TIM HECKER – MORT AUX VACHES (CD by Staalplaat)
MARC BEHRENS & FRANCISCO LOPEZ – A SZELLEM ALMA (Double CD by Absolute Koblenz)
LESBIANS ON ECSTASY (CD by Alien8 Recordings)
LES GEORGES LENINGRAD – SUR LE TRACES DE BLACK ESKIMO (CD by Alien8 Recordings)
PROEM – LIVEMD (CD by n5MD)
VA – MD8 (CD by n5MD)
VESNA – SNOW SENCES (CD by n5MD)
KEEF BAKER – THE WIDNES YEARS (CD by n5MD)
SPARK – SUPER ROBOT BATTLE DELUXE (CD by n5MD)
SHUGO TOKUMARU – NIGHT PIECE (CD by Music Related)
PANDATONE – LEMONS & LIMES (CD by Neo Ouija)
CONTAGIOUS ORGASM – DESSERT ADDICTS WILL RETURN TO THIS (CD by Ant-Zen)
TONNE – LILIUM (CD by Klitekture)
EPITOME (LP by Klitekture)
THIS PLACE IS DREAMING (CD compilation by Argos Editions/Kraak)
THE NOISE & THE CITY (MP3 by Autres Directions In Music)
UK – PROUD PRINCESS OF A BRAND NEW CITY (CD by Kraak)
KURT D’HAESELEER/PETER VERHELST/KÖHN – S*CKMYP (DVD by Kraak)
RAYMOND DIJKSTRA – LA PHILOSOPHIE DES CHIOTTES (LP by Le Souffleur)
DE HONDENKOEKJESFABRIEK (DVD-R by De Hondenkoekjesfabriek)
DAVID WELLS – OP.3 (3″CDR by The Locus Of Assemblage)
PETITE PORTE DE BRONZE – EN TRAVERS DU CHEMIN (CDR by Tonto)
MACHINEFABRIEK – XYLOPHONIQUE (3″CDR)
MACHINEFABRIEK – VOOR DE PRULLENBAK (3″CDR)
TIM HECKER – MORT AUX VACHES (CD by Staalplaat)
It must of course be coincidence that there are two Tim Hecker CDs in
such a short time span. After ‘Mirages’ of last week, there is this
week’s ‘Mort Aux Vaches’ CD. As known this is a long running series
by Staalplaat and they all contain live recordings made at the VPRO
studio in Amsterdam. Unlike his ‘Mirages’ CD, Tim Hecker plays one
long track, or maybe someone forgot to index the CD, as they sound
like more tracks. Either way, much of what I said about ‘Mirages’ can
be said about this work, although at the start of this CD I thought
Hecker started to lean towards the real ambient music, but thankfully
the grainy aspects of his previous work is maintained here. It comes,
oddly enough, as a less brutal force this one. Odd, since one would
expect that a live recording is usually the more brutal one. Not so
with Hecker. He plays his stuff with great patience, letting things
develop, taking their time to slowly unfold. Embedded in ambient
structures, he plays his lo-bit resolution samples with a great sense
of drama. Microsound meets deformed popmusic. (FdW)
Address: http://www.staalplaat.com
MARC BEHRENS & FRANCISCO LOPEZ – A SZELLEM ALMA (Double CD by Absolute Koblenz)
So the first thing I wondered about upon seeing this title was if it
is a real language from some obscure part of the northern Italian
mountains or if it could actually be a part of the mysterious
language that Behrens and Lopez have developed during the years of
their friendship. Anyway, I don’t know what it means, so it could be
either. The music is not so mysterious though, at least not in my
book. One disc features five tracks by Behrens, varying in length
from 8 to 18 minutes, the other disc one track of almost 74 minutes
by Lopez. Both use the same source material that they created
together. Of course the results are very different from each other.
To begin with, Behrens’ compositions are shorter than Lopez’s piece.
This may seem like an extremely obvious remark, but there is a
fundamental difference in approach: initially Lopez leans more
towards the immersive, the piece beginning quite forceful and rapidly
changing (for his standards), but slowing down after about twenty
minutes. All sound goes down to a hum, declining steadily in volume.
This part alone takes 15 minutes and after half an hour all is silent
for about 10 minutes. Those times are complete track times for
Behrens. This does require a different attitude from the listener, to
say the least. Behrens tracks are individually more concise and
change tension faster, but all of them together are not such a good
listening experience as Lopez’s track. So it’s good that they have
their own startcodes. It is quite impossible to establish a
connection in sound between the works. They could well have been made
from different sound sources. What I found surprising is Lopez’s use
of sound manipulation that seems to go way beyond mere filtering.
Different types of effects have been added. Behrens has made
extensive use of sound degradation techniques, that give his material
a grainy and noisy quality. Aside from the fact that both CD’s once
more contain great works that are a great pleasure to listen to, I do
wonder about the necessity of releasing them together. Okay, these
guys are friends and they created the sound material together, but
this cannot really be heard in the result, so one somehow
starts comparing them. And what good is that with high quality stuff
like this? (MR)
Address: http://www.trenteoiseaux.com
LESBIANS ON ECSTASY (CD by Alien8 Recordings)
LES GEORGES LENINGRAD – SUR LE TRACES DE BLACK ESKIMO (CD by Alien8 Recordings)
The Lesbians On Ecstasy are probably real lesbians, who take music
from other, known, lesbians to ‘cover’. But I’m not familiar with
Tracy Chapman and Melissa Etheridge, not because they are lesbians
but simply because I don’t like their music. So I can’t tell wether
the covers are great, bad or aweful from judging just the covers. I
understand that they ‘don’t sample these artists, but cheekily
reference their themes and lyrics, creating booty shaking dance hits
that maintain the politically infused edge of these Sapphic
songstresses’. They are a band of drums, guitars, synths and vocals
and I must say I damm like what I hear. This music has speed and
energy, songs are well played, loud and dirty. And humor is also part
of it. ‘Ms Pope to the principal’s office’ is at the start of ‘The
Pleasure Principal’ (and that was a great Gary Numan LP). Peaches is
clearly a source of inspiration here. Punk meets electro in a very
very nice way.
In Vital Weekly 424 I reviewed the first CD by Les Georges Leningrad,
a ‘post-punk’ band from Montreal. I wrote that it’s music that I like
sometimes, and upon hearing their second CD I will not change that.
The music is still inspired by free no wave, postpunk and traces of
improvisation, with a large dose of weirdness. The surprise element
is gone here, if there was one on the first album, and that’s a pity.
It seems to me that this album is a little bit more electronic than
the first one. In general I liked this album for its more poppy
tracks, but some of the spoken weirdness I found harder to relate
too. So: a nice album, but received with mixed feelings here. (FdW)
Address: http://www.alien8recordings.com
PROEM – LIVEMD (CD by n5MD)
VA – MD8 (CD by n5MD)
VESNA – SNOW SENCES (CD by n5MD)
KEEF BAKER – THE WIDNES YEARS (CD by n5MD)
SPARK – SUPER ROBOT BATTLE DELUXE (CD by n5MD)
Today we have a new label to review with its releases. A couple of
the latest releases for the label n5MD will be placed under the lens
for “observing”. The first one to be observed is Proem’s album
liveMD. And as the name of this release suggests, this is a live
album, but unfortunately not released on a minidisc which was the
label’s intention in the first place. Richard Bailey AKA Proem here
presents his flawless remaking of some original mixes and remixes as
a live set which he recorded on a minidisk in his home in Austin TX.
It is a release brimming with blocks of looping, hypnotic,
intensifying chords. Ebbs and flows of ambiental dark fluids are
waving supported by a strong, deep bass and a break rhythm. Hums and
glitchy
electronics interrupt all that just to make up for the melancholic
and crunchy atmosphere. Layers of sound placed over one-another into
a heavenly combination of repetitive kicks and clicks that keeps you
frozen troughout the whole release. All the tracks are mixed together
into an entirely dark soundscape that enhances you the whole time.
Completely hypnotic. You can only imagine how this set would function
if you see it live. Amazing of course.
The second release for reviewing from n5MD is a compilation. After
their previous compilations n5MD continue with their MD series but
now in a friendlier format. They used to release (almost) all
releases on pre-recorded minidisks. But unfortunately Sony has
decided that there is no actual market for them and stopped the
sales. Anyway today they continue with the same ideology but on CDs
instead. Emotional experimental electronica is the main slogan of
this California based label and it is the sound that you can
generally find on this compilation. MD8 features rare and unreleased
tracks by artists that are obviously into (post)IDM and the melodic
electronic sound. From melodic rhythmic tracks by Headphone Science
and Ml, to deep and dark pieces by Quench, Vesna and Similar.
Sohcahtoa and Portland are presenting themselves with a sound that’s
on the ambiental side of IDM music. While Rivel, Phaeon and Spark
offer a pure oldschool IDM track that inevitably remind of Plaid’s
work. Gridlock is contributing with one long ambiental deep track in
remix of Loss, as well as Vcam this time remixed by the hypnotic
master Proem. Gimmik is a bit different from all the other tracks. It
is break beat and drum n bass oriented, heading towards drill n bass.
Not very related to the classic or post IDM, however n5MD is not an
IDM label anyway. At the end Mercurial offers a completely dark
melody flavoured track with a fractured rhythm, emotional piano,
raindrops and thunders that closes this release. A lot of warmth,
electronics, layers of dark melodies, textures, broken rhythms. Vesna
means spring in Russian. And Vesna is a duo consisting of Dmitry
Tchemiak and Alexey Gaponeko from Russia. If their name is Vesna,
bearing in mind it means spring, you can easily get the idea about
their music and sound determination. It reminds of the post IDM sound
that was in serious expansion at the beginning of this millennium and
became really invasive especially within the Russian scene. But
anyway in this case it’s a bit different additionaly backed up with a
contemporary production. It is calm and warm electronica that brings
spring to mind of course and creates this mellow spring-atmosphere
you usually get around the last days of March during winter’s
crossover. They deal with calm moody jazz melodies connected with
thick, smooth bass and slow break, down tempo rhythm. Various
instruments are layered in relaxed emotional melodic haystacks. A
warp influence is also visible through the subtle instrumental hip
hop moments arranged in smooth sound structures. At moments
melancholic and even a bit dark, only there as if to prove that
winter hasn’t left yet. Likewise, icy glitchy textures that sometimes
cover layers of ambiental soundscapes remind us that spring hasn’t
actually arrived. But as it gets warmer, everything starts becoming
green. The sky becomes clear, open and high. Everybody gets out of
themselves. Spring is definitely the best time of the year.
Another n5MD release worthy of attention is Keef Baker’s album
release. The Widnes Years is a breakcore, drill n bass release, but
not a classical one. It is quite eclectic with a break/drum n bass
rhythm. Melodic backgrounds, mostly dark, float behind the hard and
rough rhythm. Sometimes it even becomes hardcore and completely noisy
and at moments it goes completely quiet. There are even calm melodic
IDM oriented tracks, however there’s only a few of them. Later, once
more the gritty aggressive rhythm appears. If you have already heard
any previous n5MD releases this album can be a bit hard to get into,
yet according to the concept and sound it’s still within their
orientation. Despite being strong and fast with that angry rhythm
it’s still combined with melodic backgrounds and dark bass lines
instead of noisy parts. Choral vocals also appear together with synth
pads to strengthen the dark atmosphere. Melody sometimes gets
distorted, rhythm goes faster and faster, tracks get out of control.
Probably this release shows that n5MD are moving towards a more
abrasive electronic sound, rhythmic noise and break/idm combinations.
Spark’s release is the most uncommon release on n5MD I’ve heard so
far. Many styles are included here, many variations, strange sounds
appear when least expected, as well as incompatible moments here and
there to make defining the final impression even more complicated. It
starts off with a 7 minute intensifying madness. As the rhythm slowly
evolves the main noisy melody is driving, growing and transforming
into pure noise creating a hypnotizing sound mixture. Later you can
notice rare calm pieces, classic drum n bass rhythm tracks, IDM
flavoured melodies combined with broken rhythms, pure breakcore
rhythms with noisy backgrounds and a great deal of acid included
everywhere playing the old school hardcore role. Subtle, subliminal
and barely noticeable melodies hide behind the hard and abrasive
rhythm and noise. These various combinations and differences are
making this release quite complicated, but on the other hand even
more interesting. (TD)
Address: http://www.n5md.com
SHUGO TOKUMARU – NIGHT PIECE (CD by Music Related)
PANDATONE – LEMONS & LIMES (CD by Neo Ouija)
The music of ‘Night Piece’ is from the songwriter’s world with a more
experimental touch, you can have The Kat Cosm and Davide Balula in
mind for comparison. Shugo Tokumaru comes from the land of the rising
sun, and it’s cool when Japanese artists sing in Japanese, doesn’t
matter if you don’t know the language, of course. There are 10
shorter pieces of music on this release with a full-length of about
25 minutes. There’s no singing all of the time and Shugo is serious
in his fake-songwriting attempts here. ‘The Mop’ is very much
alt.country, as much as Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci. The acoustic moments
(acoustic guitar, xylophone, drums and various percussions…) in
Shugo’s music are pointed out and often mixed with experimental
electronics. That gives this music an electro-acoustic quality within
the pop music, even though some songs are only acoustics and too
ordinary sometimes. All pieces are like short sketches, the little
melodies are not very much developed, and it’s interesting listening
it repeatedly. The music is along the lines of before mentioned
Davide Balula, if that’s your thing.
The guy who runs the small label Music Related is Trevor Sias who
makes music as Pandatone and has just released his (I think) first
full-length album on one of my most favourite melodic labels, Neo
Ouija. Cool that Lee Metamatics, who runs Neo Ouija, releases music
from lots of unknown artists if they’re good enough of course, many
new names are featured on the forthcoming 4th volume of the classy
Cottage Industries compilations. Lee Norris is kinda guru with sharp
ears for new and rather simple (but that’s Paul Klee’s kind of
simplicity) melodic music and Neo Ouija’s releases are one of the
finest and most fascinating of that kind. Pandatone mixes electronics
and acoustics (acoustic guitar) too, as Shugo Tokumaru, but there’s
no singing here, only pa-pa-ra-pa once. Pandatone is more electronic
and more experimental. There’s a sketch-like aspect in his pieces
too, it takes time for the melodies to develop through a bit
confusing glitches sometimes, but never too harsh. It’s a programming
meets songwriting thing going on here, without the singing typical
for this context. But maybe Trevor will start to sing along with the
intimate music he produces one day, just like Dave Pajo did. But even
if not, it’s alright as it is now. Very nice album. (BR)
Address: http://www.musicrelated.net and http://www.shugotokumaru.com
Address: http://www.neoouija.co.uk and http://www.pandatone.com
CONTAGIOUS ORGASM – DESSERT ADDICTS WILL RETURN TO THIS (CD by Ant-Zen)
His contribution to the “Japanese/American Noise Treaty”-compilation
(Relapse/Release Records, 1995) was extreme. As a novice listener of
Contagious Orgasm, I have always connected the Japanese composer with
the harsh noise scene of Japan. “Dessert addicts will return to
this”, being my first full-length introduction to Contagious Orgasm,
definitely reveals that Hiroshi Hashimoto (a.k.a. Contagious Orgasm)
has a much wider musical approach as a composer, not focusing on one
expressional direction. In fact, “harsh” wouldn’t be a useful term to
describe this latest album of him. More likely it sounds like the
chill-out soundtrack of the surrealists. The compositions on the
album have an almost visual expression, making it sound like a
perfect soundtrack for the unmade movie. The variety of styles is
quite remarkable. Dealing with everything from collaged noise, across
clicks’n’cuts to almost danceable electro-inspired techno and eerie
soundscapes of beautiful ambient, it is an impossible task to finish
this album only within a few listens. It is a complex musical voyage,
that towards the end slowly turns into dreamy ambient of the more
experimental kind. Worth mentioning is the hauntingly beautiful track
“When the empire which shrines sink and dies”, built on a processed
female voice mixed up with repetitive sound layers of piano and
guitar strums. As a top on the icing, the package includes a bonus
Cd-tribute with some quite interesting interpretations of each work
on the album. If the term “harsh” was unsuitable for the original
work, it definitely suits well to the tribute-Cd. Among the best
contributions we have American concrete noise-specialist Daniel
Menche with his creepy subtle version of “Livewire voodoo”. Also
worth mentioning is Imminent’s bizarre rhythmic version of “A drop
story” as well as the Sonic Youth-alike version of “New rem” created
by Ultra Milkmaids. And the final atmospheric dark ambient tracks of
Orphx and Ontayso seem like the perfect way to finish this very
interesting homage to Contagious Orgasm. For any musical adventurer,
the “Dessert addicts will return to this”-package is highly
recommended! (NMP)
Address: http://www.ant-zen.com
TONNE – LILIUM (CD by Klitekture)
EPITOME (LP by Klitekture)
From the more dancey side, but also very much listening-friendly this
time, comes Tonne aka Paul Farrington who you may know from his
previous releases on Bip-Hop, ‘Tonne Soundtoy’ and the collaborative
album with Scanner ‘Sound Polaroids’ which is great ambient music.
‘Lilium’ is Tonne’s first solo album released by the interesting
minimal techno oriented label Klitekture that also released music
from Sutekh and Deadbeat before. Tonne’s album is dark and deep,
minimal micro dance beats and rhythms, brought too much to the level
of ambient I’d say. That way it lacks the danceable moments, present
in the also minimalistic music of Tomas Jirku for example, and
Tonne’s music is kinda absent because of that, made of dance beats
and sounds but almost only for home listening, that’s a pity. The
unconventional and twisted rhythms are interesting, sometimes
reminding of the dub-flavoured sound of the label Thinner, but I
think ‘Lilium’ lacks more concrete content and point, and is far away
from a classic like Jirku’s ‘Sequins’, or Sutekh’s wonderful EP
‘Deposited Trails’, or Wang Inc.’s new album ‘Woods Roads’, which are
much more interesting and belong to the same scene.
Another new and much much more interesting, because of the better
presence of the dance spirit, release on Klitekture is ‘Epitome’, a
compilation or a split between 5 artists, ’cause 3 of them are
featured with 2 tracks. It opens with Andreas Tilliander now aka
Lowfour, showcasing his dance disco side with a great 4/floor track
‘Perfect Manner’. Enough Tilliander ambience for Type or Cubic
Fabric, the world needs more Lowfour music, maybe a full-length for
Force Inc/Tracks? The second track is by Lod aka Luis Ortiz who runs
the label Klitekture. It’s a great micro-dance track with housey
rhythm, which is dominant on the whole release. Lod’s track might
remind someone of Antonelli Electric’s production. By the way,
releasing an EP by Antonelli Electric on Klitekture in future would
be a great thing I think, and it’ll fit perfectly in the label’s
catalogue. Then on ‘Epitome’ there are 2 amazing tracks by the
wonderboy Tomas Jirku, continuing with his more dancey music like
‘Sequins’, this time more fasten up. Sounds excellent, done with a
profound sense for this music. The other 2 artists featured with 2
tracks are Johan Skugge and Pep Gaya. Johan Skugge’s both tracks
perfectly join the dance techno-house minimalism that sounds
excellent and very fresh on this whole release. Pep Gaya calms down
the atmosphere at the end. This Klitekture release is worth checking
out and recommended! (BR)
Address: http://www.klitekture.com
THIS PLACE IS DREAMING (CD compilation by Argos Editions/Kraak)
THE NOISE & THE CITY (MP3 by Autres Directions In Music)
Two releases to deal with ‘music’ and ‘cities’. On ‘This Place Is
Dreaming’ it’s only one city, Brussels. This CD is part of ‘This
Place Is Dreaming – Rethinking and Transfiguring the Sites and sounds
of Brussels’, as part of the Argosfestival, which was held last week.
There are three approaches to theme. Some people ‘remix’ sounds that
came from a radioprogramm on life in Brussels, others built their
tracks from a collective bunch of sound recordings and the third
group of artists recorded their own sounds of Brussels (and in some
cases also India, Japan, Italy, Amsterdam and Paris). The artists
themselves are from all around the world. Some of them stay close to
the original city sources, such as Justin Bennett and Francisco Lopez
(with a surprising audible piece), whereas others are more freely
toying around with musical notions such as Heimir Björgúlsson or
aMute. The three different approaches may not result in a very
coherent CD, but that’s the strength of the project. These approaches
result in different opinions on the subject of soundscaping and makes
it altogether a fine CD to hear. Also included are TMRX,
Stilluppsteypa, Yuki Nexus6, Hildegard Westerkamp, Aki Onda, Mark
Bain, Yannis Kyriakides, Martiens Go Home and more and comes with an
extended booklet with lots of information on the contributing artists.
A somewhat wider concept is the ‘The Noise & The City’ project, free
for download. The city is a much used source of inspiration for
music. Fallt organised the ‘Invisible Cities’ project in which sound
artists made a soundpicture of their city (and unfortunally this has
never seen a release, what a pity) and the city and its sounds are
also at the basis of this compilation MP3 album (‘2LP’ as
advertised). People were asked to record sounds in the city and
reprocess them into music, their music, which sound like their other
music. Autres Directions In Music managed to get some well-known
artists, such as Stendec, The Remote Viewer, Fibla, Mitchell Akiyama,
Sogar, Greg Davis and Pan American, aswell as a lot of new names,
such as Tim Koch, Montano, Teamforest, Christian Galarreta, Diego
Morales. Thirty in total. Sometimes the music meeting the noise of
the city is an uneasy marriage here, such as the techno of EU mixed
with the sounds of St. Petersburg. It works best I think when the
city sounds are expanded and made into music, such as by Colophon.
When the two should meet than it would be in my favourite tracks: by
Pan American and Greg Davis – here the tension of the city is felt
through out the music. But overall it’s a nice project, certainly
worth lending an ear. (FdW)
Address: http://www.kraak.net
Address: http://www.autresdirections.net/inmusic
TUK – PROUD PRINCESS OF A BRAND NEW CITY (CD by Kraak)
KURT D’HAESELEER/PETER VERHELST/KÖHN – S*CKMYP (DVD by Kraak)
You may never heard of Tuk, aka Guillaume Graux, neither did I. This
is his first CD, but he’s also actively involved in producing
visuals. His early influences were Sähko/Mego/Touch but these days he
says it’s a trip between Pita and Kohn Fahey. The tracks on this
first CD were shaped in the last three years during his concerts. If
I understood correctly his starting point is modifying an exisiting
song until the original disappears and his own sound remains. In none
of these nine pieces I recognized any original, but maybe my
knowledge is a bit limited. The titles didn’t give much clues either,
except maybe ‘Diamonds For The People’ (either ‘Diamonds Are Girls
Best Friend’ or ‘Diamonds Are Forever’ came up in this memory). Tuk
plays foremost guitar, but for the major part – maybe even 95% – they
are not to be recognized in any way. The computer has elegantely
transformed the original guitar playing in a glitch festival. Of all
the usual suspects that may have influenced Tuk, Fennesz is the most
likely one. In that respect there is nothing new under the sun here,
and Tuk hasn’t delivered a truely innovative CD. Having said that,
it’s not a bad CD either. There are always more bands copying heavy
metal cliche’s than people doing so with Fennesz, so that’s fine. Tuk
offers a fine CD.
These days the live visuals for Tuk concerts are done by Kurt
D’Haeseleer, who just produced a full length film on a DVD for Kraak.
He combines images, spoken word and music and the total is a
dreamlike event. Images flash by – long live the computer – in a
stuttery way or in a very slow motion way. We see cities by night, a
woman in bath, street scenes, people passing, sleeping, talking. The
text, by an apperentely well-known Peter Verhelst, is also a
dreamlike repetition of words and sentences, but unfortunally it did
fail to impress me. The music is by Köhn, whom we know from his
previous Kraak releases, and here he extends his grainy samples even
wider, almost grinding out an ambient soundtrack. The DVD contains an
Dutch and English spoken version, but I would have a liked a version
with no text, just music and video and make up my own words. Nice
release anyway, but I wonder if it’s something I would want to see a
lot of times. (FdW)
Address: http://www.kraak.net
RAYMOND DIJKSTRA – LA PHILOSOPHIE DES CHIOTTES (LP by Le Souffleur)
For people like Raymond Dijkstra content is more important than
apparence. His new LP is comes in an plastic bag with the title
printed on the cover and nothing else. Also the label has no other
information. Dijkstra played music as Ky Sync Pulse, Asra (with Af
Ursin), Razoul Uzlu aswell as his own name. I always find it hard to
draw out the differences between these names, if they are there at
all. It’s a pity that for whatever reason this LP has only one side
of music, and me thinks it’s also one piece on the side that contains
the music. It starts out with the close miked recordings of objects
and surfaces, but as the piece continues the close miked recordings
are fed through a line of delay effects, some reverb and small
electronic backdrops start to occur. A bit of drone, but it’s hardly
continuous. Soundwise Dijkstra comes close to Merzbow’s late 80s
period: scraping metal, disjointed organ/drone sounds, with just a
little bit of electronic sounds. These days one could compare his
music with Seth Nehil, MNortham or Yannick Dauby. A pity that’s only
one half of a record. (FdW)
Address: http://www.le-souffleur.nl
DE HONDENKOEKJESFABRIEK (DVD-R by De Hondenkoekjesfabriek)
In the past few weeks a small number of releases by De
Hondenkoekjesfabriek were reviewed. Many of these came with small,
weird comic books. But many of the artists on the label (no doubt
just a few people working under different monnikers) are also
involved in performances and video art. This self-burned DVD reflects
a number of these activities. Sometimes they come as straight
documentations of performances such as Mayoman (a guy doing a long
spoken intro, before messing around with mayonaise), the parody of a
TV quiz in The Weak-End Quizz or the event called Total Security (the
audio documentation was reviewed in Vital Weekly 393). Others have
more manipulated documentations, like the static hiss mixed with
performance images of Piediepie and the second Monobrain piece. Way
all out are the animations by Truck Van Rental with a great rhythmic
music piece that fits the music well and the short ‘Les 1’, in which
in animated way the use of vibrator is told, not shown. The piece by
Civic TV/Planet Art eludes me entirely: some sort of hidden camera
shots of a street, a kitchen and a gallery, but I’m clueless what it
is about. Most of the imagery is raw, the dresses are handmade and
likewise raw and weird, and this DVD gives you a much better clue
what this particular part of Dutch counterculture is about. (FdW)
Address: http://www.xs4all.nl/~tellab
DAVID WELLS – OP.3 (3″CDR by The Locus Of Assemblage)
When I reviewed Ryoji Ikeda’s CD ‘Op.’ I rambled about how ‘op’ in
classical music stands for ‘opus’, the latin word for work and
composers being serious about numbering what’s on the opus list,
because that’s the works they like. Anyhow, David Wells, a new name
for me, has according to his rather uninformative website, four works
(‘op 1’ to ‘op 4’), so either he just started out, or had an auto
da-fe on his previous work. ‘Op 3’ is one long drone of processed
radiator hum and water-dripping. half way through the piece there is
a sudden amplification and even a hint of melody comes alive in the
second part of the piece. Really towards the end there is a sudden
change of sound, like white static. Although I am sucker for drone
music, and even when I thought this was ok, I can only say that this
was ok, not great. But not bad either. Good standard drone music.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.assemblage.freeuk.com
PETITE PORTE DE BRONZE – EN TRAVERS DU CHEMIN (CDR by Tonto)
Now here is something which I know nothing about. I never heard of
Petite Porte De Bronze, and the website from the label doesn’t
mention this yet. Except that I got this CDR from someone who has the
same name as my brother (and I am pretty it’s not my brother who made
this). There are in total ten tracks on this release, which are just
over thirty-two minutes. Let me start by saying I liked this release
but I am a bit clueless why I like this. Making music out of skipping
CDs, cable hum and other mistakes that occur in the process of making
music is of course not new since Oval’s second CD, but Petite Porte
Bronze do a nice job turning these ‘mistakes’ into small ambient
textures, with a mild rhythmic undertone, pleasent dissonant keys.
The ten tracks are relatively short and sketch like, almost like they
are not really mixed it’s entire form. This adds a nice rough shape
to them. A well-known path is chosen here, but nevertheless a nice
one indeed.
Address: http://www.tonto.at
MACHINEFABRIEK – XYLOPHONIQUE (3″CDR)
MACHINEFABRIEK – VOOR DE PRULLENBAK (3″CDR)
If you know that Fabriek means ‘factory’ and machine, well means
machine, you could easily think that Machinefabriek is your up the
wall noise outfit. Feedback over machine like rhythms recorded at the
nearest conveyor belt. That is not the case. I can and will describe
what Machinefabriek sound like, but other than that’s one Rutger
Zuydervelt I don’t know anything about Machinefabriek. Maybe the two
releases reflect a kind of audio diary. ‘Xylophonique’ is dated
September 2004 and ‘Voor De Prullenbak’ (meaning ‘for the trashcan’)
is from October 2004.
On the cover of ‘Xylophonique’, there is some sort of diary thing
about Rutger staying in a friend’s house and playing around with a
xylophone, an effectpedal and a bass guitar. And what is not stated
on the cover: his laptop. The xylophone, either in it’s natural
sounding form or transformed plays all sorts of little melodies, with
the bass adding it’s notes when necessary and the polite
transformations on the computer add an intimate and cosy atmosphere.
I am reminded of Sack & Blumm, the Tomlab catalogue or the recent
releases by Plop. Intimate music, sweet and delightful.
No such story on ‘Voor De Prullenbak’, which seems to be less
centered around any theme or instrument at all. Here the computer
manipulations of whatever instruments and sounds are taken a step
further, resulting in a less focussed work, with vague ambient
notions and playfull thoughts, rather than well-worked out ideas.
Less convincing than Xylophonique, but not bad either.
Address: <machinefabriek@chello.nl>