voice singing. Very much like it is from 1990, or maybe
even 1980 and reminded me of those synth popbands on Factory.
Neck Doppler sings a track too, but his instrumentation and production is more
up to date, despite the fact that this is also a retro record. With more care
for detail, this song explodes into weirdness and gets completely out of
control. Freaked out popmusic indeed. Nice stuff.
If a 7″ is not enough, you can always get a CDR by Neck Doppler, on his own
Consume label. The eight songs follow the lines of the song on the 7″. Many
rhythms, piano weirdness, more vocal madness (that involves childlike singing,
rap, spoken word) and trip/hip hop rhytms. But it’s all a bit too much, even at
38 minutes is a kinda sit through, so much weirdness, but it just be done.
Things shouldn’t have been much longer.
The same might be said from another Consume release, again by Eye And Ear
Control (see Vital Weekly 294). Weirdness, chopping up all styles in music,
plays a main role here too. ‘Son Of A Glitch’ reminds me of Nurse With Wound,
‘Rebux’ of Arcane Device, others are less obvious in their references. The
overall sound is noisy without being industrial, but it all seems to drive on
high energy and is at least as tyring as the Neck Doppler, but I enjoyed that
one more, because it’s less noisy and seems to be put together more coherent.
(FdW)
Address: www.mouthmoth.go.to
Address: www.consume.freeserve.co.uk
DRONA PARVA/ULTRASOUND – SONGS FROM THE ENTOPTIC GARDEN VOL. 1 (LP by Time Lag)
If I hear Popol Vuh mentioned I always think of two people: Werner Herzog, the
filmmaker who made use of their music for his films and my Vital collegue Dolf
Mulder, who played Popol Vuh when I was so much younger and wanted to hear
exciting new music and went to his house to get me weird stuff played. The
actual music has faded from my mind I must admit, as I haven’t seen a Herzog
film in ages and Dolf nowadays lives too far away. But there are other people
who remember Popol Vuh, such people as Ultrasound and Drona Parva, who just
released a split LP dedicated to Popol Vuh. The first should not be an
unfamiliar name, but from Drona Parva we know one CD for the Temporary
Residence label. Their piece takes up one entire side of the record. The piece
is largely around drones (guitar most likely, e-bow and organ), which starts
out without too much change, but has a dense feel towards the end.
Ultrasound plays around with piano and violin, which kick off playing a duet
for a while, with a far away cry of drones which gradually grow as the piece
(or rather two pieces which seem to be linked together) evolves. Hippie shit of
course, no doubt. But who cares? It’s hauntingely beautiful music that has a
great flow, and an infinite space. A record is soooo short… this should have
been a 80 minute CD. Topped off with a beautiful silkscreened hardboard cover.
Popol Vuh can be proud of their students! (FdW)
Address: <sinewave23@aol.com>
DUAL – KEIMAR STY (CD by Coombe Records)
More drone induced music, this time from UK’s Dual. The curiously titled CD ‘
Keimar Sty’ is the follow up to 1999’s ‘Caste’. Dual plays ambient music on
guitars. That’s it. They bow the instrument, put stuff on the strings and use
other odd methods to get those strings vibrating. It sounds all so relatively
simple, guitar, bow, strings, but Dual produces five lenghty pieces of
weightless space. Pieces evolve slowly, majestically, sometimes with a dash of
rhythm (in the form of a continous stream of sampled sounds – not in the form
of a rhythm machine). Nothing new under the sun, where we find Main, Stars Of
The Lid or Troum, but these are not the least to be compared with and Dual
certainly add, especially in the side of rhythms, a thing of their own. (FdW)
Address: www.coomberecords.com
WIGS ON FIRE (2CD by Panixville)
As a teen I bought 7″s of new wave stuff, Martha & The Muffins, Jonathan
Richman, Fischer Z and I also had ‘Rock Lobster’ by The B-52s. A great song,
with a great drive to it and funny lyrics, at least that’s what I believe. At
one point I sold most of these 7″s, including Rock Lobster. Stupid of course,
but last summer I bought the entire first album by the B-52’s which has this
song and I still like it. The rest of that album, in retrospect, is nice, but
never stands up to ‘Rock Lobster’. Why all this ramble? Well, because ‘Wigs On
Fire’ is just released, spanning two CD’s of B-52s covers, with in between each
tracks excerpts of the original B-52s talking (mostly radio stuff). Starting
with that: that may become a drag after a while, even when they were funny
aswell as articulate. The covers are not limited to just the first album, but
spans maybe their entire career (I never got further then ‘Love Shack’). This
selection includes well known noise people, like MSBR/K2, Government Alpha,
Cock ESP, John Wiese, Reynols, or TV Pow (the latter being not the noisy folks
of course), but also people I never heard of, like Brain Transplant, Dave
Philips, State Machine, Anne Heller, J. Frede or Sicbay. In general the more
noisy outing are to be found on disc one, and a variety of styles on disc two.
Throughout hearing this, I have been wondering if it’s really necessary to know
the B-52s, and still I’m not sure. If you are not overtly familiar with their
music, then this tribute doesn’t mean much to you, and will be at it’s best a
bunch of weird songs, which at times are fairly amateuristic. And if you are
familiar with them, you probably don’t care about the entire collection.
My favourites includes J. Frede’s tone experiment which is not even remotely
close to the B-52s, Harvey Sid Fischer (with the help of Cheer Accident) who
stays most close to the idea of a cover and Jojo Lasalle, who drags the B-52s
into the domain of glitch music. From the noisy chaps, I liked the Reynols,
John Wiese, Panicsville/Blackmachine and MSBR/K2 versions. It’s a pity that the
only version of ‘Rock Lobster’ is nothing else then a play along the sampled
record thing – definetly not my favourite in here. All in all a nice
compilation. (FdW)
Address: <Panixville@aol.com>
correction: all last week’s reviews credited to HS to be read as by SH!