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VITAL WEEKLY
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number 542
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week 36
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Vital Weekly, the webcast: as an experiment
for the time being, we offering a weekly webcast, freely to download.
This can be regarded as the audio-supplement to Vital Weekly.
Presented as a radioprogramm with excerpts of just some of the
CDs (no vinyl or MP3) reviewed. It will remain on the site for
a limited period (most likely 2-4 weeks). Download the
file to your MP3 player and enjoy!
complete tracklist here: http://www.vitalweekly.net/podcast.html
you can subscribe to the weekly broadcast using the following
rss feed:
http://www.harmlog.nl/vitalfeed.asp
New broadcasts will be sent directly when uploaded. For more information
on
podcasts go here: http://ipodder.sourceforge.net/
* noted are in this week's podcast
OOIOO TAIGA (CD by Thrill Jockey)
TV POW - TV POW PRESENTS MICHAEL HARTMAN TODD A. CARTER BRENT
GUTZEIT AS TV POW (CD by Southport) *
TELEVISION POWER ELECTRIC 3 ARGIIINDAR (CD by Arteleku)
SETH - THE GREEN MORNING (CD by Digitalis Industries)
TIRATH SINGH NIRMALE - BLUSTER, CRAGG & AWE (CD by Digitalis
Industries) *
RAFAEL TORAL - SPACE (CD by Staubgold) *
PAUL WIRKUS - DEFORMATION PROFESSIONELLE (CD by Staubgold)
FLIM OHNE TITEL, 1916 (CD by Plinkity Plonk) *
DANIEL MENCHE - CREATURES OF CADENCE (CD by Crouton Music/Longbox
Recordings) *
KK NULL & DANIEL MENCHE - RAIJIN (CD by Asphodel)
TRIO VOPÁ - FAUXPAS (CD by Schraum) *
EARZUMBA - BESTIA INFERNAL (CD by Dialsinfin) *
CONSOR - MESANTROPIA (CD by Creaked Records)
FORREST FANG & CARL WEINGARTEN - INVISIBILITY (CD by The Foundry)
*
PETER REHBERG KAPOTTE MUZIEK BY (mCD by Korm Plastics) *
DEAD MACHINES LIVE AT TZOMPANTLI (LP by Eclipse)
ALOG - JUST RECORDING (LP by En/Of)
OREN AMBARCHI & MARTIN NG - FATELESS (DVD by Asphodel)
SCOTT FOUST - THE FOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS (DVD-R by Pineapple Tapes)
FREIBAND - ALL IN A DAY'S WORK (Cassette by Pineapple Tapes) *
BERTIN - JOYEUX (CDR, private) *
PBK/ADAM MOKAN (split CDR by Cohort Records) *
SWUNG - VOICE AND KEY (3"CDR by Pseudo Arcana) *
OOIOO TAIGA (CD by Thrill Jockey)
Album number five for these Japanese girls fronted by Yoshimi
P-we of Boredoms fame. Over the years they've become more and
more of a band, and this album even portrays them as a real rock
band, with drums and guitars and the whole package. A pretty messy
rock band it still is of course, but for some reason it's not
the instrumentation or the structures of the 'songs' that are
the exciting theme here anymore as they were before. It is the
collective singing that are the highlights of most of these tracks,
ranging from maddening shrieks to pretty all-girl choruses. In
the past they were a pretty singular unit that was hard to pinpoint.
Now it's all jazz, rock, jazz rock, reggae, house and new wave
references, mixed up in a varied bag together with some unwanted
links to the whole bunch-of-people-jamming-in-the-woods scene.
It's the compelling variation of each track (and within each track)
that avoids it from becoming too much of anything though, and
each twist and turn adds to the confusion and enjoyment. It seems
the central concept of OOIOO is celebration, so hearing them freaking
out on bongos or steel drums doesn't matter as it's all for party
reasons and for The Groove. (RM)
Address: http://www.thrilljockey.com
TV POW - TV POW PRESENTS MICHAEL HARTMAN
TODD A. CARTER BRENT GUTZEIT AS TV POW (CD by Southport)
TELEVISION POWER ELECTRIC 3 ARGIIINDAR (CD by Arteleku)
Now this is really something, subtle laptop pranksters TV Pow
are back after some time away with a new album for Chicago jazz
label Southport. And it's based mostly around the piano. A real
one. For most of these tracks that means some unexpected prettiness,
like a soft-focus AMM, interspersed with some delicate instrumentation.
They each play the piano on different tracks, and the other ones
are mainly credited for computer, but there's nothing much digital
to be found here. It's all pretty serious quiet improv stuff.
Things get started only on the last track, "Sweating Just
Sitting Here", on which there are no computers at all. Nor
that ever-present piano that was so present in the first four
tracks. The natural drones & scenes created by organs, bells,
shakers and some other traditional instruments sounds like fellow
Chicagoans/friends Town & Country recording for Erstwhile
Records. Not a bad thing at all.
Television Power Electric is a name used for when the three TV
Pow boys end up recording some stuff with other people, who are
different for each recording. This time it's Xabier Erkizia and
Inigo Telletxea, two musicians from Spain where this was also
recorded in Bera, october 2004. This stays much closer to home,
with some typical digital short-circuit drone storytelling, even
when the piano (though this time probably not the grand sort that
they had in Chicago) pops up again at the end. It's nice to hear
this in connection with the Southport disc, as a sort of analog/digital
differentiation of how this group approaches improv tactics. Personally,
I got more excited by this disc then the piano-driven endeavor,
but both show two great sides of one of the longest standing laptop
ensembles. (RM)
Address: http://www.chicagosound.com
Address: http://www.arteleku.net
SETH - THE GREEN MORNING (CD by Digitalis
Industries)
TIRATH SINGH NIRMALE - BLUSTER, CRAGG & AWE (CD by Digitalis
Industries)
These two new releases by Digitalis Industries both deal with
drone music, yet they sound quite wide apart. Of the two, the
one by seht, also known as Stephen Clover, is the more traditional
sounding. Hailing from New Zealand, and having more than a dozen
releases on labels such as Last Visible Dog and Celebrate Psi-Phenomenon,
this new one 'The Green Morning' is his third real CD. It's hard
to say what seth uses, instrument wise, but we are promised this
is a very minimal line up. Perhaps an organ and some effects,
and perhaps some sort of computer processing? Who knows, maybe
it's even less. The end result is of course that what matters
here, and that is quite nice. Very much along the lines of the
UK counterparts such as Mirror and Monos and with a strong nod
towards William Basinski, mainly due the somewhat grainy sound
he uses. Seth uses many layers of sound, which he peals off and
show us during the course of the piece. He shows us a bit, then
shows another bit, then the first bit again, slightly changed
and then a third part and so on. Changes are of course minimal
and sparse, but throughout it all sounds great. In terms of drone
music perhaps nothing much news under the sun, but Seth created
some very solid pieces of drone music.
I don't I ever reviewed the self-titled LP by John Clyde-Evans
on Fisheye. Which is a pity since it's a great album. I can't
remember when it was released, perhaps eight or so years ago,
but it was an absolutely great album of acoustic drone music.
Clyde-Evans also played with Hood but then stopped doing music
for about seven years and turned to Sikhism, and changed his name
to Tirath Singh Nirmala. When he received some free software from
Neil Campbell (of Vibracathedral Orchestra fame) he started working
again, and released a whole bunch of CDRs since then. 'Bluster,
Cragg & Awe' is the first non CDR release, picking the best
tracks of the CDRs. Like Seth Nirmale plays drone music, but as
said of an entirely different nature. The computer allows Nirmale
to staple clear sounds on top of each other and play them around,
mixing them, allowing them to shift out of phase and such like.
Nirmale chooses various instruments, such as guitars, percussion,
flutes, violins but also voices to create music that is not as
thickly layered as Seth's, but a much more open form of drone
music, with ethnic influences, such as raga music. Sometimes more
sparsely than any other in the field of drone music, such as in
'Sehaj', this opens windows to the progress of drone music, taking
it further. Definitely a great CD and hopefully not the last one
for another seven years of silence. (FdW)
Address: http://www.digitalisindustries.com
RAFAEL TORAL - SPACE (CD by Staubgold)
PAUL WIRKUS - DEFORMATION PROFESSIONELLE (CD by Staubgold)
Music by Rafael Toral didn't find its way into the pages of Vital
Weekly that much, which is a great pity. His music was a fine
combination of drone music, frequencies, sine waves and such like,
which were woven together into beautiful strings of ambient music.
A more musical version of Alvin Lucier, and along the lines of
the work of Jim O'Rourke and Phill Niblock. But it struck Toral
that he had been doing the same for the last fifteen years and
it was time to change in a radical way. The new way is found in
jazz and electronics. Not a fusion of jazz and electronics, but
jazz played on electronics. In the last three years, Toral played
his music on modified or custom built electronic devices, as part
of his 'space' program: 'space elements', focussing each release
on a certain instrument, while adding few others and featuring
collaborations and 'solo series', a solo performance on various
instruments. The album 'Space' doesn't belong to these series,
but is a stand alone work. Of course it's easy to see the historical
reference in this work: electronic music in the sixties was played
to accompany science fiction films, such as 'Forbidden Planet'.
In 'II' he uses a brass section, but it's a bit unclear wether
these are recorded by others or by Toral. 'II', in three parts,
is perhaps the most jazzy piece on 'Space', with it's freaky sounds
on whatever electronics and the brass section, but perhaps it's
a bit too freaky for me. The two others pieces seem to be for
just electronics, and they are highly improvised too, but much
tighter and indeed a bit referring to sci-fi soundtracks. Perhaps
I'm not enough a lover of jazz, that i didn't welcome this album
whole heartedly, but in terms of doing something new, I can only
say 'yes yes yes', this is a great leap forward and a fine break
with the past.
Haven't seen a new release on Quecksilber in some time, so perhaps
Staubgold closed that sub-division, and hitherto decided to release
the second Paul Wirkus CD on the main division. Who knows. 'Intelleto
D'Amore' (see Vital Weekly 402) was Wirkus' first album as a minimal
electronic composer' besides his old career as a jazz and improvisation
drummer, still playing an excellent trio as September Collective
with Stefan Schneider of Mapstation and Barbara Morgenstern, as
well as a trio with Johannes Frisch and Mikolaj Trzaska, both
of Kammerflimmer Kollektief. However armed with mini discs, sampler,
sound effects and a mixer, he is on his own. Still maintaining
to play live, as the ten tracks on 'Deformation Professionelle'
were recorded live to DAT, without any overdubs. His first album
was a manifestation of glitchy electronics, which were all minimal
yet warm. For this new album the element of warmth is kept, but
the minimal element has becomes a more melodic one. Again Wirkus
strives to offer very different tracks, involving rhythm, drones,
spliced up concrete sounds, feeding through most a delay machine,
plus perhaps a reverb. For him it's important that tracks do not
sound the same, which makes this perhaps an album that limps on
more than one foot, but on the other hand the variety is the nice
thing about the album. In stead of playing the same thing over
and over again, with the same limited means, Wirkus opts for a
wide palette of sounds, and that makes this into well made album.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.staubgold.com
FLIM OHNE TITEL, 1916 (CD by Plinkity
Plonk)
Some of the track titles of Ohne Titel, 1916 bear resemblance
to those of F.S. Blumm's 2001 release Mondkuchen. I'd guess that
this is not just a coincidence and it does indeed give some idea
of what Flim is up to. But where F.S. Blumm is all candy flavored,
Flim's music is full of deep sadness. The liner notes explain,
that the music was composed as an attempt to cope with the loss
of a child, trying to find a balance between hope and frustration.
To create his music Flim makes use of piano, organ and thoughtful
computer processing. Often just single notes are struck on the
piano, they keep on resonating and then slowly fade before the
next note is played. Rather than forming melodies these notes
function as an irregular net of varying density. Other tracks
are more drone-related, with the acoustic sounds stretched out
into warm, hovering fields.
Quite by chance I played Nico's The Marble Index right after listening
to Flim. Without wanting to compare these two directly maybe it
could be said that both share a characteristic insofar as they
mark a point where pain and beauty converge in fragile and intimate
music. As said, Flim's music is full of sadness, but then again
there is also a stretch of light on the horizon, a short dreamy
melody to be discovered here and there just below the surface.
(MSS)
Address: http://www.kormplastics.nl
DANIEL MENCHE - CREATURES OF CADENCE (CD
by Crouton Music/Longbox Recordings)
KK NULL & DANIEL MENCHE - RAIJIN (CD by Asphodel)
It's not easy to keep up with the output of Daniel Menche, as
it's enormous and spread out over many different labels. 'Creates
Of Cadence' is a joint release on Crouton Music and Longbox Recordings,
and released on the occasion of Menche's concerts in the midwest
of the USA, later this month. Using various pieces of percussion,
cello, horns and zither, his instrument is also his body. I wouldn't
be too surprised if the heartbeat that opens the CD is in fact
Menche's own heart. Whereas we have known Menche as a noise artist
who knows how to keep a fine balance between noise and silence,
it seems to me that this new CD is more about the quieter moments,
more contemplative and more introspective, and indeed also more
minimal. The percussive bangs in the fourth piece (no tracklist
received) are almost tribal and shifting back and forth. The really
loud music that Menche is also known for is hardly present here.
Here too Menche is a true master, with evocative music in a, for
him, new setting. Absolutely pleasantly surprising music from
someone who is always keen to set new standards for his music.
Perhaps here and there a bit too long, but throughout a fine release,
again!
Releases by Daniel Menche in collaboration with others are pretty
scarce: I only recall his releases with John Wiese and Kiyoshi
Mizutani. But here he teams up with somebody who loves to play
his music with other people: KK Null. Both are now leading 'older'
gentlemen of the noise music scene. On their joint release, named
after the thunder god of Shinto belief, they offer five tracks
of 'percussion, concusion, trumpet, electro-percussion and electronics'.
'Raijin' finds itself much more in the storm and thunder of noise,
than inside anything 'calm' or 'relaxing'. It's a highly percussive
release, being the main instrument, whilst the trumpet takes a
smaller role and electronics seem to be present to control, amplify
and exemplify the percussive sounds. They are foremost part of
KK Null's trademark sound: short loops of sounds, feeding through
an array of piercing electronics. It makes the whole release a
bit more violent and aggressive than 'Creatures Of Cadence', but
it has also a high level of energy. Both artists make a loud point
here, and it's long in duration, but well worth it. (FdW)
Address: http://www.croutonmusic.com
Address: http://www.asphodel.com
TRIO VOPÁ - FAUXPAS (CD by Schraum)
It took three years of playing together to finally record a debut
album, in two days. Such, I guess, is the life of an improvising
musician. Trio Vopá consists of Roland Spieth on trumpet,
Cornelius Veit on guitar and Axel Haller on bass. They play as
a trio, but sometimes also as a duo or just solo. Like with many
of the releases on Schraum, the emphasis lies on more traditional
lines of improvisation, even when Trio Vopá uses extended
techniques to play their instruments, such as playing with paper,
brushes, brackets and postcards. Of the fifteen pieces here, there
is one that is really long, almost nineteen minutes, in which
Trio Vopá plays a very dense cloud of sound, almost like
a piece of drone music. In the other fourteen tracks, ranging
time-wise from twenty seconds to four minutes, they display all
their techniques via short, almost sketch like pieces, which rather
than fourteen tracks, could better be seen as one long piece,
then as separate pieces of music. Sometimes dense, but silent,
almost in an audible way, but at other times, perhaps a bit too
regular improvised. This disc seems to be jumping all over the
place, with the long 'Dans' piece being the major tour de force.
Nevertheless a most enjoyable album. (FdW)
Address: http://www.schraum.de
EARZUMBA - BESTIA INFERNAL (CD by Dialsinfin)
It looks like a CDR release, with all the information pressed
on a small card, but it's really a CD. 'Hellish Beasts' is the
title, but it could have easily been 'the two faces of Earzumba'
as the first twelve tracks are something entirely different than
the thirteenth track - which wouldn't be easily to notice if they
all had the same length, more or less. The thirteenth track, called
'El Mundo Como Estrella Muerta', is a thirty minute 'bonus' piece,
recorded in Bremen, Germany. It consists of a powerful drone piece,
working around a set of overtones (very occasionally leaping into
a bit of feedback), slowly evolving and unfolding. It's highly
different than the twelve pieces of mayhem, chaos, plunderphonics
that we get served first. The sampler is still the main instrument
of Earzumba (despite the notion of 'piano vertical out of tune,
voces, piston flute, found objects, field recordings y maus').
Earzumba, once a member of Reynols, throws everything into his
sampler and spits it out. Sometimes it's recognizable pop tunes,
such as the opening by Reg Dwight, appearances by Johnny Cash
and a whole bunch of poppies that I didn't recognize - one can't
simply have the same collection as Earzumba. False starts, laughter,
bpm's going up to at least 1000 - again, Earzumba allows no silence
in his music. 'Bestia Infernal' is a fine new album, if only for
that bonus piece that shows there is more life than just a sampler.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.earzumba.com
CONSOR - MESANTROPIA (CD by Creaked Records)
Behind Consor is one man: the Swiss-French artist Samuel Vaney,
who plays a variety of instruments, such as piano, guitar, violin
but also all things electronic. He spend two years recording all
over Europe and released a 12", before 'Mesantropia', his
debut album. The music found here is mainly built in the electronic
domain, even when there is a couple of acoustic instruments transformed.
It seems as if Consor couldn't make his mind up. He wants to play
a pop tune, throw some bit of techno, a bit of the hard experimental
sounds, something ambient and oh yes, a bit of field recordings
here and there. His guitars sound like good ol' shoegazing, which
is nice, but also a bit outdated. And that is a bit of the problem
I have with this release: it all sounds like it could have been
done ten years ago, and released by Staalplaat back in that time.
Slightly experimental, a bit poppy and a bit of weirdness. It
surely has nice tracks, but they are not easy to find. (FdW)
Address: http://www.creakedrecords.com
FORREST FANG & CARL WEINGARTEN - INVISIBILITY
(CD by The Foundry)
It has been a long time since I last heard music by Forrest Fang,
whose music is an ambient cross over between world music and synthesizer
stuff. Many of his releases were on Cuneiform. I don't recall
hearing any music from Carl Weingarten, even when I came across
his name before. He plays guitar here. His playing gets transformed
by Fang. The liner notes tell me that both artists have their
directions in ambient music, but I can't second that. What is
on offer is an album of nine pieces of ambient music with a very
big A, and perhaps also with a very big N of new age, as some
of these excursions go way out into the land of a new age. A bit
too slick for me. The guitar plays the right notes, the electronics
take them up and swirl them around, but it's all a bit too regular
for me. When, such as in 'Solar Rain', there are elements of metallic
percussion and more angular electronics, things start to work
better, at least for me, being a not too big admirer of all things
too slick. While sound wise this is an excellent produced album,
and very suitable for any modern living room, with a book and
a glass of wine within reach, this is all a bit too clean for
me. (FdW)
Address: http://www.foundrysite.com
PETER REHBERG KAPOTTE MUZIEK BY (mCD
by Korm Plastics)
When I became aware of experimental music in the 1990s Peter Rehberg/Pita
was among the first people whose work I strongly admired. But
about three or four years ago I lost track of what he was doing.
So when I received this new release and read, that Peter Rehberg
had recently moved away from his trademark digital noise, I got
really curious and played it immediately. As it is probably well
known among the readers of Vital Weekly "Kapotte Muziek by"
is an ongoing series of recordings by Kapotte Muziek that are
reworked by various artists. The material that Peter Rehberg presents
here reveals that hazy quality of concrete sounds, which can be
recognized as such, but whose origin cannot be traced back beyond
that point. I don't know if this is characteristic of Rehberg's
new approach or just due to Kapotte Muziek's original sounds,
but it came as a great surprise to me. The piece starts with a
low, vaguely metallic rumble that stays present throughout most
of the track, gradually undergoing various transformations. Other
sounds drop in and out of the mix, and in general things move
at a rather slow pace. At one point the tension is raised, but
it stays on a micro level and instead of reaching a climax it
just fades. Towards the end the dark rumble disappears and there
are some moments of silence, interspersed with isolated throbs.
Then a shimmering mid frequency drone sets in, accompanied by
tinkling bells. All of a sudden this stops and the piece is over.
There is a dark feeling in this music, however it is not the aggressive
type of darkness, but rather the cozy one. With this exploration
of concrete sound sources Rehberg enters a territory that is usually
mapped by people like Michael Northam, and Rehberg does succeed
well. Indeed this is a good occasion for giving his older works
a listen again as well as a reason for keeping an eye on his new
releases. (MSS)
Address: http://www.kormplastics.nl
DEAD MACHINES LIVE AT TZOMPANTLI (LP
by Eclipse)
Dead Machines are John and Tovah Olson of Wolf Eyes and Wooden
Wand respectively and, as the title indicates, these are live
recordings. The album opens with a weird spoken comedy intro and
audience reactions. Then the noise sets in and won't stop until
the end. Raw screeching electronics are joined by likewise raw
saxophone playing and augmented by crude effects and manipulations.
It's all about loudness and intensity, with the saxophone playing
sustained squeaking tones over and over again and the electronics
in a continuous process of uproar and collapse into chaos. This
pairing of high-energy playing, non-virtuosity (or rather the
fact, that virtuosity is superfluous) and those quirky, flickering
and shimmering sounds makes up for a releases that is as aggressive
as it is beautiful, as nerve-wrecking as it is stimulating. It
must have been some evenings of blissful sonic mayhem and lucky
enough the LP makes the Dead Machines' wonderful lo-fi wizardry
also available to all of us who weren't there. (MSS)
Address: http://www.eclipse-records.com
ALOG - JUST RECORDING (LP by En/Of)
In previous years, the German (or should that be Dutch?) label
En/Of used to release records in trios, but since last year or
so they arrive one by one. Which is fine of course, so people
like me can spend longer time investigating them. Their latest,
thirty-fifth, release is by Espen Sommer Eide, who also works
solo as Phonophani, and Dag-Are Haugan, otherwise known as Alog.
Before their music was released by Melektronikk and Smalltown
Supersound, not all of them were heard by me. As much as I like
the music of Alog, I find it also very hard to make up my mind
about it. To grasp what is they are doing. It's surely experimental,
playing around with computers and/or samplers, in a very chaotic
cut-up way. But underneath there is always a few lines of sound
which are continuously running and which provide some backbone
to the music. There is a certain sense of naivety about this music
which makes this sounding quite childish, but in a very positive
manner. Music that easily defies any categorization (micro sound,
folk, experimental, musique concrete - you name it, it's in there),
and is certainly unbeatenable nice.
The art part of this En/Of release is by Anri Sala and is a photograph.
Perhaps it's shown on the recently entirely revised website of
En/Of and Bottrop-boy. Well worth checking out! (FdW)
Address: http://www.bottrop-boy.com
OREN AMBARCHI & MARTIN NG - FATELESS
(DVD by Asphodel)
Its been ages, it seems, that we last heard from Oren Ambarchi
and Martin Ng. Their previous albums, 'Reconnaissance' (Vital
Weekly 260) and 'Vigil' (Vital Weekly 398) were excellent, minimal
sets of improvisations of sine wave like sounds, small static
crackle and deep hum. When reviewing 'Vigil', we already noted
the visual quality of the music, via two quicktime films by Tina
Frank, the in house designer for all things Mego. I doubt wether
that review stirred the events captured on this DVD (Asphodel's
first, much to my surprise). If I understood correctly the video
side of this DVD was recorded live by Tina Frank, but I am not
sure if the music is also played live, which seems to be the case
with the video made by Robin Fox. Both pieces last just over forty
minutes and are excellent displays of all talent involved. Ambarchi
and Ng are at the very best with slowly evolving drones, waves,
hiss and static, in 'Vigilance' there seems to be more action
than in '8 Seconds Of Weightlessness', which seems a bit more
static. As far as the visual side matters, Tina Frank brings her
cover artwork for Mego alive: lines that spread out, fold about
and has a very spacious sense to it. The geometry of the sky,
or rather: the universe. An abstract science fiction movie, which
moves nicely along the various changes of the music. Robin Fox
on the other hand keeps things much more down to earth, with more
grainy textures and images that spiral around and that works with
repeating elements, circles and such, to create an imagine that
is not unlike the feedback quality of the music. Great stuff.
For 'Vigilance' there is also a 5.1 version, which I haven't seen,
but which should be worth checking out. (FdW)
Address: http://www.asphodel.com
SCOTT FOUST - THE FOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS (DVD-R
by Pineapple Tapes)
'The longest half hour in show business' is not the subtitle of
this DVD-R, but it could be. Scott Foust is well-known from his
work as Idea Fire Company (since this year on both sides of the
pond), Tart, The Bracelets, his Swill Radio label, his Pineapple
Tapes label, soon a full feature film 'Here's To Love'. He hasn't
yet written a novel, so perhaps not entirely the homo universalis,
but certainly the genius of his own universe. 'The Four Accomplinemts'
is a documentary of a performance in four 'lessons', performed
by Scott Foust at The Lucky Cat in Brooklyn, in august last year.
Seeing is believing, I guess. Would it make much sense if I'd
say that there is a lecture, a dance piece, sound poetry piece
and a theatre piece? Just what would you know then? Perhaps as
much as I do, but I watched the whole thing with some amazement.
There is of course Scott, a microphone and a backing tape. The
tape stores the lecture, music, sound poetry and more music. I
am clueless what it is all about, but I guess that's just my trouble
with these kind of things. I can watch it, laugh about, put a
face of sheer amazement, or look puzzling, but in the end I'm
nothing wiser (better? worse?) than before. Do I like it? Oh yes,
I do, I love it. Very witty. But perhaps I stayed a bit too long
in the presence of Scott some time ago. (FdW)
Address: http://www.anti-naturals.org/swill/
FREIBAND - ALL IN A DAY'S WORK (Cassette
by Pineapple Tapes)
In the historic year 2006 when large record companies decided
to stop their production of pre-recorded cassettes, it is good
to see that there are still independent labels out there willing
to produce tapes. Lest we forget that before the advent of the
compact disc and, worse still, the recordable compact disc the
cassette was THE format for independent music and a very valid
alternative to records. Swill Radio's Pineapple imprint presents
'All In A Day's Work' by Freiband (Frans de Waard). The cassette
contains two long continuous pieces based upon live recordings
by Idea Fire Company when they did a short tour in The Netherlands
in March 2006. Frans de Waard accompanied Scott Faust and Karla
Borecki on stage for this tour. In May 2006 De Waard re-mixed
the live recordings for this cassette-release in one day (hence
the title). The first piece Faster But Slower is a constant drone,
which seems to be built in two frequencies; one higher, one lower.
There are only very minimal changes, making this side a nice but
also slightly long listen. The second side, A Solo Duo, is more
interesting; here too, we are treated to one long drone piece,
but this one has more slight, almost subliminal, changes and a
few more abrasive bits mixed in making making this the better
of the two tracks. The cassette comes in a high quality color
cover and is well produced. As the edition is probably very limited,
you better order while it is still available. As an aside: Swill
Radio will release a live CD with recordings from the Idea Fire
Company 2006 tour. (FK)
Address: http://www.anti-naturals.org/swill/
BERTIN - JOYEUX (CDR, private)
Somewhere during the long hot month of July I saw the local band
The Hitmachine at one of the local do's for electronic music,
and for the occassion they were just two: Taco on drums and Bertin
on two keyboards. Their music couldn't be hardly more out of place
in this techno filled (filth?) place, but their instrumental set
was certainly quite poppy, being a meeting of The Doors and Suicide.
So, 'Joyeux', Bertin's latest solo release doesn't come as a real
surprise - for me that is. His love of anything low and technical
is known for quite some time. Here seems to be playing around
with just his latest toy, a cheap organ with one of those built
in rhythm things. But that's only outside, as upon closer inspection,
there is a lot more happening: bass lines, rhythms that are bit
more complicated, humming voices (fake russian) in 'Traffic' and
even words (two words actually) sung in 'Videorecorder'. Sometimes,
actually most of the times, quite upon and playful - to live up
to it's title. 'Boating' offers a moment of contemplation, and
perhaps takes the speed out a bit, but the other eight tracks
are the right shot of adrenaline. Very playful indeed. (FdW)
Address: http://www.bertin-nijmegen.nl/
PBK/ADAM MOKAN (split CDR by Cohort Records)
Perhaps Cohort Records found the way to do it. After teaming the
well-known Andrew Duke with the lesser known Akumu, here is PBK
and Adam Mokan in the same role. But perhaps I am all wrong? Who
remembers PBK? Well, I do, from many many years ago. I don't recall
reviewing any of his music in the last ten years, say the life
time of Vital Weekly. In the 80s he was very present and active
and released a whole bunch of cassettes and even a 3LP set on
the RRRecords label. For whatever reason I may have forgotten
by now, or perhaps never knew, he disappeared somewhere in the
nineties, but somewhere returned along the lines. On this split
release he has four lengthy pieces of what I could call PBK trademark
sound. Using found sound, mainly old vinyl, a bunch of analogue
synthesizers and sound effects, he creates his music. For me it
works best in the very chilly, ambient piece 'Event Lurkin Pristine',
whereas the other three pieces are more chaotic, densely layered
patterns of vinyl skipping and effect hunting. At times perhaps
a bit too chaotic for my taste, but good memories return of hissy
cassettes, when total mayhem was the way to go. A nice come-back.
I have no idea who Adam Mokam is, other then that he has a couple
of releases on Russolo (also home of Roxanne Jean Polise) which
I never heard. His music is also noise related, but in a more
linear fashion, less chaotic. Thickly layered sounds, warped around
each other, built from radio waves, analogue synths, sound effects
and distortion. Perhaps a bit lo-fi, but it leaves a solid impression
on me. Heavy, minimal and yet with enough surprises. Nice one
this. (FdW)
Address: http://cohortrecords.0catch.com
SWUNG - VOICE AND KEY (3"CDR by Pseudo
Arcana)
This is my first encounter with Swung, also known as Zoe Drayton.
Apparently she is the "chief archivist, promoter and all
round lynchpin of the New Zealand 'new music' scene" but
also playing her own music. The title 'Voice And Key' says it
all, I guess. Drayton plays keyboards and sings, although that
is kept to a minimum. All five tracks are short and at times sound
like found sound, such as the piece 'Hik', with someone coughing
and some sparse piano notes, and the microphone being put back
in place, almost like a private sound picture. Her singing is
more like humming and not really using words. The voice is a texture,
just the piano or the accordion, which she uses. Folk noir with
a touch of electronics. But a pretty interesting and varied bunch
of pieces. Would have loved a bit more of this. (FdW)
Address: http://www.pseudoarcana.com
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