AREK GULBENKOGLU – POINT ALONE (CD by Impermanent Recordings) *
FEAR FALLS BURNING – HE SPOKE IN DEAD TONGUES (2CD by Projekt/Ikon) *
NIELLERADE FALLIBILISTHORSTAR – HALRUM (CD by SNSE Records) *
IOVAE – CIVILIZATION (CD by SNSE Records)
MASTER CONTROL – BLOOD OV THEE CHRIST (CD by Segerhuva) *
GOODIEPAL – MORT AUX VACHES (CD by Staalplaat) *
KOJI ASANO – SPRING ESTUARY (CD by Solstice)
TETUZI AKIYAMA/JASON KAHN – TILL WE MEET AGAIN (CD by For4Ears Records) *
SAMARTZIS/MULLER/VOICE CRACK – WIRELESS_WITHIN (CD by For4Ears Records)
FREDY STUDER/AMI YOSHIDA – DUOS 21-27 (CD by For4Ears Records)
SHANG (CD compilation by Xing Wu Records)
ERIC LA CASA – LES OSCILLATIONS PART 1 – 2 (CD by Fringes Recordings)
PAWEL GRABOWSKI – CIRR’S SONGS (7″ by Drone Records)
S.Q.E. – WAHID (7″ by Drone Records)
TZESNE – HUFFDUFF (7″ by Drone Records)
ANTHONY GUERRA/MATT EARLE – IN (CDR by L’innomable) *
NEGATIVE MESSAGE FROM COLLECTIVE MIND (CDR compilation by Spirals Of Involution)
” “[SIC] GOLDIE – DEFLAG HAEMORRHAE/HAIEN KONTRA (CDR by W.M.o/r) *
DAVID CHIESA/JEAN LUC GUIONNET/LIONEL MARCHETTI/JEROME NOETINGER – SION (CDR by W.M.o/r)
SAKADA – ASKATUTA (CDR by The Rhizome Label)
BJERGA-IVERSEN/SKULLPTURE – SPLIT (CDR by Musically Incorrect Records) *
HAARE/GELSONINA – SPLIT (CDR by Musically Incorrect Records)
DRONES SINCE THE DAWN OF TIME: MUSICALLY INCORRECT COMPILATION VOLUME 4 (CDR by Musically Incorrect Records)
WHITE AGAINST THE SKY – TOUCH (MOCKERY) (CDR by Kovorox Sound)
U-DRIFT 74 – HAVE YOU EVER FELT ALIVE (CDR by Kovorox Sound) *
NOMA – A DRONE POEM IN THREE PARTS (CDR by Kovorox Sound)
AREK GULBENKOGLU – POINT ALONE (CD by Impermanent Recordings)
Vaguely somewhere I think I heard the release by Dworzec on Metonymic, but I would have never realized that Arek Gulbenkoglu (try pronouncing that when drunk) was a member of that. Arek also plays as i.audio and The Nownow, as-well as improvisations with Joel Stern, Will Guthrie and Antony Guerra, to mention a few of his fellow Aussie chums. On his solo CD he plays acoustic and amplified acoustic guitar and ‘preparations’. What is covered on this release is beyond the idea of an acoustic guitar really. Would I have not known this, I would have thought he was playing computer treatments of electro-acoustic objects. How wrong was I. Arek plays the instrument with great care and control. Objects like fans play the side of the instrument, rarely the strings. If the strings are played, it never sustains (and hence it’s not easy to link this to a guitar), except maybe in ‘Point 4’. In ‘Point 3’ and ‘Point 5’, Arek plays around with drone/feedback sounds, perhaps picked up through contact-microphones in close range to the amplifier. Although they are an odd-ball in this release they surely make sense and make this into a varied release, really exploring various possibilities of an extended acoustic guitar. Somewhat similar along the lines of Oren Ambarchi, but pretty strong by itself. (FdW)
Address: http://impermanent.info
FEAR FALLS BURNING – HE SPOKE IN DEAD TONGUES (2CD by Projekt/Ikon)
More ‘just’ guitar records, two in one to be precise. Projekt claims this to be the debut album of Fear Falls Burning, but they then forgot the official tour CD that came out a while ago (see Vital Weekly 463). For the time being Fear Falls Burning is the new alter ego of Dirk Serries, otherwise better known as Vidna Obmana. Away from the complex things that Vidna Obmana (synthesizers, EQ-ing, multi-tracking etc.), he sits down with his guitar in his hands and a bunch of pedals at his feet and strums away. Feeding the sound through phasers, flangers, chorus and what have you (except distortion!), Dirk creates a thick but clear pattern of slowly shifting music. Waving wind over an endless desert, space cowboys floating their space ships or sub-aqua movies of schools of fish: it’s music that fits a lot of dreamy images, but which also stands by itself quite clearly. As noted before his influences are clear (Windy & Carl, Stars Of The Lid, but perhaps also Oren Ambarchi or Ry Cooder), but Fears Falls Burning has enough of it’s own to be his own. But having now heard three of these discs, I can also: where too next? Because I can imagine that this concept is done with these three exercises of it. Beautiful as they are, it seems to me also a bit too limited to be explored in many more releases, unless Dirk comes up with a clever idea, and knowing him, he just might be. (FdW)
Address: http://www.projekt.com
NIELLERADE FALLIBILISTHORSTAR – HALRUM (CD by SNSE Records)
IOVAE – CIVILIZATION (CD by SNSE Records)
Two new releases on SNSE, the Michigan home of more noise related works, although noise might not justly say everything about Niellerade Fallibilisthorstar (what’s in a Swedish name I guess). This is their second full length album, following ‘Hackelsekista’ on Swedish Total Holocaust, and a handful of self-released cassettes and compilations. ‘Halrum’ was recorded in the last four years by Niellerade Fallibilisthorstar, a five piece band. Their instruments are junk metal, home made instruments and a small blend of ‘real’ instruments, samplers and synthesizers I think. Their rattle, bang and trash their way through thirteen pieces, which are all present in one flow. Unlike some of their influences, the obvious Einsturzende Neubauten and New Blockaders, Niellerade Fallibilisthorstar blends the percussive (at times not-rhythmical) elements more with the electronica components, the junk metals sinks back into the electronica and rises up later again. Despite these obvious influences, Niellerade Fallibilisthorstar present a strong album, with their ties in experimental music, but also a bit ritualistic music, not unlike the good ol’ Metgumnerbone.
The previous release by Iovae, aka Ron Orovitz, was reviewed in Vital Weekly 457, which was a raw but pleasant surprise. Other, unheard, releases are on such labels as Drone Disco and American Tapes and Orovitz is also a member of the rock band Death Beam and has a radio program called Art Damage. On ‘Civilization’, his second ‘real’ CD, he explores the use of a customized oscillator stack, which he calls The Grinder. As with ‘Quatervois’, Iovae comes up with a pretty dense and hermetically closed sound. The five pieces are quite lengthy improvisations on his oscillator machine, sometimes leaping into high piercing rhythms and sometimes in a cloud of drones. Just a little bit of other sound effects are used, such as the occasional delay or radio snippet (Ludwig Van’s ‘Ode To Joy’ for instance). Less of surprise than ‘Quatervois’, but still varied enough to fall out of the category of ‘useless noise’ and welcomed in the field of ‘inspired noise with a twist of it’s own’. (FdW)
Address: http://snse.net
MASTER CONTROL – BLOOD OV THEE CHRIST (CD by Segerhuva)
Now that more and more LPs, even the more obscure ones, are available on CD, it’s time to investigate what was released on cassettes twenty years or so ago, and release that on CD. Vinyl On Demand from Germany do an excellent job in this sonic archeology, but Segerhuva also adds their contribution. Even when cassettes were something big for this person twenty years ago, I never heard of Master Control, apparently one Harri Honkaniemis from Sweden. His ‘Blood Ov Thee Christ’ (not to be confused with Nails Ov Christ’s ‘Beat Of The Blood’) was released as a cassette in a small edition on Lilit in 1987. For those who never heard tape releases on Iphar or Broken Flag (and both labels have plenty of tapes waiting for a re-issue on CD!), this music might come as a shock, but if especially Ramleh, MB or the aforementioned Nails Ov Christ belong to your favorites of that time, then this is a must have. Stretched out fields of layered synth sounds, feeding itself through large stacks of sound processors (guitar effects) and more analogue synths, with the addition of cut up sounds on a cracky tape and ‘voice’ samples from hardcore SM movies in lengthy demonic symphonies, then this is the place to be. Certainly summing up the best of that ‘power electronics’, but like said, if this can be re-issued, many more should follow. Master Control is not per se the best of his time, but certainly lived up to its expectations of its time. (FdW)
Address: http://www.segurhuva.se
GOODIEPAL – MORT AUX VACHES (CD by Staalplaat)
Again a great cover: plastic foam, totally pink (three other colors are also available). Music for the shower. Goodiepal is one of those names that I see around a lot, but I could never get my finger behind what Goodiepal is or sound like. So maybe despite many smaller introductions, this is the real first encounter. Staalplaat writes: “The significance of his music is found in other constellations: It is the sound of death. Though death in the form of play. Moving inside these sounds you are confronted by a form of life in which games and funerals are the same thing.” Liner notes are as sufficient unclear, but from the tracktitles I gathered that some of these tracks can be seen as remixes of some kind, with people such as Chupa Chups and Gamers In Exile, as-well as some of his own, although what seems to be a track-list doesn’t necessarily relate the tracks on the CD (which is expanded: on the rom part also a short film, and four MP3s). One things is clear about Goodiepal, and that is that it is all about confusion. Inside the zeroes and ones of his computer, he treats folk music, music from ads, as-well as some of his own doodling and whistling into a weird bunch of sound. Plunderphonica perhaps, anyone? Maybe it is. Glitchy? Only when it comes to technique, it doesn’t like anything such. This music is vague, not in a technical sense, but what it covers. After one has heard the music, one only has a vague notion of what it was about, if anything at all. Goodiepal likes to raises questions and eyebrows. Do I have a clear(er) picture of what it is he’s about? God no, not in a million years. Do I mind? Not really, because what is covered inside this bathing shower object is nice enough, in all it’s apparent vagueness. (FdW)
Address: http://www.staalplaat.com
KOJI ASANO – SPRING ESTUARY (CD by Solstice)
Unlike his previous two releases, Koji Asano returns to releasing a completely new work. Three short tracks, and one that lasts thirty-three minutes. “Water meets other water, and producing new flow. They mix, pulled apart, and comes together again as other flows, makes uncertain source for four music” it reads somewhat cryptic on the press text. No clarification as to what instruments are used for instance, but my best guess is that Asano plays guitar and laptop here. Such is apparent in ‘Spring Estuary III’. The three short tracks are too short to leave any solid impression on the listener, and the fourth is perhaps too long. The long one is a multi-layered piece of obscured sound sources that somehow don’t sound very well, a bit muffled, with piano’s arising from the ocean of sounds. Overall I can’t say that I am too pleased with this. The music comes off without any sense of direction and the recording sounds like a hasty job. Asano can do much better. (FdW)
Address: http://www.kojiasano.com
TETUZI AKIYAMA/JASON KAHN – TILL WE MEET AGAIN (CD by For4Ears Records)
SAMARTZIS/MULLER/VOICE CRACK – WIRELESS_WITHIN (CD by For4Ears Records)
FREDY STUDER/AMI YOSHIDA – DUOS 21-27 (CD by For4Ears Records)
Three new discs of improvisation, three new meetings of well-known improvisers. On the first release guitar player Tetuzi Akiyama meets Jason Kahn, who plays percussion and analogue synthesizer. The first four tracks on the CD were recorded in Zurich, 2003 and are followed by three solo tracks by Akiyama and two solo pieces by Kahn. Akiyama is a careful guitar player, more along the lines of Greg Malcolm than, say, Taku Sugimoto. With Akiyama the guitar sounds like a guitar and he plays his own interpretation of the blues. Kahn subtle additions of percussion and analogue synthesizer are more supportive, and don’t seem to take their own role, but together it’s works really well. It’s a pity that it’s only four, relatively, short pieces. In the solo piece the sparseness of both Kahn solo and Akiyama solo becomes more apparent. Akiyama’s playing is one of guitar sounds, and silences that work the tension-card. Kahn’s ongoing investigation in continuous sound doesn’t need any introduction. Subtle drone music.
As the attentive reader of Vital Weekly already noticed, Voice Crack (the working relation of Andy Guhl and Norbert Möslang) is no more. The recordings on the CD with Philip Samartzis and Günter Müller are, together with the disc they did with Müller and Oren Ambarchi on Audiosphere, among the very final recordings of them, made in July 2002 in Australia. The day previous to this recording, the musicians visited a rain forest in South Australia. That is reflected in this music: not as noise related as some Voice Crack’s previous work (either as a band, and as part of working with other people), but dwells heavily on Samartzis’ laptop processing’s and Müller’s electronica, which form the drone-like backbone of the music. Voice Crack add their own blend of cracked everyday electronics of broken cables, hum and what else they find that works with electricity. Although I haven’t been to a rain forest before, I can imagine it sounds like this. Buzzing undefinable in the background and in the foreground sounds of insects and animals drop in and out, and this is what happens in this music. Small sounds fall out of the air, take shape and move out again. Quite atmospheric music, beautifully shaped.
On the final CD a meeting between percussion player Fredy Studer and Ami Yoshida. This is Studer’s fourth collaboration with woman-improvisers, following works with Robyn Schulkowsky, Jin Hi Kim/Joelle Leandre/Dorothea Schurch and DJ M. Singe, which I haven’t heard. Yoshida’s vocal technique deals with making ‘small sounds with a voice’, like making bird noises, swallowing, clicking etc. She does this with great concentration. To this, Studer, add a fine blend of drums, percussion, cymbals, gong and metal – for each section he carefully selects a few sound sources that fit Yoshida’s voice perfectly. It’s improvisation along the lines of onkyo – carefully, silent, contemplative. Exploring the possibilities of sounds and the interaction with other sounds. Quite demanding music going on here that requires one full attention, otherwise one will be lost. The captivation of this work is only there if the listener totally surrender’s to it’s beauty. (FdW)
Address: http://www.for4ears.com
SHANG (CD compilation by Xing Wu Records)
Music from Malaysia? Sure, why not. For their second release, Xing Wu Records, compiles works of three composers, “old men”, as they call them, who are also co-founders of the EMACM (Experimental Musicians And Artists Cooperative Malaysia). Shang is a Chinese word, in three strokes, meaning something like ‘up’, ‘go’ or ‘to make haste’. An apt title as an introduction to these “old men”. Old? Tham Kar Mun is the oldest and he is in his late 30s. His ‘Confining Abstract In Zero’ consists of six parts, performed with voice and objects. Part 1 is very quiet, with voice whispering and what seems to me rustling of paper. Part 2 on the other hand is extremely loud by comparison, like recorded in a busy street on a windy day. The next two are alike the first part, and the fifth part is a somewhat softer version of the second. It’s hard to tell what is going on here, leaving the reviewer mere speculation. ‘Time Lag’, the sixth part is the most different one, which has crackles throughout and is, dynamics-wise, somewhere in the middle. A strange piece for sure.
Yandsen is involved in the canteen business, runs family life and composed ‘Lines’ for acoustic guitar. A very peaceful piece of music, evolving slowly. Occasional strums and picking, leaving lots of silence. More loud than Taku Sugimoto and less silenced, but played with the same concentration. A meditative piece.
Yeoh Yin Pin is the youngest and he is fascinated by Taoist funerals. His twenty-six minute ‘Funeral’ is entirely built from a field recording of a Chinese-Taoist funeral. It’s a strange piece, certainly if one is not familiar with such funeral rites (like me), which could be a straight forward recording of the events, or otherwise it’s unclear what Yeoh Yin Pin added himself. Strange but captivation enough. (FdW)
Address: http://www.yat.ch/xingwu
ERIC LA CASA – LES OSCILLATIONS PART 1 – 2 (CD by Fringes Recordings)
The man with the microphone: that might be the apt description of Eric La Casa. You find him near the sea, alongside the river or in the shed behind his house: always listening with a microphone, a pair of headphones and means to record the sounds. Over the years he must have collected a great deal of these recordings, and for ‘Les Oscillations part 1 – 2’, he uses in both pieces the same sound material. In part 1 this goes from A to Z, and in part 2 from Z to A: the pieces are mirrored to each-other. If one wouldn’t know this, it would be hard to notice. In a collage form we come across airplanes, water sounds and rain drops, some of which might be processed on the computer, but some may not be. Perhaps none of the sounds are: you never know with La Casa. This is a soundscape in it’s almost purest form, one should just sit back and listen. Let it come like a wave coming to you, near the seaside. Another fine addition to the man’s already extensive discography. (FdW)
Address: http://www.fringesrecordings.com/
PAWEL GRABOWSKI – CIRR’S SONGS (7″ by Drone Records)
S.Q.E. – WAHID (7″ by Drone Records)
TZESNE – HUFFDUFF (7″ by Drone Records)
In the ever expanding world of 7″s Drone Records are now releasing their 72nd, 73rd and 74th 7″ – one should think it’s about time for a box set of CDs collecting them. And as always they find new people to release, some of which have releases on other labels already and some new ones. Music by Pawel Grabowski has been reviewed here. This Polish musician, once a member of Miastro Nie Spalo, now works solo with laptop musics. Here he has two parts of ‘Cirr’s Songs’, which are about a recurring dream about drowning. Drowning not droning, but as the musical outcome it is very much about drone music. Whatever the input might be (field recordings perhaps), the outcome are very beautiful pieces of drone music. Soft, gentle waves of processed sound, with microscopic details at the bottom end of this. The b-side has a slightly more rhythmic touch.
J. Greco is the man behind S.Q.E.. Greco has worked before with Ure Thrall, Kris Force and Alan Trench and word says he’s going into a more song oriented direction on this 7″. ‘Wahid’ means ‘independent’ in Arabic language and is the title track on side A. Here a tabla like rhythm sets the piece in a pseudo-ethnic background, and flutes and guitar sounds play the melodic lines of this piece. Hard to avoid the Rapoon/Muslimgauze connection, but the piece is sufficiently independent of that to have a lot of its own. The b-side has ‘Epitaph 3’, which is less pseudo-ethnical, but deals with reversed cymbal sounds and treated voices, all blended through the use of much reverb. Away with Muslimgauze, but the Rapoon influence is still present somehow. Two contrasting piece, and perhaps not the song orientation that brings him on MTV, but the tight structure of a 7″ works him well.
Tzesne’s was reviewed before (Vital Weekly 461 and 470) and here he moves away from the analogue synthesizers and restricts himself to the sole use of “radio waves and customized software”. It’s not easy to detect these radio waves in this sea of drones. Somewhere far away, it seems indeed that it so, but overall both sides are gentle waving clouds of sounds, in which ‘La Voz Flamante’ (the b-side) is a little bit more present than ‘Enviar Ayuda Ahora’, which hoovers very much on the quiet side of things. Dark atmospheric and drony: they are the keywords to many, many releases on Drone Records, and Tzesne is no different. It’s however one of the more refined additions to the label’s catalogue. (FdW)
Address: http://www.dronerecords.de
ANTHONY GUERRA/MATT EARLE – IN (CDR by L’innomable)
How does ‘nothing’ sound? A question asked ever again, since John Cage put it forward. These two Australians answer by using a small blend of blank media, empty samplers, no input mixers (played here by Matt Earle) and an electric guitar with electronics, although that might very well be just a mixing board, played by Anthony Guerra. The four pieces were recorded, using methods of improvisation between December 2003 and May 2004. They don’t play silent music at all, despite their limited use of blank media. High, feedback like tones in a more or less fast rhythmic connection in the opening piece, and as a continuous high pitched drone piece in the second piece. If an influence springs to mind, it must be that of Sachiko M, who offers similar high pitched sounds, but the ‘guitar’ of Guerra plays very small sounds in an almost inaudible way. Only in the third track this becomes apparent. Certainly not pleasing music, but it’s an essential listening thing for the more adventurous admirer of new improvised music. I think it’s quite nice, yet demanding music. (FdW)
Address: http://linnomable.com
NEGATIVE MESSAGE FROM COLLECTIVE MIND (CDR compilation by Spirals Of Involution)
Russia (or whatever east of Poland it’s called these days) has a strong, growing underground of musicians who dabble around in noise as-well as a wealth of small labels, such as Spirals Of Involution. From a different angle of the world, it’s hard to see what is going on, but ‘Negative Message From Collective Mind’ offers a guide to this uncovered world. It features seventeen artists from Russia and countries around that, and some have had their own releases, such as CD-R, Cisfinitum, Kryptogen Rundfunk, Comforter and Kotra, and others are new to me. However it will not be easy to detect something original in this bunch, as many acts do the same trick: feedback, distortion, cut ups and the occasional use of techno-like rhythms. Esplendor Geometrico and Whitehouse are never far away. There is a great sense of uniform use of sounds here, which makes this quite a coherent compilation, but on the other it’s also difficult to find that one great band that holds the future of noise. Investigators of the genre and/or CDR labels looking for new talent, might find this a most useful guide. Booklet with lots of contact addresses enclosed. (FdW)
Address: http://ether.wasteland.ru/soi
” “[SIC] GOLDIE – DEFLAG HAEMORRHAE/HAIEN KONTRA (CDR by W.M.o/r)
DAVID CHIESA/JEAN LUC GUIONNET/LIONEL MARCHETTI/JEROME NOETINGER – SION (CDR by W.M.o/r)
SAKADA – ASKATUTA (CDR by The Rhizome Label)
Two new releases on the W.M.o/r label, run by Mattin, and he plays on one of them, being the one by the oddly called ” “[sic] Goldie. He or she is a drummer, who also plays occasionally bird whistle, chain, voice and disc. Mattin plays guitar, computer feedback and voice on a few tracks. All tracks are recorded during improvisations in 2003, except track twelve, which is also not credited to the artist, but says ‘Field Recording At Huntingdon Life Sciences 1997’. The first few tracks sound relatively normal in terms of improvisation, but once he starts adding bird whistle, things become extremely noise related, with lots of feedback, cable hum and hectic distorted drumming. Beyond this point, track seven or so into this release, things are furious as hell. With sixteen tracks it’s a bit long for such a chaotic and heavy release, but lovers of true free-jazz noise know to appreciate this in its entire length. I prefer a smaller doses at certain times.
The other release is by David Chiesa (contrabass and objects), Jean-Luc Guionnet (organ and saxophone), Lionel Marchetti (who plays ‘diverse instruments’ and the untranslatable ‘dispositif electroacoustique’) and Jerome Noetinger, who plays the same untranslatable thing, but if you ever saw both, you know they incorporate a lot of feedback sounds. This CDR clocks in just under eighty minutes and if you think this long, you need to realize this is an edit of a concert that lasted four hours (whatever happened to releases on DAT?). Excuse le francais, but if I understand the liner notes correctly, the musician sat in different places (i.e. not together) in this concert, which was held in a church in the Swiss place Sion (in November 2001, mind you). As you can imagine from such a lengthy affair, even in an edited form, this is not easy to digest stuff. The longer fragments of sparsely orchestrated noise are the ones I like best. Somewhere in the middle there is such as an excerpt, of minimal feedback tones and what seems to be objects falling to the ground. Here things work best in terms of organized improvisation. When the going gets rough, the noise sort of leaves me a bit unsatisfied. Collisions of harsh tones is something that I perhaps encountered often enough, and don’t make that big of an impression. This release is best enjoyed by sitting back, pay attention, but not thoroughly, more like taking a hot bath. You dive and after a while you forgot you are in there.
Mattin related is his release on The Rhizome Label as Sakada. In this trio Mattin plays computer feedback, Xabier Erkizia plays computer and accordion and AMMan Eddie Prevost plays percussion. This is their second release with Erkizia, before Rosy Parlane was a member. The two pieces, one forty-four minutes in length, the other just under five, were recorded two years ago, and the first is a beautiful exercise in high pitched sounds, coming from all three players (as Prevost frequently strings his cymbals) but as the piece develops, things become more ‘musical’, in a sense that percussive sounds are percussive sounds and that the accordion can be recognized as such. It’s hard to avoid any AMM influences in here, which are plenty, but throughout it’s a pretty intense and unique listening experience, with lots of attention for the smaller details. The second piece, probably the encore, is a bit weird, not just for it’s length. It’s a pretty random piece of music, almost like a sound-check, ending in various spoken words (which aren’t to be understood). Nice release throughout. (FdW)
Address: http://www.mattin.org
BJERGA-IVERSEN/SKULLPTURE – SPLIT (CDR by Musically Incorrect Records)
HAARE/GELSONINA – SPLIT (CDR by Musically Incorrect Records)
DRONES SINCE THE DAWN OF TIME: MUSICALLY INCORRECT COMPILATION VOLUME 4 (CDR by Musically Incorrect Records)
More Musically Incorrect Records, although the content is not always a strikingly incorrect thing, as many of their releases hoover nicely along the lines of experimental music. Such as the split by Bjerga/Iversen and Skullpture. The ongoing collaboration between Bjerga/Iversen is here ready with part three of The Lighthouse Tapes: “All things Bright And Beautiful”. Iversen plays ‘electonics’ and effects and Bjerga ‘ampilied’ objects and effects. In this long piece they gently improvise their way through scratching, moving and rubbing objects, while feeding them to the maggots of electricity, in an atmospherical setting (two candles and a bunch of LEDs lit the entire room, I imagine, while outside the wind can be heard at Norway’s Southernmost point). This collaboration is finally growing and growing. Skullpture is a different bunch. They improvise on guitars and feed them through the lines of distortion and delays. Also slightly atmospheric, but much more raw and untamed than those of Bjerga/Iversen and more along the lines of some of the New Zealand lo-fi improvisers. Nice, but a bit long.
The other is also a split release, by two Finnish bands, who, besides presenting two tracks of their own, each have a track in which they use sounds of the others. With this release we enter the world of noise, as the differences between both bands are only marginal. They both use sound effects to a great extent, banging on metal, and add feedback throughout, all in a more or less random, chaotic improvised way. Will surely aim the die-hard fan of the genre, but I have my doubt about this. It’s ok, but no more than just ok.
On their fourth compilation, Musically Incorrect Records comes up with the cross-overs of noise and ambient. Only Skullpture and Flutwacht ring bells here, the other four are new names to me. Flutwacht is the most noisy around this lot, AM the best rocky (post-rocky? no, more along the lines of Skullflower), whereas the others move along the lines of ambient music meeting noise, sometimes subdued and careful like Grey Park and Half Mile Down. Closing pieces by Crossbred (‘two girls from Japan’), are the most melodic pieces around: explosions in the cosmos, captured by a bunch of analogue synths. Psychedelic and free-floating, they are the prizewinners of this compilation. (FdW)
Address: http://mir.blogdns.com
WHITE AGAINST THE SKY – TOUCH (MOCKERY) (CDR by Kovorox Sound)
U-DRIFT 74 – HAVE YOU EVER FELT ALIVE (CDR by Kovorox Sound)
NOMA – A DRONE POEM IN THREE PARTS (CDR by Kovorox Sound)
Kovorox Sound is the name label by Lea Cummings, one half of guitar-abuse unit Opaque. The label’s website doesn’t unfortunaly tell us much about the projects they are releasing, leaving the innocent reviewer in the dark. Like White Against The Sky, whohe you may ask, with his ‘Touch (Mockery)’. He plays guitar that’s for sure. One long track, thirty-four minutes and some seconds, of a large wall (like those in a mediaeval castle, not y’r living room cardboard wall) of guitar sounds, feeding through this endless line of distortion pedals. Troum meets Earth. Surely, this must be one of Opaque’s members, as it sounds very familiar; Great I hasten to add, but familiar. Play loud is not written on the cover, but that’s my recommendation.
Behind U-Drift 74 is one J.L. Cummings, probably related to the labelowner in some way or the other. Drones play an important role here too, but on a totally different level. In the five pieces the drones are more subtle, but also more static and less changing throughout the course of a piece. More Alvin Lucier than Troum and more Hafler Trio than Earth, I guess. Maybe played on a set of small keyboards, but slightly treated and layered, creating resonances which become apparent when played loud. Moving through your space will alter the sound drastically. Quite a nice release. Performed with care and a keen ear for small changes.
Behind Noma is one John Cromar. His ‘A Drone Poem In Three Parts’ is subtitled ‘Womb music – based on Schopenhauer and Currie’. Things are grim here, with track titles as ‘Disease’, ‘Terminal Decline’ and ‘Back To That Before’. They are long pieces: twice twenty-five minutes and once fifteen. The differences with U-Drift 74 are only marginal. Again slowly evolving drone, played on what seems to me a set of lo-fi sound generators. The music takes an even slower course than U-Drift 74, but the prize-winner here is ‘Back To That Before’, which comes, again, off a fine cross-over between Lucier and Hafler, but played elegantly, moving the listener to an altered state of whatever consciousness. (FdW)
Address: http://www.kovoroxsound.com
Correction: Steve Roden didn’t invent the term microsound, but coined ‘lowercase’ for his work and subsequentely it was used as a name tag by others.