RICH WEST – BEDOUIN HORNBOOK (CD by pfMENTUM)
JON ROSE – DOUBLE INDEMNITY (CD by Heyermears Discorbie)
THE RIP OFF ARTIST – NEW CLEAR DAYS (CD by Inflatabl Labl)
MELANIE AUCLAIR – PUCE A L’ÓREILLE (CD by Ambiances Magnétiques)
TOM WALSH’ NOMA – DIVERSION (CD by Ambiances Magnétiques)
JEAN-LUC GUIONNET – TIRETS (CD by Hibari Music)
ZEENA PARKINS & IKUE MORI – PHANTON ORCHARD (CD by Mego)
SPRING HEEL JACK – THE SWEETNESS OF THE WATER (CD by Thirsty Ear).
MATTHEW BURTNER – METASAXOPHONE COLOSSUS (CD by Innova)
PAUL BRADLEY – DRONE WORKS #1 (CDR by Twenty Hertz)
COLIN POTTER – DRONE WORKS #2 (CDR by Twenty Hertz)
PAUL BRADLEY & COLIN POTTER – CONFLUENCE (CD by Twenty Hertz/ICR)
ASMUS TIETCHENS – IN DIE NACHT (CD by Die Stadt)
HEMATIC SUNSETS – ZU GAST IM AROMA CLUB (LP by Klang Der Festung)
DISCO OPERATING SYSTEM – ULTRASONIC BATH (CD by Lotta Continua)
ILLUMINATI – OCEAN ALMANAC (CD by Lotta Continua)
GAL – HINAUS:: IN DEN, WALD (CD by Klanggalerie)
JAZZKAMMER – NEW WATER (3″CD by Ohm Records)
BIOMASS/COMFORTER (CDR by SOI Tapes)
MARTIN HOOGEBOOM – D-COMPOSE (CDR by G-Art)
MNEMEOSYNE – THE AIR GROWS SMALL FINGERS (CDR by Piehead Records)
DIRGE – FOUNTAIN (MP3 by Autres Directions)
RICH WEST – BEDOUIN HORNBOOK (CD by pfMENTUM)
A very surprising cd. The quintet of Chris Heenan (bass clarinet, alto saxophone), Bruce Friedman (trumpet), Jeremy Drake (electric guitar), Scot Ray (eb tuba) and Rich West (drums)
play some very nice compositions of drummer West. Not earthshaking, but very nice arrangements, dedicated playing, and a love for color. Who is Rich West? He is from Los Angeles and played in several local rock outfits since the early 80s. He played and recorded with Camper van Beethoven members, Mike Watt, Graham Connah, Wolfgang Fuchs and Eugene Chadbourne. I could not trace more of his whereabouts exactly, but with “Bedouin Hornbook” he offers some fullgrown and convincing music out of nowhere. Rock, jazz and improv are blended together succesfully. The clarinet, tuba and electric guitar sounded most pleasing to my ears. But above all it’s the combination of instruments, that make it special. It reminded me of Henry Threadgill, I think because of the tuba playing the basslines. A special mentioning should be made for Heenam’s bass clarinet that sounds like a didgeridoo in one piece.
The compositions and arrangments are clever and intelligent albeit not on the edge of new music. But they do make me curious for what will be West’s next step (DM).
Address: http://www.pfmentum.com
JON ROSE – DOUBLE INDEMNITY (CD by Heyermears Discorbie)
Well known improvisor Jon Rose started playing violin when he was 7. Since his early childhood, where ever his home was, in England, Australia, Berlin or Amsterdam, the violin was always with him. Up till today the marriage of Rose and his violin is still in tact as his new CD “Double Indemnity” shows. In his Australia period he was one of the keyfigures of the scene of improvised music. Allthough he travelled the world and played with many musicians and groups, like the Relative Band, Chadbourne, Frith, Morris, and so many others, deep down in his heart Rose is – I think – a solo artist. His love for the violin led him to organise the ‘Relative Violin Festival’ in 1989 (Berlin) with the participation of over 50 violinist from all over the world. His output on records and cd’s is enormous. The projects and cooperations he is involved in are too many to mention. Over the years he added new aspects to his playing and performance: environmental performance, extended techniques, self-built instruments, etc. More recent he is into inter-active electronics. An example of this is his first cd for Heyermeas Discordie named “Violin Factory”. Rose also constructed and deconstructed over 25 violin instruments, like the triple neck wheeling and the double piston. For his new cd Rose plays the ten-string double violin “of Dr. Johannes Rosenberg”. The CD offers a 45 minute improvisation recorded during a performance in 2002 in Paris at the “Les Cordes de Saint Quen” String Festival. In each hand Rose holds a bow and both are used more or less constantly throughout the piece. The result is a minimalistic kind of music that sounds a little stiff at moments because of motoric limitations. In the 45 minutes demonstrates many of the possibilities of his double violin in a captivating improvisation. The enclosed booklet offers a photo of his double violin as well as photos of siamese twins…. In the included essay “The Genetic Tendency in Violin Music” Rose outlives his Rosenberg-phantasy (DM).
Address: <mailto:hermear@hotmail.com>
THE RIP OFF ARTIST – NEW CLEAR DAYS (CD by Inflatabl Labl)
New clear days. Or nuclear days? Matt Haines likes to play with words, specially when he makes dub, like those tracks on the Dub Tribunl, the first Inflatabl release. This is the 5th release so far, and the first full-length by the label owner (or label head honcho:-) on his own label. I’m quite a fan of what Inflatabl Labl puts out, they have great releases in their catalogue from Vauxhall 44, Hdj Tom, The Dub Tribunl split, all of them generally in the clicky/groovy/minimal all-over-the-place dance & listening friendly music. The Rip Off Artist is (of course) no exception here, his music is mostly there, he probably being the master mind of the style and sound he’s presenting on the label. The tracks on this new album are separated with 3 sub-titles: protons, neutrons and electrons. The first 7 proton-tracks are mostly very lively, clicking and bleeping, and they’re all short (about 2 mins each). The second part, 5 neutron tracks, are opposite of that in a way, they’re more atmospheric and no dancey, even close to electro-acoustic/improv music. And at the end the electrons are also faster. It would be interesting if Matt researches those improv ways of music making with a full-length with more atmospheric music (if he hasn’t done that before? i’m not sure), like the middle tracks here. Or like the new Geoff White aka Aeroc album on Ghostly International, which is very good by the way. Otherwise, the music is good and the kids are alright again. (BR)
Address: http://www.inflatabl.com
MELANIE AUCLAIR – PUCE A L’ÓREILLE (CD by Ambiances Magnétiques)
On the compilation CD “Sang 9” reviewed for Vital several months ago, the Ambiances Magnétiques label presented new and lesser known talents from Canada on the new music scene. One of them was Melanie Auclair who now presents her first solo effort. On most of the pieces on this debut she either sings or plays cello. Most pieces have accompanied with another musician. On one piece we hear a trio and in the opening track Auclair plays a solopiece for cello. Auclair started playing cello at the age of 4 and later she was trained in classical singing. Nowadays Auclair likes to play improvised music because of her interest and drive to let emerge music spontaneously. She recorded with Joane Hétu, Bernard Falaise and Klaxon Guelle a.o. Auclair also has some experience in composing for theatre and dance productions. But now she wanted her music to stand on it’s own feet. For this project she asked and received the cooperation of several musicians she admires. We hear Auclair in duo with Vincent Réhel (piano), Guy Thouin (percussion, voice), Eric Auclair (bass, vibraphone), Charles Papasoff (bariton sax), Joane Hétu (voice) and Bernard Falaise (electric guitar). The cd closes with a trio by Eric Auclair and Michel Dubeau (Shakuachi). So it should not surprise that the 8 tracks on this cd make up a varied collection of improvisations. In all these meetings Auclair was interested in letting the improvisations come as spontaneoulsy as possible. If you ask me what they have in common, I would say that most pieces develop in the same slow pace. The intense vocal piece by Auclair and Hétu forms the exception. Because Auclair likes to play the low ranges of the cello most pieces have a dark and melancholic atmosphere, which is escpecially the case for the moving opening track. A common quality is also that most improvisations are textural explorations. Another musician mysterously named Papa Sucreah plays a role here. He seems to involved in most of the tracks doing some electronic extras that I’m unable to identify. Anyway with “Puce a l’oreille” Auclair delivers a improvised music that is ‘unspectacular’ but of a great emotive quality and honesty (DM).
Address: <http://www.actuellecd.com/
TOM WALSH’ NOMA – DIVERSION (CD by Ambiances Magnétiques)
“Diversion” is the title of a excellent new work by the Canadian trombonist and composer Tom Walsh. Walsh is a prominent musician in the Canadian avant garde and jazz scene. As a classically trained musician he started his career as trombonist in a Newfoundland symphony orchestra. Later Walsh started to play with a many canadian rock bands. Rock bands became jazz and improv projects. And that’s the context Walsh is owrking in nowawdays. He played with national (Rene Lussier, Michel F. Cote) and international (Bern Nix, Gerry Hemingway, Fred Frith, Iva Bittova, Phil Minton) jazz and improv musicians. Walsh is involved in several groups. With saxplayer Richard Underhill he has a duo, with Pierre Tanguay he takes acoustic and digital adventures as Midi Tapant, etc. etc.
In 1988 he started his very own NOMA-project. Jazz is the keyword here. Musicians involved in this project came and went. It was never meant as a permanent group. On the other hand the musicians with their personal possibilities and energy were very important to Walsh, as NOMA is about the energies that everybody brings in.
“Diversion” is played by two small ensembles. Some pieces are played by The Cote Cour ensmble featuring Guy Kaye (el. guitar), Alan Baculis (el. bass) and Francois Chauvette (drums). Other pieces are played by the Cote Jardin ensemble that has Rainer Wiens on electric guitar, Norman Guilbeault on contrabass plus Pierre Tanguay on drums. Both ensembles have Tom Walsh on trombone and sampler. Recordings were made on two different occasions. But on the CD all is very well edited into one whole. As a composer draws from many different styles and idioms, which explains the title of this CD. The compositions refer to funk, improv, rock, avantgarde jazz, fusion, etc. Some pieces stay within well-known boundaries, at other moments Walsh paints abstract figures with strange colours. Walsh melted these influences together with vision and suplenesse into a coherent and well balanced work. Together with convincing and energetic playing “Diversion” is a very enjoyable listening experience (DM)
Address: <http://www.actuellecd.com/
JEAN-LUC GUIONNET – TIRETS (CD by Hibari Music)
French composer Jean-Luc Guionnet plays a variety of instruments, ranging from amplified objects to saxophone, but he is mostly known for playing organs. Church organs to be more precise. Of these five pieces, one is recorded in concert and the others without audience. It is not strange to think that Guionnet plays drone music, but he doesn’t. Guionnet is a skillfull improviser on such a difficult instrument for improvisation. In ‘Abrege’ he plays short notes, opening various registers, closing them and offers a rather hectic scene. As a total contrast stands ‘Cromorne & Fonds’ which starts out maybe as a sort of drone piece, but slowly builts in shorter notes and tones, but which sound quite creepy. This is certainly not easy music. The compositions/improvisations are not easy to digest and the length of some of the material, doesn’t make this very easy to swallow. But if taken in small doses, this is a true beauty. (FdW)
Address: http://www.hibarimusic.com
ZEENA PARKINS & IKUE MORI – PHANTON ORCHARD (CD by Mego)
Two leading ladies from the world of improvisation and electronic music. Zeena Parkins is foremost known for her harp playing and Ikue Mori moved from drums to drum machine and then to laptop. They were locked up with the gear in a studio and they came out with the nine pieces collected on ‘Phanton Orchard’. It’s hard to say what it is all about, but there is a blend of acoustic and electronic gear to be recognized, which is processed through a wide bunch of computer techniques, which are rather ‘classical’ in approach then ‘modern’. In other words, this is more in the areas of ‘modern electronic classical’ than ‘microsound’. However there is one big difference, and at the same time, that’s the very nice thing about this CD: the tracks are kept short, somewhere in the three to five minute range, and per track have a lively feel to it. It’s energetic throughout, even in it’s more ambient movements (such as in ‘Ghostlake’) or in it’s downright noise element, as in ‘Contraband’. These ladies move in a lot of different musical styles and their approach to each style is that of improvisation. Yet they succeed to keep in an uniform thing. A very well done CD. (FdW)
Address: http://www.mego.at
SPRING HEEL JACK – THE SWEETNESS OF THE WATER (CD by Thirsty Ear).
The Blue Series, curated by jazz-composer and piano player Matthew Shipp, is a series which intends to explore the far reaches of jazz. A variety of jazz-musicians (ranging from free-jazz veterans to current avant-gardists) have collaborated with dissident DJ’s and producers including the likes of DJ Spooky, El-P and Anti-Pop Consortium. The determination to achieve new departures in music in this series is naturally heartwarming. Nevertheless, although some collaborations in the series look interesting on paper, the results have been rather disappointing. The contributions of Spring Heel Jack, however, are an exception to this rule. The former drum ‘n bass duo impressed with their excellent ‘Masses’ (2001) and ‘Amasssed’ (2002) albums, which included collaborations with Evan Parker, William Parker and Han Bennink amongst others. The latest release offers collaborations with the esteemed trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, along with saxophonist Evan Parker (once more), bass player John Edwards and drummer Mark Sanders. The result is a very intimate and accessible record. The album consists of collective improvisation, in which minimal electronics support free-jazz instrumentations without either striving for domination over the other. The album features provocative flirtation between Wadada Leo Smith’s trumpet and Evan Parker’s saxophone which has every potential to be a good marriage. (MW)
MATTHEW BURTNER – METASAXOPHONE COLOSSUS (CD by Innova)
The saxophone and me, well, we have no relation. That instrument was not made for me to listen to. So my hopes for some nice words on Matthew Burtner were not high. His ‘Metasaxophone Colossus’ is a tribute to saxophonist Sonny Rollins, in particular his ‘Saxophone Colossus’. Burtner’s saxophone is not just a saxophone, it’s an electro-acoustic instrument, using computer-generated sound, feedback and somewhere in there the tenor saxophone. So my love of the saxophone is virtually non-existent, what would I think of Burtner’s CD? Pun intended, but it blew me away. The saxophone is indeed there to be recognized, but there is so much more happening, from the singing bowl like textures of the opening piece ‘S-Morphe-S’ to the walls of feedback of the second piece (which graphic title is hard for me to type) and the creepy dark textures of ‘S-Trance-S’. The only piece which is a direct tribute to Rollins is ‘St Thomas Phase’ which is a piece of drum samples and layered saxophone sounds. It wasn’t wrong to include that on the CD, but I would perhaps choose a different spot on the CD. This CD came to me as a real surprise and could appeal to more people disliking the saxophone, but who are otherwise open-minded. (FdW)
Address: http://www.innova.mu
PAUL BRADLEY – DRONE WORKS #1 (CDR by Twenty Hertz)
COLIN POTTER – DRONE WORKS #2 (CDR by Twenty Hertz)
PAUL BRADLEY & COLIN POTTER – CONFLUENCE (CD by Twenty Hertz/ICR)
When I played this, I was thinking: if I mix the drone works release of Paul Bradley together with the drone works release of Colin Potter, would ‘Confluence’ be the result? Maybe not literally. But the idea would not be bad. There are some distinct differences between the works of Paul Bradley and Colin Potter. On Paul Bradley’s ‘Drone Works 1’ the music is in a strict drone music mood. In what seems to be the far away sounds of the city, or the recording of an airplane he creates his twenty minute piece in one long crescendo. The right tension is there and the piece is not a second too long or too short.
Colin Potter on the other hand may take the very same sound material as a starting point (well maybe not), but completely reworks it with electronic means. Feeding it through an endless stream of soundprocessors, this extended drone music is much more upfront, and in a way much more frightening. Whereas Paul Bradley’s work is austere and minimal, Potter’s omnipresent.
On the disc they made together, these two interests blend together. The forceful presence of the sound effects in the opening of the CD, until the more heldback moments later on. Besides whatever it is that it takes to make drones, Paul Bradley and Colin Potter also use processed percussion sounds, or maybe small amplified objects. Whereas the two ‘Drone Works’ are the raw diamonds, ‘Confluence’ is much more worked out, going through various phases in the work, but always maintaining a strong drone-like character. I found this CD a bit more electronic sounding, strangely enough, than say some of the work by Monos, Ora or Mirror, but it certainly fits the right tradition. A powerful work. Again. (FdW)
Address: http://www.twentyhertz.co.uk or http://www.icstudio.co.uk
ASMUS TIETCHENS – IN DIE NACHT (CD by Die Stadt)
HEMATIC SUNSETS – ZU GAST IM AROMA CLUB (LP by Klang Der Festung)
Much to Tietchens own surprise Sky Records ordered a third LP from him in the early eighties but it had to delivered rather quickly. On his ‘Spät-Europa’ and ‘Biotop’ album he carefully crafted short, poplike songs, but it was rather time-consuming. It was either making no record or one with longer tracks. He choose the latter option and if you read the liner-notes on the CD version, you find some unhappyness with Tietchens. The ideas per track were not strong enough to make it much longer. Back then Sky Records were pretty happy with the result, but Asmus wasn’t. Of course much happened in popmusic since then and longer pieces of music in which nothing seem to happen is a much more common thing now. Maybe ‘In Die Nacht’ isn’t the bad thing after all. The idea that some of these tracks are too long for the amount of ideas they carry, I must say I didn’t see that as a big problem. Some of these pieces might even be called ‘proto-techno’, such as ‘Höhepunkt Kleiner Mann’ or ‘Spanische Fliege’, but the mixture with shorter tracks makes this nevertheless into a varied CD. The bonus tracks used here were labelled too experimental back in 1982, but they do make sense here. The experimentalism of the tracks lies in the voice of taped radio voices.
The follow up to ‘In Die Nacht’, ‘Lilitia’, will be discussed when it comes out and that will conclude the Sky Records phase of Asmus Tietchens. The fifth album was never finished and surfaced on a 10″ on The Bog a few years back. Releasing that 10″ made Asmus wanting to go back to his Sky Records phase, at least once a year. Since then he tries to release a record under the name of Hematic Sunsets, and ‘Zu Gast Im Aroma Club’ is his third release. Some things are to be noted here: the use of voices, although not in every track, but certainly in ‘In Babel’ (a Dutch-Surinam voice speaking about chaos, jobless and computer) and in ‘Po Voraus’ (which I believe contains the voice of Felix Kubin). That’s right away the second difference: many of these tracks were made with other people, and not just Tietchens solo. Micheal Rother adds a highly psychedelic space guitar to ‘Frauen Im Kugelschreiber’. Other tracks were made with Jetzmann (who delivers voice too) and of course Okko Bekker. From say ‘In Die Nacht’ to ‘Zu Gast Im Aroma Club’ is a big step forward. The production is much better, the difference between the various songs and approaches: it’s all there. One thing remains however: no matter how hard Tietchens tries, he will not deliver a good pop song. Is that a problem? No it isn’t, because the fake popmusic of the Hematic Sunsets is good as it is and will do well in any alternative disco. (FdW)
Address: http://www.diestadtmusik.de
DISCO OPERATING SYSTEM – ULTRASONIC BATH (CD by Lotta Continua)
ILLUMINATI – OCEAN ALMANAC (CD by Lotta Continua)
Lotta Continua means the ‘struggle continues’, even when I am not sure which struggle is ment here. The label is run by two guys, Gareth Bibby and Dave Clarkson. The first aka Disco Operating System and the latter aka Illuminati.
I am sure I ran across the name Disco Operating System in the past, on some compilation or CDR, but I am not so familiar with it. So this album is my first proper introduction to his work. The cover lists such software as audiomulch, ableton live and such hardware as nord micro modular, casio dg20, kaoss pad and a philishave radio. That’s a whole bunch of electronic stuff and the result is all of the electronic place. There are drony bits and pieces of minimalist rhythms, some even have a bit of noise. Some of these tracks are nice, but I found some of the other pieces also a bit unfocussed, starting somewhere and ending somewhere, without taking a clear path. His minimalist rhythm pieces, like ‘Boom-bip Every Trip’ and ‘Demon Seed’ were the most interesting ones around here.
Dave Clarkson’s Illuminate project delivers some sort of concpet work: “drawing together themes of life and death in using the sea as the metaphor”. I never heard music by Illuminate before, but his music is a bit more interesting than the tunes by Disco Operating System. Clarkson’s music is mostly about ambient textures with occassional minimalist rhythmical outings, such as in the Komet inspired ‘Port Of Saints’. The ambient music of Illuminati is a bit on the raw side, which makes it alltogether more interesting and the best track is ‘Bouvet Oya – Frozen Island’, with its vibraphone, guitar and sounds like genuine exotica track. A stand-apart piece that works well in the whole. Quite a nice work here. (FdW)
Address: http://www.lotta-continua.com
GAL – HINAUS:: IN DEN, WALD (CD by Klanggalerie)
It’s been a while since I heard someone working with the work of art brut artist Adolf Wölfli. He was inside an asylum in the early part of the 20th century and spend his time drawing, writing and playing music on his self-built instruments. In the 80s Graeme Revell of SPK made a tribute compilation to his work, and now Bernard Gal does something similar, but focussing on his texts rather than Wölfli’s music. Translating these texts in his own sound language, and adding sounds. The texts are spoken by Gal himself and Stella Kao, a Taiwanese girl who didn’t understand German. The sounds are all walking, running and breathing “outside in the woods”. The girls voice is to be recognized, but the male voice is mostly mumbling and whispering. This work was presented as a sound installation in a completely dark room with eight channels of sound. I can imagine this is a frightening experience, but on CD it works only for a limited amount of time. This lasts almost sixty minutes and I found this rather long. After a while I heard enough of the wood crackles and voices. It would have been a strong work if it was a miniCD only. Now it seems like a lot of repetitions. (FdW)
Address: http://www.klanggalerie.com
JAZZKAMMER – NEW WATER (3″CD by Ohm Records)
Last year Jazzkammer’s Lasse Marhaug and John Hegre visited Singapore to work on the music side of a theatre production, which ended as a CD release on Bottrop-Boy (see Vital Weekly 389). In the same time they played some concerts in Singapore which are not edited into this live 3″ CD on Ohm Records. Jazzkammer’s ‘Pulse’ and ‘Pancakes’ releases marked a distinct step forward from their rather uniformed noise of the earlier releases. I saw them play live earlier this year and somehow they have not translated the studio sound to a new live sound. That concert and this CD sees them playing with noise and feedback, despite the use of some water sounds and short outbursts of rhythmical elements. For the bigger part it’s still Merzbow influenced noise music. I must admit Jazzkammer does a rather good job at that, but at the same time, I keep thinking: how about translating ‘Pancakes’ into a live concert and push things forward? ‘New Water’ leaves me with mixed feelings. (FdW)
Address: http://www.ohmrecords.no
BIOMASS/COMFORTER (CDR by SOI Tapes)
A work of collaboration by two Russian bands, Biomass from Yaroslavl and Comforter from Sovetesk. On this CDR each band present two solo tracks, and a track each of them remixing eachother. Although both bands operate in the field of ‘noise’ music, there are some differences to be noted. Biomass is pure noise, raw blocks of concrete sounds being fed through a bunch of sound effects and Comforter deals more with cut-up sound in combination with harsh noise. Strangely enough, I thought Comforter was much noiser than Biomass (although for the untrained ear it will all be noise anyway). The two most interesting tracks were those in which they remixed eachother, because that’s where the boundaries started to blurr and something new started to arrive. For those who are already addicted to noise, I can surely recommend this, as the material is quite interesting and well-recorded. If you are just an occassional lover of noise, than you may want to pass on. (FdW)
Address: http://soi.yoll.net
MARTIN HOOGEBOOM – D-COMPOSE (CDR by G-Art)
Normally we meet Martin Hoogeboom under such guises as Six Moon Night, but here he presents improvised music from the years 1996-2001. He plays pedal-steel guitar, which was fed in a bunch of sound effects. Everything was recorded and parts he liked were used in the next performances. The three extracts on this CDR are from performance 4, 9 and 31. It’s hard to image pedal-steel guitar being the basis of these three tracks. The sound is mostly computerisations of sources unknown. In each of the pieces Martin Hoogeboom chases through various routines, such as ambient, psychedelics or noise, but he does that with great care and eye for detail. Tension is built up and one could only think it’s a pity that this lasts just over twenty-two minutes. It would have been interesting to hear some more of this. (FdW)
Address: http://www.hoogeboom.org
MNEMEOSYNE – THE AIR GROWS SMALL FINGERS (CDR by Piehead Records)
>From ever so active Aidan Baker comes a new group, with Aidan on guitars and vocals, Richard Baker on drums/percussion and Rodin Columb on bass and electronics. As Mnemosyne they are active since 2002 and they play what they call ‘fragmentary post/space-rock ranging sonically from washes of ambient sound to walls of fractured dissonance’. I think the six pieces here stem from improvised sessions and the result is indeed above all spacey. The guitar plays walls of ebow strings, the drums play loosely with a lot of cymbals and the bass does a total freakout. At times I found this a gentle version of F/i or Vocokesh (to mention two of my favourite space rock bands) and the ambient aspect is never lost out of sight. Quite enjoyable in fact, when served in small dosis. (FdW)
Address: http://www.pieheadrecords.com
DIRGE – FOUNTAIN (MP3 by Autres Directions)
A three man post rock group from Rouen, France. They play drums, guitar, bass, violin and singing. Slow songs, intimate songs. Reminded me of Low, which is a band I don’t like very much, but the songs on this release were quite alright. Maybe I should listen more to Low? It’s not the usual music spinning round here, and maybe that’s why my judgement is a bit blurred, I just may not have the right references for this. I just was quite pleased with this on such a rainy day. Sas music for a sad day. (FdW)
Address: http://www.autresdirections.net/inmusic/
Correction: the correct URL for Taalem is http://taalem.free.fr (see Vital Weekly 426)