MORCEAUX_DE_MACHINES – ESTRAPADE (CD by No Type)
MARTIN TETREAULT & OTOMO YOSHIHIDE – GRRR (CD by Ambiances Magnetiques)
KATTOO : PLACES (CD by Hymen)
GUM – VINYL ANTHOLOGY (2CD by 23Five)
A MONUMENTAL STRUGGLE OF GOOD VS. EVIL (CD compilation by Privatelektro)
ROMVELOPE – ONE COURSE MEAL (CD by Adaadat)
KIYOSHI MIZUTANI & DANIEL MENCHE – SONG OF JIKE (CD by Niko Records)
DENSHIZATSON 8 (Magazine & 2CD compilation by MSBR Records)
PIERRE ANDRE ARCAND – ATLAS EPILEPTIC (2CD by Ambiances Magnetiques)
SMPLR #1 (CDR by Esc. Rec.)
LIQUID SPHERE – HAMMER OF WISDOM (CDR by L.S.I.)
THRESHOLD OF HEARING/THRESHOLD OF PAIN (4CDR compilation by Mimeograph)
MATT DAVIS/GRAHAM HALLIWELL (CDR by Absurd)
DEAD ROADS – HOWLIN’ GHOST PROLETARIANS (CDR by Absurd)
KLIMPEREI – LA TORDEUSE A BANDES OBLIQUES (CD by Absurd)STORM OF CAPRICORN – A SECRET TO SHARE (MP3 by Cauldron Music)
IN SILENCE WE PRAY – HEAVY RAIN (MP3 by Cauldron Music)
MORCEAUX_DE_MACHINES – ESTRAPADE (CD by No Type)
MARTIN TETREAULT & OTOMO YOSHIHIDE – GRRR (CD by Ambiances Magnetiques)
If I am not mistaken (and usually I am) this might be the third CD by Canada’s noise duo Morceaux_De_Machines, aka Erick D’Orion and A Dontigny, but here they are guested by Diane Labrosse (with whom Dontigny already made a CD), Otomo Yoshihide and Martin Tetreault. They play on some of the live tracks on this album. Morceaux_De_Machines are, I think, best described as a live-improv musique concrete noise outfit. They use records, cds, electronics and computers and cook up a steamy mix of cut ‘n paste sounds, taking apart the exisiting sounds (of vinyl, of cds) and putting them in this huge blender called mixingboard and effects and rather go for the louder and nastier elements, than say, something smooth and soft. It was hard to tell that there were live tracks on this CD (I read the liner notes usually afterwards), but in hindsight, I think the stuido pieces are a bit concetrated and denser and the live pieces something more loosely structured. There is a certain Merzbow influence to be detected here, but than of the ‘Memorial Gadgets’ period (late 80s Merzbow). Overall a nice work, but at over seventy-five minutes also a lenghty experience. More = more seems to be their point. Nice one anyway.
The same Otomo Yoshihide and the same Martin Tetreault toured Europe in the springtime 2003, playing fifteen concerts in sixteen days, under which one I saw at Extrapool. Of course every concert was recorded and the results are thematically organised for release. ‘GRRR’ contains the noise aspects of the concerts, and to be released are ‘Tok’ with the more fragmented stuff and ‘Ahhh’ with the more smoother moments. Both Yoshihide and Tetreault play turntable and objects. As indicated this is indeed a disc full (very full at seventy four minutes) of noise. Yet, I am altogether not very sure if this was a good idea. In a concert situation the two go in one concert from loud to fragmented to soft and back again. That makes the concert by Tetreault and Yoshihide to a breathtaking experience. But when they cut out, say all the noise elements of all concerts and isolate them on one CD, it’s a different thing. It may appeal to noise-fans alike, but for me (not always a noise fan) it was simply too much. I rather had one CD documentating all the various aspects of duo, the best moments of every concert. (FdW)
Address: http://www.notype.com
Address: http://www.actuellecd.com
KATTOO : PLACES (CD by Hymen)
Under his solo-project Kattoo, Volker Kahl (member of cutting edge electronica-band Beefcake) takes the listener on a quite interesting trip to eleven different landscapes of sonic brilliance with the debut album titled “Places”. The album stylishly floats in familiar soundspheres to the Beefcake-project, which means flowing, cinematic soundscapes of moody, mellow, beautiful and ugly atmospheres. Musically Kattoo first of all belongs to the dark techno-scene but during the 60+ minutes joyride, Mr. Kahl comes around a number of different expressions. On the rhythm-side we are confronted with breakbeats ranging from relaxed drum’n’bass to a more aggressive sort of rhythmic workout. Moody ambientscapes creates the melodic touch mean while, a mass of voice-samples and cinematic sound clips makes the album sound like a movie soundtrack. There is an excellent use of sampled orchestration giving an almost symphonic feeling on the album. Overall this is a very nice album for the adventurous listener. (NMP)
Address: http://www.klangstabil.com/hymen
GUM – VINYL ANTHOLOGY (2CD by 23Five)
Long before DJs were the superstars (and why they are, I am still trying to figure out), working with vinyl as musical material was something that was delt with by the more experimental musicians. That was long before anyone thought of ‘turntablism’. The use of vinyl goes back to just before the second World War when John Cage started working with them. In the old cassette days of the eighties, vinyl was used, maybe, but I’m guessing here, as a poor man’s medium: no instruments were required, just a record and means to record the result on. Non and Christian Marclay are the best known musicians in the 80s working this way. Australia’s Andrew Curtis stuck notes in record stores in Melbourne, seeking people to form a band, and only one person responded: Philip Samartzis (the latter now known for his releases on Staalplaat, Dorobo and Dr. Jim). Curtis and Samartzis called their musical project Gum and they started to work with old turntables and likewise old records and if we are to believe Jim Haynes’ liner notes, this was by accident. Samartzis had a bad copy of an Eno record and it skipped. Gum produced two LP’s and were twice featured on 7″s (one on RRR’s ‘Testament’ boxset and a split 7″ for Korm Plastics). Now this entire lot, plus a couple of unreleased tunes, aswell as one live track, are released on this double CD. This sums up the entire history of Gum and it’s good to hear all of this again (haven’t played the records in ages!). Gum deals with both the musical content of vinyl aswell as the material of vinyl. Crackles and surface noise became as much music as the locked musical grooves of the record they are using. Each of the tracks is a minimal set of tunes, with a more destructive edge to it than say the lush turntable preparations of say Philip Jeck. Gum, named after an SM magazine, uses sometimes taped voices from sex films, but it’s always hard to notice it somewhere, except in the surprising more musical ‘1-800-GUM’. Fans of Jeck, Yoshihide or Schaeffer wondering what the roots of these musicians are, should definetly check Gum out. It’s defintely a true archeological music source to them. (FdW)
Address: http://www.23five.org
A MONUMENTAL STRUGGLE OF GOOD VS. EVIL (CD compilation by Privatelektro)
Compilations are a nightmare for reviewing? And what if they are with a nightmareish title like this one? On other hand, compilations can be a great collections of music. In this case it’s a nice introduction to lots of new names for me, lots of interesting musical surprises. Of all the artists I recognize only [sic] aka Jen Morris. Her track has a slight abstract industrial touch. The track by Parachute is a kind of post-glitch ambient developing to drone till the end. Manami N. vs. Triphaze use a vocal with the glitchy electronics. Maybe a bit tricky thing with this compilation is the general common sound of all the artists, all are in a general edgy ambient areas, experimental, music for listening, no electro dancing here, don’t let the label’s name full you. No stand-out tracks, but all good. Harsher tracks are from Klaswar and Stefan Goetsch, while moments of pure ambient bliss are by Harold Nono and c:\. The others are: Everest, Rev. Benn Schipper, Dead Fish Audio (fiat rmx) and Triphaze. It would be interesting to hear more music from these less known names. (BR)
Address: http://www.privatelektro.de
ROMVELOPE – ONE COURSE MEAL (CD by Adaadat)
Romvelope used to be Kema Keur (but I expect that is only funny to my fellow Dutch readers) and is Adaadat’s co-founder Bjorn Hatleskog. If you paid attention in the last weeks, I reviewed a compilation on that label before and this mayhem is now continued on this CD by Romvelope. Aided by MC Kanboija, Lazy Susan, Utai Hirokawa, Libby Floyd, Ommm, Eraser99, DJ Shabushabu and Gavin – all of them on vocals – this is also mayhem taken into popmusic territory. Romvelope freely quotes (or samples? – who knows) such diverse popmusic styles such as RnB, electronica, techno or hip-hop, but effectively messes around with all of these notions and comes with his own free style, his own blend of popmusic. It’s all a tad bit too weird to be on any chart sometimes soon, but given the right video clip (animation me thinks) and the right exposure on MTV it could all happen very soon. With fifteen tracks this is a lenghty affair though and some tiredness leaps in. Keeping this at thirty minutes, meaning the perfect popalbum length, this could be a great pop LP. For the fans of Donna Summer and Felix Kubin alike. (FdW)
Address: http://www.adaadat.com
KIYOSHI MIZUTANI & DANIEL MENCHE – SONG OF JIKE (CD by Niko Records)
DENSHIZATSON 8 (Magazine & 2CD compilation by MSBR Records)
This is the second release by Kiyoshi Mizutani (one time collaborator of Merzbow) and Daniel Menche, following ‘Garden’ on Auscultare Research (see Vital Weekly 400), and like ‘Garden’ this is based on field recordings made in a village called Jike Yokohama. These recordings were made by Mizutani and Menche adds a cello, acoustic guitar and an antique phonograph player to the scene. Two tracks here were mixed by Mizutani and one by Menche. The first piece, by Mizutani, is a strange affair: the dry field recordings are only occassionally intercepted by a likewise cello drone and towards the end vinyl crackles sounding like crickets. Much more dense is the mix Menche did. He ‘thickens’ the material by layering various field recordings over each other and adding bits of sound effects. Despite the density of the recordings, Menche creates a very minimal mix too, but one that has more musical events than the first Mizutani piece. The third piece, again by Mizutani, but here with more additions of ‘other’ sounds, such as the rumblings of metal. Again a very peaceful piece of music. All three tracks are very subtle, even with some of Menche’s more piercing sounds half way through his piece, and minimal. Probably just as peaceful as sitting in Japanese garden.
From the same source I also received the latest issue of Denshizatson magazine, number 8. This magazine is all in Japanese, so a bit hard for me to read. But the first part is filled with reviews of concerts in Japan by such people as Whitehouse, Af Ursin, Bastard Noise, Slogun, Con-Dom and Genocide Organ. The bigger second half is filled with reviews of current releases, aswell as a ‘Back To 1980s’ section: an introduction mainly the UK, US and German underground of that period. Most interesting is however the double CD that comes with this issue. One CD is the general Denshizatson release, and one is a labelsampler for the Austrian Steinklang label. Many of the old school industralists appear here, like Con-Dom, Genocide Organ or Sickness and they are absolutely fine to hear again. However the finer pieces on this compilation come from people such as Af Ursin (with a beautiful drone piece), Jim O’Rourke’s meaner drones or Sightings free rock experience. Unfortunally the Steinklang sampler had just old school industrial and likewise darker than dark gothic pieces to offer by such bands as Legion Condor, Allerseelen, Sektion B, Rasthof Dachau, Viron and Radio Murmansk, to name but a few of those pleasent people. (FdW)
Address: http://www.mountainoceansun.com
Address: http://www.msbr.com
PIERRE ANDRE ARCAND – ATLAS EPILEPTIC (2CD by Ambiances Magnetiques)
The name of Pierre Andre Arcand is to me an old one, one from the time I was serving beer at an arts-centre. Arcand participated in one exhibition with a piece by telephone. Over the years I have been pleasentely surprised by his work, which is really something that crosses the territory of art and music, but also crosses soundpoetry and mechanical music. Much of his works deals with loops, repeating sounds. Usually, per piece, he has a bunch of the same loops running back and forth, but through some sort of system, these loops are in constant, but subtle decay. Maybe nowadays this decay comes from a self-built Max/msp patch; at least the cover indicates such a thing. On the video CD that comes with this package we see how this works out visually. Some of these films are short, consisting of one line, and last only a couple of seconds. Others multiply the image and a genius play arises of the various mutations of the image. The music here seems new, and this is not the visual component of the audio CD. Over the years Arcand has built a small but strong oeuvre of similar works, which sounds unlike anything else in the field of sound poetry – at least to my knowledge. ‘Atlas Epileptic’ is the strongest work to date and perhaps also the most complete one, for it’s combination of audio and video. (FdW)
Address: http://www.actuellecd.com
SMPLR #1 (CDR by Esc. Rec.)
Although this is Esc. Rec. sampler #1, this is not really the first release by Esc.Rec. That was the most curious ‘J’ee Haw’ release and the remix double CDR thereof. But now the label moved from Rotterdam to rural Deventer and releases this compilation as a showcase of forthcoming releases. Eleven tracks by eleven bands (I think, maybe there is somebody who works under a variety of names) of which I know #slo-fi (sometimes known as ~slo-fi or /slo-fi). The compilation opens with a couple of intelligent dance musics by acts such as Marius, Radion, Dreamspeed and Parkside, the latter incorporating a nice bunch of vocals too. All of these can be classified under the banner of Warp. #slo-fi’s straight forward techno track breaks the release and after that things get more varied with some more experimental material by Maga or the happy hardcore by Toxic Chicken. A nice compilation with some fine music and a most promising start for this label. (FdW)
Address: http://www.escrec.com
LIQUID SPHERE – HAMMER OF WISDOM (CDR by L.S.I.)
The follow up to ‘Hypcrazy 2 & 3’, reviewed in Vital Weekly 418, sees a continuation of the Liquid Sphere sound: the heavily processed drones and field recordings, all in a setting of dark electronics. I detect in some pieces, such as ‘Freedom With A Blindfold’ or ‘Serve The Purpose’ some more noisy elements than before. Maybe some of the tracks are a bit too lenghty for the material they have on offer. Some of the ideas are maybe a bit too simple to be really working well on the limited amount of sound material. Things work best when kept shorter, me thinks. Again, nice but nothing beyond the ordinary. (FdW)
Address: http://www.membres.lycos.fr/zuhll
THRESHOLD OF HEARING/THRESHOLD OF PAIN (4CDR compilation by Mimeograph)
Sometimes things are pretty clear, like with this. “Threshold Of Hearing/Threshold Of Pain” pretty much sums up what this is about. This 4CDR set documents two evenings in Seattle by a group of artists. One night they set out to play very soft and one night was to be very loud. I assume all of these artists are the usual suspects of ‘boys with toys’, erm ‘gentlemen with computers’. Even without cranking the volume up too much, the two discs of the Threshold part, are pretty loud. Of the seven pieces only the piece by Steve Barsotti on disc two is pretty soft. In the pieces by Vance Galloway and Model 563 things get pretty nasty, frequencywise. Absolutely way above threshold. Likewise something similar can be said of the two ‘Pain’ discs. Do not expect some over the top laptop Merzbow frenzy in these pieces. At their very best the are semi-distorted cracks, embedded in a field of feedback. For these people it seems that ‘threshold’ and ‘pain’ are never far away. The artists (also included are Mateo Chavez, Jake Elliott, inBoil and Watfix) work on the fringes of electro-acoustic music, field recordings and ‘pure’ computersounds. Microsound it is, loud or soft. (FdW)
Address: http://www.mimeograph.net
MATT DAVIS/GRAHAM HALLIWELL (CDR by Absurd)
DEAD ROADS – HOWLIN’ GHOST PROLETARIANS (CDR by Absurd)
KLIMPEREI – LA TORDEUSE A BANDES OBLIQUES (CD by Absurd)
Three new releases by the ever so active and musically expanding Absurd Records, from Greece. The first release is by Matt Davies and Graham Halliwell, respectively on trumpet/field recordings and saxophone/amplified feedback. Their duet was recorded in April 2003 at the Old School House in Norwich. The three pieces captured here are quite intense, ranging from the usual inaudible onkyo style to more meaner textures of feedback and saxophone/trumpet howls. Although it must be said that the playing of both instruments is more the recent Dorner type of playing and it’s hard to recognize it as a saxophone. Quite nice music, along the lines of much of the Grob or Erstwhile releases, even when the electronica side of things is fairly remote here. Intensely improvised music with a lot of attention required.
Dead Roads is the duo of Fabrice Eglin (guitar, amp, walkman) and Michel Henritzi (guitar, amp, lapsteel). Eglin before worked with people like Jerome Noetinger and Benjamin Renard and Henritzi is the man of the Dustbreeders aswell as the A Bruit Secret label. Their eight pieces recorded in Metz this year are dedicated to Rowland Howard (formerly working with Lydia Lunch and Birthday Party, if I remember correctely). In a way you could say they play blues music, but one of a very free style. Strumming guitars, playing free notes and attacking the guitar with motor driven objects, they rock freely through these pieces. Apart from some reverb used on these pieces, they all sound natural dry. A bit far away, giving these pieces a spatial, almost desert like quality. Alienated music from and for deserted places. Cowboy music.
Klimperei is a name that has been around for ages, but somehow I never got around hearing it very well, maybe for the odd compilation here and there. For some reason I always think of Klimperei of children like songs, I don’t know why this is, but in the case of ‘La Tordeuse A Bandes Sonores’ this is also true: it was recorded for the first birthday of Maria Amaryllis. Klimperei play no less than twenty-eight tunes here, most of them lasting under two minutes. Playing piano, glockenspiel, maybe an organ and a guitar somewhere. Or maybe the whole thing consists of sampled instruments, including the complete Orff instruments for children. Sweet, dreamy music, no offensive note insight. Just like with the recent ‘Music For Baby’ (see Vital Weekly 451), it is of course hard to guess whether children will really like this sort of music, but I am sure they will. It’s way way better than much of the children’s version of house music that is being played in kindergarten these days. This CD by Klimperei should be its alternative and the world would be a better place, I think. And with those tinkling bells here and there, it’s at the same time another perfect alternative christmas tune aswell. (FdW)
Address: http://www.anet.gr/absurd
STORM OF CAPRICORN – A SECRET TO SHARE (MP3 by Cauldron Music)
IN SILENCE WE PRAY – HEAVY RAIN (MP3 by Cauldron Music)
Good to spend time reviewing listening kind of music, after a partying night with high-energy high-bpm drum’n’bass. Cauldron Music is another French label, another example of the vitality of today’s French music scene. I don’t know more about who Storm Of Capricorn is/are, but I guess from the site’s web address it’s a French project, and if interested you can check the site for more info about the people. A Secret To Share is an EP that presents an interest in dark ambient, atmospheric, neoclassical elements combined in the music. Few voice/talking samples appear sometimes, but often they’re in the background and not very recognizable. Perhaps those samples have to do something with the American president Kennedy who’s photo is on the cover, but I’m not sure and it doesn’t make a difference to me concerning the music. It’s a mix of lo-fi atmospherics (often droney) combined with sounds of classical instruments which are most noticeable in the first track, and the mentioned samples. Ambient going to drone of a more obscure kind. Nice release and a good platform for creating more music in that style.
The drone moments are even more obviously there in the first 8-minute track of the Heavy Rain EP by In Silence We Pray. Very good stretched-out drone composition, a mix of electronic atmospheric bass, some silent crack-sounds like treated field recordings, plus a little lo-fi and obscure again. The second track, called Heavy Rain 02, is different. It has a cinematic soundtrack fell through it, of a better, more interesting kind. An obscure field recording of rain falling down goes from start to end in the 5 minutes, and it’s changing slightly. Some blurry voice samples appear once, who knows what about. Again, interesting release and more can be done in the same style, specially like track 01. (BR)
Address: http://www.cauldron.fr.st and http://www.storm-of-capricorn.fr.st