SMALL CONTEST ANNOUNCEMENT: we have been using our stationary tune in the podcast since Vital Weekly 480, so perhaps it’s time for a new one. Anyone who wants to try his or her hands can do a new one. Send a MP3 to <vital@vitalweekly.net> length should be 13 seconds at the most and it should contain Vital Weekly in some spoken way. If it’s accepted we will need the original aif or wav file. One will be used at the beginning, another one at the end. Depending on quality and quantaty we’ll try to use at least some of them for limited periods only. No deadline
RANT – A DIRECT SENSUOUS PLEASURE – (CD by Schraum) *
DANIEL MENCHE – BEAST RESONATOR (CD by Roggbif Records) *
Z’EV/FRANCISCO LOPEZ – BUZZIN’ FLY (IN LOVING MEMORY OF TIM BUCKLEY)/DORMANT SPORES (CD by Lapilli/Black Rose Recordings) *
MLEHST – AN OLD BROOM KNOWS ALL THE DIRTY CORNERS (CD on Belief Recordings) *
EUGENE CARCHESIO & LEIGHTON CRAIG – LEAVES (CD by Naturestrip) *
GARY SMITH – SUPERTEXTURE (2CD by Sijis) *
ASS (CD by Headspin Recordings)
AGASKODO TELIVEREK (CD by Adaadat)
NEKTON FALLS (3CD compilation by Sonic Dragon/Mbira Records/On Lap Records)
KLIMPEREI – ON THE LILY LAWN (3″CD by Jardin Au Fou)
DJ ORDEAL – SEA/SEAGULL (LP by Entr’acte)
FÜXA – ELECTRIC SOUND OF SUMMER/THANK YOU JESUS (7″ by Static Caravan)
MODIFIED TOY ORCHESTRA/ZX SPECTRUM ORCHESTRA (7″ by Static Caravan) *
JOHNNY LOCASH – HING/KENTUCKYFUCK (7″ by Seven Inch Records)
FEEDBACK SOCIETY – #0.02 (CDR, private) *
YAGIHASHI & SATO & HIGO – THE TEMPLE OF NO POWER NO VIRTUE (CDR by Cohort Records) *
HELLOTHISISALEX – THE STUMP ACT (CDR, self-released) *
SAM HAMILTON – THE BORDERS OF THE GARDEN PATHS ARE OVERGROWN (CDR by Transient Recordings) *
MARC MCNULTY – FARADAY CAGE (CDR by Earphone)
MARC MCNULTY – NEURONTIN (CDR by Earphone) *
PILGRIMAGE OF SOUND 2 ABHORANCE – KAZUYA ISHIGAMI (CDR by NEUS-318)
IN A PAST GLORY – GROYXO (CDR by NEUS-318)
JOSEPH AUER – INNER GALAXIES (CDR by Boltfish Recordings)
SOME RECENT ACTIONS (CDR compilation by Authorized Version)
NIXILX.NIJIKX – APUTI (3″CDR by Authorized Version)
UIUIUI-POU – PENYYNEP AND DARUIN (CDR by neus-318)
FUNAMAN/DARUIN SPLIT CDR (CDR by neus-318)
HAIR PEACH – YINGFAN AND DARUIN (CDR by neus-318)
DARUIN/ANALOG SUICIDE SPLIT CDR (CDR by neus-318)
CHEFKIRK – ANXIETY, ART AND DEATH (CDR by Dim Records) *
BJERGA/IVERSEN – YOU, THE NIGHT & THE MUSIC (cassette by Dim Records)
HL – TAKUMA (3″CDR plus 3″DVD-R by No Ground Processes)
PUIK – 19 (cassette, private)
CADUCEUS – INFLUENCE VOLUME ELEVEN (MP3 by Caduceus Music)
RANT – A DIRECT SENSUOUS PLEASURE – (CD by Schraum)
The small German Schraum label offers a second disc by Rant. Rant is a duo of Merle Bennett on drums, and Torsten Papenheim on guitar. I have not heard their first, so I did not know what to expect. But for some reason I expected a disc of improvised music. Improvised it may be, but above all it is a loosely playing with melodic pop structures in the song format. At moments both sound almost as a complete band. At other moments you wish it was a complete band, because that would give the tunes much more body and power.
Papenheim plays also in more experimental outfits like Kainkwartet (also on Schraum) and Swift Machine (on Creative Sources). Bennett performs in improv trios like Tunar and Transducer, and also in the popgroup Erik and Me. As Rant they show their most poppy face, producing a kind of minimal, postrock-like music that proved not very significant to my ears (DM).
Address: http://www.schraum.de/
DANIEL MENCHE – BEAST RESONATOR (CD by Roggbif Records)
And Daniel Menche is ready to conquer the world with his music. Like some people want releases on every CDR label in the world, it seems that Menche wants the same, but then on CDs. His recent production flow is the biggest ever, but he knows how to surprise us. Here the music is dedicated to beasts, rather than gods, like it was perhaps done in very, very ancient times (although we can’t be certain, right?). Although separated into three tracks, this makes one continuous track and the beats (not the beasts) play the main role. It’s difficult to say what kind of drums Menche is using, but certainly it’s whatever without cymbals. Perhaps plastic canisters or oil drums which he uses to roll his beats over in an indeed tribal manner. Electronic treatment is there (the use of delay and a bit of reverb) but doesn’t play the same role as before. It’s a strikingly minimal affair on the surface of listening, but upon closer inspection, which is of course one should always do, things move and shift about like hell. Metallic rattle is somewhere coming in and out, beats shift about in a good Steve Reich like manner. But at the same time the name of Z’EV comes to mind also in his 80s percussive periods. This is a highly unlikely but great Menche release, and as such proving once more his great talent to take the listener by surprise. (FdW)
Address: http://www.roggbif.com
Z’EV/FRANCISCO LOPEZ – BUZZIN’ FLY (IN LOVING MEMORY OF TIM BUCKLEY)/DORMANT SPORES (CD by Lapilli/Black Rose Recordings)
As noted in Vital Weekly 543, Z’EV is a busy man, and already announced then, but now released is his collaborative work with Francisco Lopez (on the resurrected Black Rose label, in collaboration with Lapilli). Lopez more than Z’EV, but both are avid collectors of sound material from the world that surrounds us. Lopez is the man with the microphone, while Z’EV does that too, but he also is on the look out for material to play his percussive music on. Throughout Z’EV’s career percussion music has played an important role, but the studio has had a likewise big role in his work. Using the studio (no doubt a harddisc these days) to its extreme, using as many tracks as possible to make subtle shifts and changing patterns throughout the piece. Perhaps the opposite of how Francisco Lopez: using sometimes just one or two sound sources and exploring them through radical equalization. Before he did this using a very low audible range for his music, but lately he has shifted towards audible material, but in cut-up/collage way. Here it is no different. The sound sources of both are presented in a strong collage form, in which loud/soft material, sometimes with smaller blocks of silence in between them. A very intense piece of music.
In the five pieces by Z’EV things stay throughout on a more equal level, in which sounds seem to shift and phase along side each other. The whole thing, rather one piece in five blocks than five separate pieces makes a highly psychedelic pattern of sounds moving in and out of phase. Two sides of the coin called field recordings and both sides, even when so different, are equally great. Powerful, intense and illusionary. Great stuff. (FdW)
Address: http://www.lapilli.org
MLEHST – AN OLD BROOM KNOWS ALL THE DIRTY CORNERS (CD on Belief Recordings)
Started in 1991 and from 1998 to 2005 having ‘a short break’. That is half the half the time of the entire career. The last thing that was reviewed was ‘Living Without Feeling’ (Vital Weekly 138) on Absurd. Mlehst released before a whole bunch of CDRs and cassettes, three LPs, three split LPs and three singles. Although Mlehst had ties to the world of noise music, and on this new CD this is not different, it’s the kind of noise in which something more is happening. His previous, final, release before the track showed an interest in the more experimental side of noise music, but this new one is a return to noise. Updating his equipment into the world of digital sound recording, he creates powerful fields of processed feedback material that is quite powerful, quite raw but in contrast with many other noise artists, Mlehst is a much more playful noise artist, coming more introspective moments into the harsher field with apparent no trouble. That makes this into quite an enjoyable CD and a great come-back CD. (FdW)
Address: http://www.freewebs.com/mlehst
EUGENE CARCHESIO & LEIGHTON CRAIG – LEAVES (CD by Naturestrip)
So far Australia’s Naturestrip has released only a handful of CDs, and usually by people I already knew, such as Toshiya Tsunoda or Loren Chasse. Here however they present two unknown musicians from down under, Brisbane to be precise. Carcheso released a bunch of cassettes since the early 80s as D.N.E. and also the work of Craig on his own Kindling label didn’t receive much attention. Both are also part of the “freely improvising psych-primitive ensemble “The Lost Domain”, and has had a couple of releases on Pseudo Arcana, Digitalis and Broken Face. ‘Leaves’ is their first duo recording and was previously released in an edition of thirty copies on Kindling. ‘Leaves’ was recorded on ‘windy summer day’ in 2004, and that information is vital to know, since the sat down in Craig’s backyard to record this, armed with a whole bunch of objects to create music: keyboards, sticks, guitars, chime balls, violin, finger cymbals, toy xylophone, bottles, clarinet, but there is also the sound of the wind, crows and cicadas. Upon hearing this CD it’s not difficult to see them sitting in the garden and see them loosely improvise their music. Plucking a guitar, playing a bit of xylophone and let the tranquility of the moment do the rest – listen to the environment and let that act as a third, equal player. Very peaceful music, quiet and relaxing, but not in a microsounding sense of the word: there is something to hear throughout these recordings. Music and nature never worked this closely together and not as often in such a beautiful way. (FdW)
Address: http://www.naturestrip.com
GARY SMITH – SUPERTEXTURE (2CD by Sijis)
I believe this is my first encounter with guitar player Gary Smith, even when his first recordings seem to date back to 1978, which were with the Bill Fay Group. Smith has produced a great deal of solo CDs for labels such as Impetus, FMR, Paratactile, Ecstatic Peace and Chronoscope, and has recorded CDs with John Stevens, Mass, Rhys Chatham, Powerfield, Shoji Hano, Aufgehoben No Process and Mukai Chie. Here my first encounter, a double CD right away. The first disc contains thirteen improvisations for ‘guitar, amp, volume pedal. that’s it’, no overdubs, no effects or other tricks. Just his hands and the guitar, playing some fine tunes in which a lot happens. Smith takes the guitar for what it is, a guitar and not an object that also produces some sound. The guitar is always recognizable as such, despite his crazy way of playing it. Out of the apparent chaos rises small textures, short frenetic rhythms and delightful mayhem. Mayhem as in mayhem, not as in noise for noise sake. It’s clear that he likes to play his guitar. Thirteen of these improvisations might be a bit long, but I suggest taking a small dose at a time.
And people love Gary Smith, since the second CD is filled with ‘treatments and interpretations’ by certainly not the least in the field: from Charles Hayward to David Tibet, from Peter Rehberg to Elliot Sharp. This is not a regular remix CD in the traditional (?) way, but rather a mixed bunch of music involving the sounds produced by Gary Smith. Some take this material to expand upon, such as Sharp (with extra guitar), vocals (such as Tibet) or inside techno music (Tom Wallace), while others take the material to create new music, say the traditional forms of remixing, such as is the case with people like Paulo Raposo, Peter Rehberg or BJ Nilsen. Here the guitar is hardly to recognized as such and is a mere brick as part of a larger composition. It’s this combination of pure remixes and adding extra musical treatments that makes this into a project that is indeed much more than ‘just’ another remix CD. (FdW)
Address: http://www.sijis.com
ASS (CD by Headspin Recordings)
Last week I saw a great evening with Tape, Tenniscoats and Ass, where all members from all bands played as guestmusicians on each others sets. In the case of Ass that is certainly quite necessary, since it’s an one-man band consisting of Andreas Söderström. On CD he is capable of playing everything himself, but not live. Söderström plays guitars, organ, sings and plays various percussive things, such as maracas. Despite the hideous name Ass (no doubt referring to his own name, rather than wanting to have a stupid name) the music is rather sweet. Ass plays folktronics, but more folk than tronics. Careful playing his guitar, which is the main instrument here, with the organ and percussion being the ornaments, these are beautiful pieces of music. The voice is not present in every song, and as such the emphasis is not on being a singer-songwriter. Which is actually fine, since I am not overtly blown away by his voice (or perhaps anybody in this genre). Music wise Ass is quite close to the better known Tape, but his melodies are a little less complex and of course the use of the voice marks a big difference. Whereas Ass is a bit more simpler, or perhaps more direct in what he wants, he crafts the perfect late night album together, full of romantic notion, and perhaps one of the nicer records not on Häpna. (FdW)
Address: http://www.headspinrecordings.com
AGASKODO TELIVEREK (CD by Adaadat)
Never believe a press text. Adaadat wants us to believe that Agaskodo Teliverek are two boring accountants who are making music under the Hungarian name meaning ‘the rearing stations’, despite their suit and tie, as depicted on the cover. They are from Hungary – that much I believe, as they are Miklos Kemecsi and Tamas Szabo. They played alongside Dat Politics, Donna Summer and Hrvatski, and that might shed a light on what they do, but the main difference is that the guitar plays an important role in the music, and somehow I don’t think they sampled it together, but rather play it themselves. Added to a whole bunch of fucked up beats, vocal samples, this makes a bunch of crazy music. Acid rhythms get destroyed, fuzzy guitars and bits of distortion. It all sounded alright, but not too great. Some of the pieces seemed to be put together in a rather hasty manner, without caring too much about what more could be gotten out of it. Also the production seemed a bit simple to me, here too is room for improvement. Perhaps a next time? (FdW)
Address: http://www.adaadat.com
NEKTON FALLS (3CD compilation by Sonic Dragon/Mbira Records/On Lap Records)
This compilation is set against an ambitious conceptual background, that incorporates ideas from various scientific disciplines and combines environmental concerns with a fascination for the incredible depths of the oceans. These references are centered around an interest in interrelating processes between living organisms and their surroundings, as it is indicated by the title “Nekton Falls” (a scientific term that is used to describe the process of dead sea organisms dropping to the bottom of the ocean, rotting and eventually turning into food for a new generation). All this is explained in detail on the website www.nekton-falls.org, complete with artists’ statements and suggestions for further reading.
A background like that of course hints towards dark stretched out sounds and field recordings of water, and this is exactly what you get for the most part of the three CDs, plus some rhythm-based tracks and grainy digital textures. In total 26 artists and projects are involved here, including well established names (Michael Northam, Frans de Waard, Roel Meelkop, Lull, to name a few) as well as lesser known ones. The individual tracks are connected with interludes composed by Seetyca, who also contributes a track and is responsible for the overall concept (together with A. G. Reisdorf). Most of the music is rather subdued, with vast fields of sound, fading from black to deep shades of blue and back again. This creates a nice, continuous flow of music, yet with enough variations to keep you interested. This flow is only sometimes disrupted by one of the few rhythm-oriented tracks, which might be nice by themselves, but don’t go along too well with the other pieces. However, a whole palette of approaches towards the darker side of atmospheric music is on showcase here. Amorphous immersive soundscapes, field recordings of natural phenomena, digital errors, clear blocks of abstract sound and hints of acoustic instruments – it’s all there and most of the time it nicely complements each other.
With so many people involved obviously not all tracks work well for everyone. Some tracks might benefit from a little refinement and some of the sounds seem rather worn out. But there are some real highlights to be discovered and as a whole it works pretty well, guiding you on a worthwhile trip into imaginary sub oceanic regions. (MSS)
Address: http://www.nekton-falls.org
KLIMPEREI – ON THE LILY LAWN (3″CD by Jardin Au Fou)
This release has been here for some time, and I was a bit wondering what to think about it, like with much of the music recorded by Klimperei, also known as the project by Christophe Petchanatz, who has been doing this for many, many years now. As noted before (see Vital Weekly 454) there is great naivety to be noted in the music of Klimperei, with the songs about the weather, love or about a rabbit. Klimperei are a rock band, with drums, guitar, a recorder and vocals, all played without too much studio techniques, just direct in your face, but not in a lo-fi manner. All the instruments have been recorded separately, with care and style. Klimperei play excellent alternative popmusic of a rather childlike kind, with big eyes wondering about the world, just as only children can do so wonderfully well. Nine short tracks, but not sketch like at all as each piece is worked out quite well. Lovely little item. (FdW)
Address: http://www.jardinaufou.com
DJ ORDEAL – SEA/SEAGULL (LP by Entr’acte)
As announced last week, Entr’acte will release more than just CDRs in the future, and this LP is another example of what is to come. The cover of this record (in a sealed off bag just like so many of Entr’acte releases) explains in detail what DJ Ordeal is about. He likes to play around with sources lifted of records, and creates new musical contexts for them. Both sides are connected. To start with the b-side for once. ‘Seagull’ is a piece created by various vocal riffs of records and speeding the sound up so that it sounds like a seagull, or rather a flock of seagulls (pun intended). Moving the sound back and forth, using strict stereo separation, he creates a simple but fascinating piece of minimal music. Bird like indeed, but clearly artificial ones. A simple concept but nicely executed.
‘Sea’ on the other side uses real seagull sounds, along with sea waves breaking the shores and some vaguely cello like music and additional voices. Here too minimalism is at work, but in an extended way. The sea waves sound almighty and seagulls, voices and cello make random entrance and exit. Although less conceptual, it’s carried out with care and reflects a day at the boulevard: birds, sounds from coming an open window and people talking. Farewell to summertime. (FdW)
Address: http://www.entracte.co.uk
FÜXA – ELECTRIC SOUND OF SUMMER/THANK YOU JESUS (7″ by Static Caravan)
MODIFIED TOY ORCHESTRA/ZX SPECTRUM ORCHESTRA (7″ by Static Caravan)
Elsewhere I sing praise of 7″s and one of the label with a more than solid reputation to releasing this format is UK’s Static Caravan. And on it we see the return of Füxa, at least a return to me. In the past I liked them quite a bit, with their post-psychedelic sound, which after all these years is still in great shape. The a-side is a great piece. Pushy, electric rhythm, organ sounds, synths, bass lines and a desolate tone or two on the flugahorn. Indeed the (or rather THE) electric sound of summer. Great tune. Randall Nieman, the main man behind Füxa plays solo on the b-side: piano, bass and korg electribe. A more introvert tune with the piano taking the lead. I am not that well in knowing my spirituals, but perhaps it’s an adaption of some holy tune, and as such as it sounds indeed in praise of someone called Jesus. Two different sides, but both nicely done and each playing their card well.
The second 7″ deals with covers. Modified Toy Orchestra covers ‘Pocket Calculator’ by Kraftwerk and ZX Spectrum Orchestra does ‘TVOD’ by The Normal. Two classic synth songs, well chosen, me thinks. However Modified Toy Orchestra stays quite close to the original, changing just a bit in the rhythm part of the song and emphasizing the break a bit longer. ZX Spectrum Orchestra (named after an ancient computer program that was stored on cassettes) sort of makes the original even more creepier, but they too stay perhaps a bit too close to the original. Spin this next to the original and then this, and create your own megamix (to use a term from the past). (FdW)
Address: http://www.staticcaravan.org/
JOHNNY LOCASH – HING/KENTUCKYFUCK (7″ by Seven Inch Records)
FEEDBACK SOCIETY – #0.02 (CDR, private)
The format of a 7″ is always well-spend on me, and that is perhaps because I am an old guy. As a child they were the only music I could afford, so I still cherish people who release 7″s, and certainly when they call their label Seven Inch Records. They are from The Hague, and want to specialize in the more forceful, louder music. Their first release is by someone who calls himself Johnny Locash. On ‘Hing’ he plays a rather old fashioned slab of industrial music, with a strong atmospheric synthesizer that could be of an old Schloss Tegal record, and some mumbling voices and some distorted slow rhythm at the beginning. ‘Kenctuckyfuck’ on the other side is a more uptempo song, with a vaguely ethnic tribal rhythm, synths and cut-up voices. This too sounded a bit old fashioned industrial, but I thought this was the more exciting track of the two. Not a bad start but let’s hope it doesn’t stay with the retro industrial music.
On CDR we find the Feedback Society, from The Hague, The Netherlands and members have ties to the Seven Inch Records label. A trio of two musicians and a filmmaker, who uses a drill to create visual feedback. It sounds massive and perhaps it is, but when I saw it last week I was pretty impressed by it’s presence, both in sound and image. On the CDR ‘just’ music and of course it’s not easy to know wether it will work without the images. I must say it does stand by itself rather well. Their name is well-chosen, but Feedback Society is not exclusively about a feedback overload. Using sampled feedback in combination with analogue synthesizers, they craft together something that is at times painfully loud but in ‘q4 absence’ works also in a different way: quite soft, with spoken word samples and a delicately controlled atmosphere. As a total the music shifts back and forth between noisy bits and more introspective ones and makes thus a highly varied and interesting bunch of music. Next time with a film part please. (FdW)
Address: <seveninchrecords@gmail.com>
Address: http://www.feedbacksociety.nl/
YAGIHASHI & SATO & HIGO – THE TEMPLE OF NO POWER NO VIRTUE (CDR by Cohort Records)
If one expected Cohort Records to be a label for the drone, dark ambient and isolationist music areas, this new release proofs one wrong. This is all about quiet improvisation music. Yagihashi Tsukasa (alto sax), Sato Yukie (electric guitar, electronics) and Higo Hiroshi (electric bass, electronics) played the music that now found it’s way to this CDR at The Temple Of No Power No Virtue in September last year. The trio plays free jazz, in a sort of regular way, but they do it in a rather soft way. It starts out with some playing in a very soft style, almost in an onkyo kind of way, but throughout these four long pieces, the saxophone plays quite regular notes, whereas the guitars play more drone related stuff. Its highly atmospherical music that is quite pleasant to hear, even at this length. (FdW)
Address: http://cohortrecords.0catch.com
HELLOTHISISALEX – THE STUMP ACT (CDR, self-released)
With considerable long intervals, Hellothisisalex present their releases to the world. ‘The Canadian Spelling Programm’ was released on Piehead (see Vital Weekly 321) and themselves they released ‘Across The River Twin’ (see Vital Weekly 461). It’s still a duo of Mark Prier and Melissa Creasey and ‘The Stump Act’ is part of a bigger art project. For this project the drove the entire length of Yonge Street, 1896 kilometers from the shores of Lake Ontario to the US-Canada border at Rainy River. Along the way, they put up twenty rectangular wooden signs depicting tree stumps. The street has had military significance – a north-south route. The stumps refer to a penalty for public drunkenness: who was caught had to remove one. Hence the title. In just under twenty minutes, Hellothisisalex present ten tracks of what is now their trademark sound: analogue synths hiss and generate a fat sound of quirky uptempo songs, that sometimes seem to start right in the middle, rather than having a finished off beginning and end. It’s a bit less sombre than ‘Across The River Twin’, but there are still faint traces of things melancholic, but there is at the same time also the robotic cheerfulness of electro music. The shortness is a bit of a pity, but it gives the short album also an extra strength: too much is no good either. (FdW)
Address: http://www.hellothisisalex.com
SAM HAMILTON – THE BORDERS OF THE GARDEN PATHS ARE OVERGROWN (CDR by Transient Recordings)
This is not our first encounter with Sam Hamilton. Only two weeks ago he was here as part of Muffin Seeks Sunship, who had a release on CLaudia, the same label who released his 3″CDR ‘Low Hill’ (see Vital Weekly 515). ‘Please listen to it as if it was no different than music made by an origami crab playing a cucumber’ it reads on the cover, but does the crab also knows how to play guitar, electronics, field recording, piano, computer and gong? Perhaps it does, but perhaps not as sophisticated as Sam Hamilton. The release has three tracks spanning just over twenty-six minutes. Whereas ‘Low Hill’ brought back the music of Dean Roberts, the overall atmosphere on this new release is much more dreamier and more minimal. The improvisational element of ‘Low Hill’ seems to be gone in total favor of composition. The nagging piano of ‘Do Nothing Garden’ with low key electronics is the centre piece of the release, slowly and minimally developing and unfolding it’s beauty. The opening piece is a much shorter piece of swirling short electronic notes that slowly evolve into feedback and closes with piano notes. Also a moody piece, which can also be said of the closing piece, field recordings of fire works. Moody, atmospherical and in many ways very un New Zealand music, which is perhaps a very good thing. (FdW)
Address: http://www.darcy.co.nz/transient
MARC MCNULTY – FARADAY CAGE (CDR by Earphone)
MARC MCNULTY – NEURONTIN (CDR by Earphone)
Vital Weekly 138: that is how far back we had to search for a review of music by Marc McNulty. If you would have asked before hearing these new works, how did the old McNulty sound, I would perhaps describe something that is not too dissimilar from the two recent releases. I have no idea what McNulty has been doing in the long gap, but apparently he has been involved in producing sound installations in galleries around the world and played support act for Raster-noton artists. McNulty has moved from the older analogue works into using self-designed software tools, to create his overall mood related atmospherical music. His input consists of shortwave radio transmissions and field recordings, which are filtered in a pretty nice way into lengthy chunks of atmospherics. Even when the press text talks about industrial, techno and minimalism, but surely ambient is the best place for this music. There are differences to be noted between the two releases. ‘Faraday Cage’ sounds more electronic and has lengthier tracks, whereas the seven pieces of ‘Neurontin’ are much shorter and seems to be built largely on field recordings: birds, people walking and street sounds. I preferred ‘Neurontin’ over ‘Faraday Cage’, since the latter sounded good but walked a bit too much in familiar territory for me, whereas the first had a pretty exciting processing of field recordings, and McNulty proofs to be one of the more interesting composers of microsound. (FdW)
Address: http://www.earphone.org
PILGRIMAGE OF SOUND 2 ABHORANCE – KAZUYA ISHIGAMI (CDR by NEUS-318)
IN A PAST GLORY – GROYXO (CDR by NEUS-318)
Kazuya Ishigami has created a digital reconstruction of primordial life, within warm Permian Seas and on its sandy shores the delicately evolving insect like life appears before the rise of the amphibians, lizards, and mammals who will finally destroy the now new and beautiful ecosystem. In this digital world life forms are simple short lived delicately colored experiments, a world before the rise and the march of the symphonic monsters, bone crunching rhythms and final cacophony of modernity.
The editing of Master Toru Kai of the two short pieces, 12 and 10 minutes, on “In a Past Glory”, is respectful: courteous: the left and right stereo images of white noise and human screams are shifted, cut, and folded, it is not yet black noise, it is brown noise. However any rhythm or temporal regularity that may appear to us as accidental rather than programmed, any hallucination of western order in the apparent entropy of sound is mistaken by that western audience and its preconceptions of what is an non occidental formalism which only the naive reviewer such as myself would attempt to describe, or elucidate. There is no room here for our chaos as it lacks our history, which marks perhaps a fundamental difference between the noise works of the West and those of Japan. (jliat)
Address: http://www.neus318.com
JOSEPH AUER – INNER GALAXIES (CDR by Boltfish Recordings)
Although his name implies something different, Joseph Auer hails from Japan and ‘Inner Galaxies’ is his third release on Boltfish. I didn’t hear the previous two, but this one is quite a nice stomping house thing. At the centre of Auer’s music is the rhythm box pleasantly banging away, with a wave of electronics around it. I am not really a dancer as such, so as for home entertainment this might be a bit too much for the floor with the heavy bass sound, even when this is not pressed on DJ friendly vinyl. Some of the synth parts are perhaps a bit too dominant for the floor, but throughout this is a very nice and very straightforward piece of house music. And even when it’s not really my cup of coffee, I did enjoy this quite a bit. (FdW)
Address: http://www.boltfish.co.uk/
SOME RECENT ACTIONS (CDR compilation by Authorized Version)
NIXILX.NIJIKX – APUTI (3″CDR by Authorized Version)
Things have slowed down for Authorized Version, for reasons I don’t know. Here they return with a compilation CDR that is nothing more than ‘just’ another compilation. No thematic approach or such like. I expected this to be all noise related, for no good reasons I think, but I was quite surprise by it’s content. There is noise, such as by my old friend Odal, Mattin or Cheapmachines, but a band named Western Grey (which includes Philip Samartzis on electronics/environment) follows right after that with a strong careful collage of drums, guitars and feedback sounds. ‘Some Recent Actions’ must be seen as a collection of some recent actions, for which the artists didn’t have a home yet. There is the always nice improvisations of Hood & Rodgers, minimal textured flute music by Number None, radioplay by Claire Hope, microsound by Antti Tolvi & Lau Nau and curious interesting experimental music by Jazzfinger. All in a highly varied disc of all sorts of experimental music captured on one disc, appealing to a wider audience.
Sometimes you receive one of those things, write about and then the name seems to disappear. Nixilx.Nijilx for instance, who released a CDR on Absurd (see Vital Weekly 423), but took a lot of time to create a follow up. This still young guy from Greece still uses electric guitar, voice, microphone noise, toy drum, breath and some field recordings and still creates highly microsounding music. Not that we recognize any of the sound sources listed, as the music is mainly hovering the edges of inaudibility via a low humming mass. Nixilx.Nijilx processes his sounds to the extreme level of not hearing that much anymore and emphasizing only certain low frequencies. Quite nice this, but perhaps also a bit predictable, very much along the lines of somebody like Richard Chartier. (FdW)
Address: http://www.a-version.co.uk
UIUIUI-POU – PENYYNEP AND DARUIN (CDR by neus-318)
FUNAMAN/DARUIN SPLIT CDR (CDR by neus-318)
HAIR PEACH – YINGFAN AND DARUIN (CDR by neus-318)
DARUIN/ANALOG SUICIDE SPLIT CDR (CDR by neus-318)
Sexual intercourse, it is hypothesised by evolutionary science, developed as a means of exchanging DNA code, so it’s a form of communication , I’m sure Derrida has commented on this, if not he certainly should have. Can I then provide a name for Penyynep’s Untitled track on uiuiui-pou, it’s “The digital love song of two automated water pumping stations exchanging data as to their divine love for one another.” Part 1: “Conversation” Part 2: “Excitement and lust” Part 3: “Hi Score!”. It’s all rather sweet and charming. Things calm down with Daruin whose minimal digital landscapes become a familiar place of drifting consciousness. I want to resist the comparisons with Zen gardens and sushi, which would be about as silly as going on about Jamaican’s natural sense of rhythm and ability at cricket.
Stripped of cultural prejudices then I’m reduced to sitting in a vast digital waiting room, waiting, but knowing I’m not waiting for anything. On the funaman/Daruin split CDR there are only two tracks, familiar Daruin soundscapes populated by primitive digital animated electronic life forms, Funaman though inhabits a lower order still, of molecular noise, 60 or 50htz feedback, analogue glitches, squeaks, and high pitched noise stripped down to minimal blocks of about a second or so, and further split by similar spaces of near silence, structured, but more systematically than biologically as in the case of Daruin. Hair Peach begins with Yingfan taking us on a sight seeing tour of the BBC’s Radiophonic workshop in its hey-day.
It’s a breathtaking ride, no time to stretch ones legs before we are rushed off to another set of synth oscillations, static noise texture, lets see it’s 11.15 so this must be Stratford on Avon, or a ring modulator? So when our coach finally pulls up at Hotel Daruin the exhausted tourists can find their way to their rooms and relax in the digital bubble baths provided. The final split is between Daruin and Analog Suicide, the 3 Daruin pieces follow themes previously described, it’s with the 3 pieces from A.S. that a new problematic appears, one of historic and even cosmological significance. (In music that of rhythm.) Briefly put, synchronous Vs. asynchronous, discrete quanta Vs. a continuum. Analog Suicide is the former in both cases, laden with pulses, firmly in the modern tradition even of Stravinsky, strangely out of joint in the post modern world, which is now (of course) outside of history, time and therefore rhythm. (jliat)
Address: http://www.neus318.com
CHEFKIRK – ANXIETY, ART AND DEATH (CDR by Dim Records)
BJERGA/IVERSEN – YOU, THE NIGHT & THE MUSIC (cassette by Dim Records)
Two weeks we introduced Dim Records as a new CDR label, and already Chefkirk threw them a master in a ploy to have a release on every CDR label in the world. No political theme here and now, but the start is promising: soft (!), concrete (!) and letting the sounds work their way. Half way through the second track things explode into the usual barrage of noise. The third piece opens with a bass guitar being played freely and some crackling noise, which grow in loudness and aggressiveness. The final piece is again just noise. An interesting release, since it shows us another Chefkirk, one that may be able to change the menu, but it is something he is probably now afraid to do. Let’s hope this is a route he will explore.
Quite a surprise is the format of the Bjerga/Iversen release, a good old cassette, recorded on what seems to be a recycled cassette from a language course. It has to do with the fact that the music was recorded at ‘Katrine’s summer party’ on a cheap children’s cassette player (my first phoney no doubt). So something that is already lo-fi, being the music of Bjerga/Iversen is recorded lo-fi and presented back in a lo-fi manner: we are not dealing with high end sound quality here, but it fits the music of Bjerga/Iversen quite well, I must say. The slightly distorted guitars, the obscure sound sources (that might sound even more obscure here than they really were), makes this into a nice, willfully obscure release. Even the package is quite retro too. Very nice release. (FdW)
Address: http://www.dimrecords.tk
HL – TAKUMA (3″CDR plus 3″DVD-R by No Ground Processes)
Sport is something I never cared about (except for cycling), so I never heard of Takuma Sato, a formule one racing driver, apparently known for his chaotic performances and spectacular mistakes. Dan Hopkins, a.k.a. HL is a big fan of racing and this release deals with it. Although it’s a big difficult to see the relationship between music and racing. The four music pieces are slow in rhythm, with melancholic piano’s and mumbling cut-up voices. It’s nowhere near the music of say Expanding Records, because of the rhythms being hardly complex at all. One or two tracks are alright, but I have the idea of hearing the same piece four times, which is a pity. The DVD-R contains a ten minute film of fields around Somerset, grass, trees, clouds. The music is a bit more ambient (or perhaps that should be ‘even more ambient’) than on the regular music release, but also again it’s hard to see the relation between racing and these environmental shots (other than that racing is bad for the environment, but that might not be the background here). The interface is a bit difficult on this DVD-R so the other features were out of reach for my player. All in all it’s a fairly alright product, but it’s difficult to guess what it is all about. (FdW)
Address: http://www.noground.co.uk
PUIK – 19 (cassette, private)
In Dutch Puik means ‘great’ in a sort of hip way, but it’s also the name of a four piece band from the USA, female singer, guitar player, drums and some sort of keyboard/flute player. The nineteenth release comes on a cassette and was recorded at the No Club in Harleysville. It’s been recorded on a cassette and presented in the same form to preserve that lo-fi quality that is so absolutely necessary for this kind of music. Sligthly reminding the listener all those other new and hip american improv noise bands, which I generally think as quite old fashioned and outdated improvisation sessions of noise bands that were unleashed on cassette in the mid-eighties that is now hip again.
Actually I lied about the band: I have no idea who or what or when about this. They didn’t bother to write anything on it, no return address, no info. Greatly (not!!) obscure, but why should we care? (FdW)
Address: they didn’t care that much about it and for good reason
CADUCEUS – INFLUENCE VOLUME ELEVEN (MP3 by Caduceus Music)
It’s hardly a surprise that Thomas Brinkmann is an influence on Caduceus, who are still busy with the series of remixes of work that had an influenced on them. In the work of Caduceus so far – and I mean the work that is not in this series, but their own 12″s – the name of Brinkmann always popped up. I must say I am a bit surprised that they chose the more narrative Ester Brinkman moniker, which involves spoken word, but perhaps that is just what attracted them. Only two tracks this time, in which the narrative is not easy to follow and the beats seem a bit blurred. It captures the minimalism of Brinkmann, but just the notion of minimalism and not so much the clarity and sharpness of his sound. Both tracks are considerable longer, or rather longer than we are used to, but they lack some power to hold one’s attention. A pity that this one is one of the lesser ones. (FdW)
Address: http://www.caduceusmusic.net
correction: the correct website address of Elektron Records: http://www.elektronrecords.com
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