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VITAL WEEKLY
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number 550
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week 44
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Vital Weekly, the webcast: 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
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* noted are in this week's podcast
IDEA FIRE COMPANY - VITAL (LIVE IN EUROPE)
(CD by Swill Radio) *
ULTRE - ALL THE DARKNESS HAS GONE TO DETAILS (CD by Audiobulb)
*
ANTHEA CADDY & THEMBI SODDELL - ILAND (CD by Cajid Media)
*
EFZEG - KROM (CD by Hat Hut) *
PENUMBRA BOOMING (CD compilation by Roggbif Records) *
DAVE PHILLIPS - 6 (CD by The Egg And We Music) *
KOJI ASANO - BAROQUE ENSEMBLE NO.1-NO.5 (CD by Solstice) *
QUENCH - CAIPRUSS (CD by n5MD)
LAST DAYS - SEA (CD by n5MD)
ANOTHER ELECTRONIC MUSICIAN - PATIENCE (CD by n5MD)
BLUEPRINTS - (CD compilation by 12K)
SEAWORTHY - MAP IN HAND (CD by 12K) *
TOMAS PHILLIPS - INTERMISSION/SIX FEUILLES (CD by Line) *
TRIO JEAN FELIX MAILLOUX - AURORES BORÉALES (CD by Malasartes
Musique)
DAMIAN NISENSON & JEAN FELIX MAILLOUX & PIERRE TANGUAY
- MUZIKA (CD by Malasartes Musique)
I, MUTE HUMMINGS (CD compilation by Ex Ovo Records)
KEITH BERRY & IAIN STEWART - 58 DEGREES NORTH (DVD-R, private)
MATHEW ADKINS - MONDES INCONNUS (DVD AUDIO by EMPREINTES DIGITALES)
PETE STOLLERY - UN SON PEUT EN CACHER UN AUTRE (DVD AUDIO by EMPREINTES
DIGITALES)
BUM COLLAR - VERSATILE STYLES (CDR by Club Moral) *
A.M.B. - CHLORAMPHENOL (CDR by Tib Prod) *
DANNY KREUTZFELDT - DISRUPTION (CDR by Tib Prod) *
ASCANIO BORGA - INNER GEOMETRY (CDR, private)
ASCANIO BORGA - LIQUID SYMMETRIES (CDR, private)
ASCANIO BORGA - BAD GROUND (CDR, private) *
IDEA FIRE COMPANY - VITAL (LIVE IN EUROPE)
(CD by Swill Radio)
For many years the Idea Fire Company has been active on the fringes
of experimental music. Self-supportive and fully independent they
are responsible for a series of brilliant albums (including this
years' beautiful Stranded LP) and live performances. In March
2006 Scott Foust and Karla Borecky of Idea Fire Company came over
to Europe to play a series of live shows. On these dates they
were accompanied by Frans de Waard (Beequeen). I was very curious
to see how Idea Fire Company without the two other members Meara
O´Reilly and Jessi Leigh Swenson would hold up. The first
show, or rather the try-out, was in Extrapool in Nijmegen. Even
though at 20 minutes it was a short set, I was impressed the now
threesome of Foust, Borecky and De Waard played very well together,
staying close the typical Idea Fire Company sound. This CD (a
'best of' from the various shows) features three tracks from Rotterdam,
one from Bremen and one from Hasselt.
Starting off with a silly, but somehow fitting spoken introduction
by Peter Fengler, the first song 'Pleasure Cruise' is absolutely
great; based on a repeated sample with washes of sound and radio
bits and pieces (Foust's speciality) it is my favourite track
from the CD. 'Cycle 19' is more ambient and synthesizer based
(the synths are courtesy of Borecky), 'Hanging' has some serious
radio frequences and static and is more fragmented by character.
'Pour HG' features a one-note synth drone with radio sounds added.
The last song of the CD is a second version of 'Pleasure Cruise',
which even though it features the same sample, sounds nothing
like the first version. Even though their songs may sound simple
on paper, the Idea Fire Company has a truly unique sound of their
own. Well-recorded and mixed with just the right amount of ambience
from the clubs themselves this is a great addition to an already
great catalogue of music and it comes highly recommended. (FK)
Address: http://www.anti-naturals.org/swill
ULTRE - ALL THE DARKNESS HAS GONE TO DETAILS
(CD by Audiobulb)
Just when we thought Audiobulb were only releasing MP3s, they
arrive with a new CD release by Ultre, also known as Finn mcNicholas,
who despite his young age of twnety-four has been active in music
since ten years. Before he played in 'loud bands', but spends
his days now behind the computer, creating his music, for this
release, but also for TV, short films, PSP when not on the road
to play live. If I understood right, all the music on this CD
was made by sounds of piano, strings, guitar as well as some metal
bow he built himself. It took me some time to understand what
this was all about, as upon initial listening I put this CD away
as another attempt to connect to the melancholic intelligent dance
music, from the likes of Expanding Records or Highpoint Lowlife.
After repeated listening I must say that I enjoyed it more and
more, but still can't escape the fact that it sounds like those
labels. Maybe at times, Ultre sounds even more ambient, or perhaps
even a bit more experimental, such as in 'Orchestre Neutron',
but throughout the beats rolls over eachother. The interesting
moments of Ultre is where piano is heard and some processed guitar
or strings and things are less beat oriented. There he breaks
away from the somewhat rigid idiom that this kind of music has,
and shows the original sound (although it might move towards ambient
music). It's a fairly good album, which certainly holds possibilities
for the future. (FdW)
Address: http://www.audiobulb.com
ANTHEA CADDY & THEMBI SODDELL - ILAND
(CD by Cajid Media)
From down under comes this all female duet of
Anthea Caddy and Thembi Soddell. Caddy plays cello. She has worked
with Darrin Verhagen in the past, played at various Australian
festivals and has her solo work released by Australian Computer
Music Association and Liquid Architecture. Thembi Soddell plays
sampler on this release. Her previous solo work, 'Instance' was
also released by Cajid Media (see Vital Weekly 495). She samples
the cello from Caddy, but also adds her own blend of field recordings.
'File under: Contemporay Brutality', which is of course funny,
but at the same time, also the case at hand. The music by Caddy
and Soddell is indeed quite contemporary classical sounding, with
it's mass of cello sounds, breaking together, colliding, and with
whatever sounds Soddell is adding to the mix. At the same time,
it's not just brutality that is going on: there are moments of
absolute silence. The dynamic range of this release is quite strong.
Going from absolute nowhere to absolute anywhere. A work that
requires full attention in order to unfold it's beauty. Blocks
of furious classical sound are replaced by careful static sounds.
References go out to Jani Christou or Xenakis. A particular strong
work here. (FdW)
Address: http://www.cajid.com
EFZEG - KROM (CD by Hat Hut)
Since a fine number of years Efzeg has been kicking around, out
of the heart of Austria. It's a five piece, on Boris Hauf (saxophones,
synths, computer), Billy Roisz (computer; before mainly as a VJ,
but now also doing audio), Martin Siewert (guitars, lap steel,
electronics), Burkhard Stangl (guitars, electronica) and dieb13
(computer, turntables). An all improvising group and as such it's
not strange to see them on Hat Hut (file under: jazz/free improvisation
it says on the cover), but until now I had Hat Hut in my book
as a fairly traditional improvisation label, but what do I know?
Efzeg never occured to me as a traditional improvisation group.
Many, if not all, of their releases so far were captures of their
live playing, but on 'Krom' (means 'bent' in Dutch, oddly enough,
but here derived from chromatin - the part of a cell nucleus that
stains with specific substances), this is only partly the case.
Over the course of three days, Efzeg recorded in SWR studios in
Baden-baden in Germany, but afterwards Hauf did all the editing
of the material, into what we now have on CD. So it's perhaps
a composition derived from improvisation, or some such. It's an
excellent CD, that is for the most very quiet. Sounds move in
and out in a very gentle way. Only the fourth track is a bit more
noise related, but don't expect Efzeg to go the full Merzbow way:
it still stays on the friendly side of things. Efzeg's music can
be heard through very concentrated listening, but I rather take
their music as a bath: you glide it and get carried away. Perhaps
not the way to note all the delicate small differences and refinements
in sound, but to sit back and crank up the volume a little bit
and then let the music flow by. A great CD, perhaps the best I
encountered from Efzeg until now. (FdW)
Address: http://www.hathut.com
PENUMBRA BOOMING (CD compilation by Roggbif
Records)
On this three way disc, we find Jon Eriksen, Sten Ove Toft and
Utarm - all three from Norway's underground noise scene. Toft
is perhaps best known for he is a member of Ryfylke and has had
various solo releases. Jon Eriksen however opens the CD with a
harsh noise piece in the best Merzbow tradition and of similar
quality. He is also the only one to have two tracks, the second
being the closing piece of the CD, in which he reprises what he
does in the opening piece, and following the softer and subtle
ending of Utarm, it makes a nice counter point.
Sten Ove Toft has the longest piece of the four pieces here, and
shows him at his best. Starting out in a soft manner, he quickly
fades things up into a machine like drone. When it reaches it's
peak, volume wise (which is much softer that Eriksen) he plays
with subtle phase shifting of the material. Only towards the end
things get more noiser. Utarm has a strange piece of sampled orchestral
sounds, which are fed through a whole bunch of sound effects,
mainly reverb. Although it's highly dark and loaded atmospherical
piece of music, I must say it's not well spend on me. It's heavier
moments reminded me too much of music on Cold Meat Industry, and
I was never a big fan of that. Only the subtle ending was quite
nice. As an introduction to these Norwegian noise makers, this
is a very fine disc, with Toft being the prize winner. (FdW)
Address: http://www.roggbif.com/
DAVE PHILLIPS - 6 (CD by The Egg And We
Music)
There is of course a lot of noise music out there, but there is
only a handful people that do something that is really interesting.
Merzbow provides the real thing, R.H. Yau and Dave Phillips do
their own thing in the field of noise music, and they do a more
than excellent job. '6' is Dave Phillips latest offering and it
is a true blow. Phillips has been a member of Schimpfluch Gruppe,
Fear Of God, Ohne and Dead Peni, but his true power is in his
solo work. He blends together field recording, real noise, insect
recordings, cracked electro acoustic sound and voice together
in a truely fascinating manner. Not always loud, in fact hardly
loud, but in a true collage style: moments of sheer silence are
cut off with segments of cracking objects, insect sounds, speeding
up tapes, people shouting on the street and then perhaps, perhaps,
silence again. Twenty-three tracks in total, all with a super-long
title, but this is best experienced as one long track. The dramatic
impact is so much greater. Play this loud and you'll be scared
shitless. It might be no coincidence that's halloween today? Noise
music isn't about playing whatever in loud volume only, but deals
with all forms of sound that are put in some context, tells us
a rather unpleasant story, which in Phillips case is all about
religion and the wars it lead to. A very very clever release,
and establishes once again Phillips as a master of noise. (FdW)
Address: <zvuuk@open.by>
KOJI ASANO - BAROQUE ENSEMBLE NO.1-NO.5
(CD by Solstice)
Over the years, we have reviewed much music. A lot of music that
can be classified as experimental, but every now and then an odd
ball of rock music, prog rock, modern classical and what have
you. But baroque music? Nah, don't think so. Whereas we are wholly
unclassified to write about rock, prog rock and modern classic
music, we are really in the dark about baroque music, and yet
this is exactely what we get here from Koji Asano. He wrote five
pieces of baroque music, for the Ensemble Deneb, which I believe
are dutch. Recorder, oboe, violin, harpsichord and cello and they
play these five pieces. I am baffled. I can't say I hate it, can't
say I particular like it. It's just one of those things that is
what is. Baroque music. Not with a twist, not with some edge.
Baroque music. Not bad to hear, and certainly quite a surprise
after being at the dentist who always plays similar music. If
we did star ratings, I'd say: ????? (FdW)
Address: http://www.kojiasano.com
QUENCH - CAIPRUSS (CD by n5MD)
LAST DAYS - SEA (CD by n5MD)
ANOTHER ELECTRONIC MUSICIAN - PATIENCE (CD by n5MD)
Of all bands in the world California-based project Gridlock remains
one of the ultimate to combine Industrial/IDM sound spheres with
strong emotional elements. Listen to their album "Formless"
out on Hymen Records back in 2003 and you know exactly what I
mean! Gridlock has dissolved, but the conceptual approach somehow
seems to live on with the n5MD-label that was established by ex-Gridlock
member Mike Cadoo back in 2000. Not that all releases of n5MD
sounds like Gridlock, but as the label writes on the web-site
the releases of n5MD deals with "emotional experiments in
music". The three present releases beautifully confirm that
fact! Dutch brothers Don and Roel Funcken, also known as the men
behind the Funckarma-project, operates in the IDM-territories
on their debut as Quench. Soundscapes of warm tranquilizing ambient
drifts in the background, giving space to ongoing waves of rhythm
textures that penetrates only to fade away giving space for new
forms of beat patterns. The album titled "Caipruss"
nicely balances between progressive breakbeat-textures and strong
emotional melodies. There is a nice jazzy feeling on quite a few
tracks on the album. Especially the track titled "Thaenailz"
moves away from the emotive atmosphere with the use of cool and
catchy jazz-like rhythm-textures and with only a slight touch
of melody. An excellent album operating in soundspheres not too
far away from Autechre. Drifting in quite different sonic worlds,
the emotional aspect remains in the debut album by American composer
Graham Richardson alias Last Days. In fact the emotive expressions
goes deeper into melancholic soundspheres on this one. "Incredibly
beautiful" is the first few words slipping to my tongue to
describe the album with the perfect title "Sea" (Imagine
yourself drifting somewhere in the sea, you cannot help but letting
the tones of "Sea" take you wherever it want to). Last
Days as a project floats in the space between edgy ambient and
melancholic postrock reminiscent of "Godspeed You! Black
Emperor", though still quite different from the aforementioned
Canadians since Graham Richardson has a more electronic approach
to expression. Apart from the electronically created ethereal
soundscapes the compositions on the album has much emphasis on
the the acoustic based sound world with gentle guitar strums and
strong passages of cello play. "Sea" is a remarkably
beautiful sound experience that will be your best friend throughout
these cold and dark autumn days here in the Northern Hemisphere!
Californian composer Jase Rex is the man behind last project described
here. Carrying the funny name "Another Electronic Musician",
Mr. Rex is another change in direction from the two aforementioned
projects. Being closest to Quench, Another Electronic Musician
works in the IDM-oriented field with comprehensive use of clicking
microsounds and glitches. There is a nice spacey feeling on the
album, with slowly waving melodies assisting the complex rhythm
texture. With quite a few track lasting for more than 10 minutes,
Jase Rex takes plenty of time to let the glitchy ambient minimalism
slowly develop. And it really works well! Reminiscent of a crossover
between clicks'n'cuts expert Pole and The Orb in Alex Paterson's
most chilling ambient-period around U.F. Orb, this is another
high quality album from n5MD. The album title is a liar though:
You do not need patience to dig into this beauty! There is a lot
going on in the US electronica-scene of today. n5MD is a good
label to begin your explorations (NMP)
Address: http://www.n5MD.com
BLUEPRINTS - (CD compilation by 12K)
SEAWORTHY - MAP IN HAND (CD by 12K)
TOMAS PHILLIPS - INTERMISSION/SIX FEUILLES (CD by Line)
Probably it's quite a risk, taken here by 12K, but all three releases
(two on 12K and one on sub-division Line) are all by virtual unknown
people. That is a risk in itself, since who wants music by someone
nobody ever heard of, but also the actual musical content of the
label. 12K is after all a label that is known for a very specific
kind of glitchy and ambient music, a kind of music that we may
have heard every corner of. So bravo to 12K for taking these risks.
But 12K's Taylor Deupree is a clever boy: first he releases a
compilation in the fine compilation tradition of the label, and
to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the label. Not with Frank
Bretschneider or Richard Chartier, but with two tracks of six
artists, who will all release their own full length next year.
A such 'Blueprints' is indeed the plan of things to come, but
it might also be considered a blueprint of the state of glitch
music. Only Leo Abrahams is known for his release on Bip-hop,
the other five are all new to me, even when some of them have
had releases before. At first I played this CD without noting
too much about the various bands and my first impression was:
good and solid microsound and glitch ambient, but without too
much difference. Only if you listen closely you will detect the
differences, such as the post-rock guitars of Seaworthy, the bit
of more noise direction of Christmas Decorations, spacious ambient
sounds by Autistici, the ambient concrete of Jodi Cave and the
all out, bit progressive guitars by Leo Abrahams. It takes those
in the knowledge to recognize these subtle differences, but it
doesn't make a such a varied CD, which doesn't mean that what
is pressed on it is of lesser quality. It's all of a very high
quality and each of the players seems to have found it's own little
niche inside ambient glitch. Which makes a great promise for their
solo releases.
At the same time 12K releases 'Map In Hand' by Seaworthy, a three
piece from Australia, who released a whole bunch of CDRs, lathe
cut 7"s on such labels as Celebrate Psi Phenomenon, Misplaced
Music, 555 and Fat Cat. 'Map In Hand' was already released as
a CDR in an edition of 128 copies by Feral Media. Seaworthy, being
Camereon Webb (who seems to be the core member), Sam Shinazzi
and Greg Bird, uses guitar, piano, electronics and field recordings.
At the heart of the music are the guitar loops and drones it produces.
They were recorded on cassettes and reel-to-reel tapes and later
on transferred to the computer, including all the hiss and errors
for a further processing stage. This makes this into a quite a
nice bunch of tracks that is sometimes mere sketch like and sometimes
is a more a worked out piece of music. The guitar as such is always
to be recognized from the drones and carefull processing stages,
making this a nice cross-over from the Windy & Carl like post
rock into the areas of microsound and ambient glitch. Perhaps
not exactely new either, but at least it is a bit different than
what we are common with, and nicely done throughout.
I said three times unknown, but of course Tomas Phillips isn't
that unknown. His CD for Trente Oiseaux we didn't hear, and the
three releases that we reviewed all were in collaboration with
others, such as I8U (Vital Weekly 515), Tobias C. van Veen (Vital
Weekly 499) and more recently with Dean King (Vital Weekly 425).
These three releases were all fine excursions into the world of
microsound, and 'Intermission/Six Feuilles' is no different, except
that it is his first solo CD we hear. Phillips takes the acoustic
instruments, piano and koto (a Japanese string instrument) into
the world of digital processing. Well, or perhaps vice versa.
Sparse notes that reveal a love of Morton Feldman, although certainly
at the beginning Phillips uses more notes than Feldman would do,
the work evolves of it's almost thirty-eight minute course into
something that goes down in volume and activity, it seems. Sparseness,
silence, tranquility: it all gets bigger and bigger, despite some
occasional 'outbursts', which still happens here and there. Phillips
places himself in the tradition of Bernard Günter for his
use of instruments, and also along the lines of Roel Meelkop,
Marc Behrens and Richard Chartier in use of silent electronics.
A great, but perhaps somewhat traditional release. (FdW)
Address: http://www.12k.com
TRIO JEAN FELIX MAILLOUX - AURORES BORÉALES
(CD by Malasartes Musique)
DAMIAN NISENSON & JEAN FELIX MAILLOUX & PIERRE TANGUAY
- MUZIKA (CD by Malasartes Musique)
You may have noticed that the canadian Ambiances Magnetiques label
concentrated on new jazz in the last few years with there series
of jazz releases. This trend is continued with the new associated
label Malasartes Musique. Although this label welcomes any new
music, the first two releases are definitely jazz. The label is
founded by Damian Nisenson, an argentinian born musician and actor
who came from Europe to Montréal in 2005. He assimilated
quickly it seems, as he presents now his own record on his own
label. Not bad. Under the wings of Dame Distribution his music
will now also attract international attention, which was not the
case for his musical activities in Argentina with Dosaxos 2 and
the Nisenson Kabusacki Dawidowicz Trio.
Except for one traditionel tune, Nisenson composed the rest of
the music on 'Muzika'. Performers are Jean Félix Mailloux
on bass, Pierre Tanguay on drums and Nisenson on tenor, alt and
sopranino saxes. If I,m not mistaken I hear klezmer-like influences
in some the compositions. Also in his phrasing Nisenson I hear
the influence of jewish music at some moments. These and other
influences are melted succesfully in a music that in the end is
very jazzy in nature. Nisenson proves himself as a disciplined
and devoted player who knows what atmosphere he wants to create.
The very experienced Tanguay delivers wonderfull contributions.
On Jean Félix Mailloux I can say more listening to the
cd of his trio. With Arden Arapyan on piano and Jonathan Racine-Ménard
on drums and Maillous himself on bass this trio brings to life
nine compositions of Mailloux. All three of them are are young
musicians of Montréal, active in miscellaneous musical
contexts, which is the modus operandi nowadays for so many musicians
that are open to what is happening. In the combination of this
trio they met each other for their love for a very lyrical - nightclubbish
- kind of jazz. The drummer shuffles his way almost timidly, as
does the bass with its warm sound. This way both give room to
the pianoplayer, who with his nice touch, plays wonderfull melodies.
The compositions are ok, but also very conform the rules of this
standarised kind of music. Nothing wrong with it, as it is very
well done, but not my piece of cake. Allthough, I have to admit
that this cd did tremble my prejudices on their feet, wanting
to surrender to the swing. (DM)
Address: http://www.actuelle.cd/
I, MUTE HUMMINGS (CD compilation by Ex Ovo
Records)
KEITH BERRY & IAIN STEWART - 58 DEGREES NORTH (DVD-R, private)
A while ago we reviewed an excellent CDR release by Mirko Uhlig
called 'Vivmmi' (see Vital Weekly 525), which should be re-released
on a CD is my humble opinion. Back then I though that the Ex Ovo
label was merely a vehicle to release this work, but much to my
pleasant surprise I receive now 'I, Mute Hummings' a real CD,
a compilation, along with a CDR that comes with the first 100
copies. Maybe Ex Ovo will be a real label, and maybe they will
consider putting ' Vivmmi' out as a real CD? The subtitle of the
compilation is 'A Collection Of Drone Music And Dulcet Atmospheres',
and it brings together some of the more known players in the field
(or perhaps even the true stars, such as Troum), but also people
like Jeffrey Roden, Dronaement, Rochard Lainhart and Steve Jollife,
who played on 'Cyclone', a 1978 record by Tangerine Dream. Some
of the contributions sound exactely like we expect them to do,
like the guitar humming of Fear Falls Burning, Troum's psychedelic
sounding space or Keith Berry or Paul Bradley's darker than life
music. All of high quality, even when a bit predictable. The interesting
pieces comes from Dronaement, with processed voices (or should
it possesed voices?) and crackling vinyl, Jeffrey Roden's guitar
playing on the veranda, Steve Jolliffe's flute playing in a onkyo
meets drone style mix (courtesy of Mirko Uhlig) and Column One
providing the harshest tones in a piece that sound like Organum
circa 'In Extremis'. Richard Lainhart's 'White Nights' closes
the CD, but it sounds too much like regular ambient music to me.
And if the first seventy-seven minutes aren't enough, there is
the possibility of ordering 'Mute Scribbles', another seventy-two
minutes of highly similar music, but by people that are lesser
known, and who all have releases on CDR labels, such as Einzeleinheit
(like Mirko Uhlig, Brian Uzna, Feu Follet) or Verato (like Emerge).
Throughout the pieces here things seemed a bit more minimal and
less worked out than on 'I, Mute Hummings'. Field recordings and
synthesizer hummings play an important role in these pieces, but
without much development, at least most of the times. Not that
I think this is a great problem, since these are mighty fine pieces
too. The best here is by Aalfang Mit Pferdekopf, who cleverly
waves ambient patterns together with CD skippings. Not in an Oval-like
manner, but as 'mistakes'. A fine piece. And the complete thing
is a long trip in the darker underworld of sound. Some names are
missing, like the complete UK scene, but it offers many new names
instead. In terms of drone music a fine and steady release.
Present on 'I, Mute Hummings' is Keith Berry, who provided the
soundtrack to a film by one Iain Stewart, called '58 degrees North'.
To create film to music by people like Keith Berry, it is not
difficult to turn to the imagery of landscapes, or in this case,
sea scapes. Big panorama shots of the sea, with it's slow waves.
Then a clouded sea scape with some rain somewhere in the back.
Berry's music is that of stretched out sounds, which fits the
aquatic theme quite well. Both the music and film are made with
great care, but both thread also common ground and such offer
no new road to the development of drone music. Not that is necessary
always, but some development wouldn't hurt. (FdW)
Address: http://www.exovo.org
Address: http://www.iainstewartphotos.co.uk
MATHEW ADKINS - MONDES INCONNUS (DVD AUDIO
by EMPREINTES DIGITALES)
PETE STOLLERY - UN SON PEUT EN CACHER UN AUTRE (DVD AUDIO by EMPREINTES
DIGITALES)
The canadian label Empreintes Digitales releases two cds with
compositions from english composers and performers of electro-acoustic
music. 'Mondes Inconnus' brings together 8 works that were composed
between 1995 and 2004. The composer is Mathew Adkins. He started
in 1993 as a member of BEAST (Birmingham Electro Acoustic Sound
Theatre). He received many international prizes for his electro-acoustic
compositions. So he is someone with a reputation in the circles
of electro-acoustic music. This is also the case for Pete Stollery
who, just like Adkins, studied composition with Jonty Harrison
in Birmingham. Also Stollery has his work - mostly electro-acoustic
music - performed all over Europe and America. On his new cd 'Un
Son Peut En Cacher Un Autre' seven works composed between 1993
and 2003 are presented. Since 1996 both gentlemen established
with some others the group invisiblEARts whose aim it is to perform
and promote acousmatic music. All this may sound as if we are
in highly academic and elitist environment with these two composers.
But let me assure you these two composers are absolutely no boring
company. In their own way both offer some very exciting and satisfying
electro-acoustic music. A music that still is very much alife
since it was initiated by Pierre Schaeffer.
Especially in the works of Stollery a diversity of concrete sounds
can be traced and identified.
From this Stolley builts abstract and
surrealistic soundscapes. He succeeds in preserving the 'purity'
of the original sounds, which makes his work very colorful. With
a great sense for detail, he composes dynamic and intriguing structures
that kept my attention from beginning to the end. I,m not familiar
enough with this kind of music in order to discover whether these
electro-acoustic compositions carry a personal signature. Listening
to both cds I found myself unable in identifying the hand of Adkins
or Stollery. In general the works of Adkins are more ambient-like
and synthetic, and less whimsical then the works of Stollery.
As indicated above, both items are released as DVD audio. This
means that you look, while listening, to a static picture on your
screen. But this adds absolutely nothing. For this kind of music
you better close your eyes and let your phantasy produce it,s
own pictures. Recommended. (DM)
Address: http://www.empreintesdigitales.com/
BUM COLLAR - VERSATILE STYLES (CDR by Club
Moral)
Not being a quiz man myself, it eluded me at first of course that
Bum Collar is an anagram of Club Moral. Club Moral died after
twenty-some years last year, with core members DDV and AMVK moving
to different countries and pursueing other fields of art, although
DDV still, irregular, podcasts the excellent Club Moral archive.
So for whatever reasons I am not aware of they reunited, still
with Mauro Pawlowski on guitars (just as in the last years of
Club Moral-as-band) and with one Paul Mennes of browntones and
engineering. I must say I am not too impressed with this first
work. The guitar by Pawlowski adds an improvisational quality
to some of the songs which takes away some of the sharpness of
some of the tracks. Furthermore Bum Collar uses a rhythm machine
- nothing against that - but it sounds a bit too weak. What remains,
is DDV voices and piercing electronics, the two main ingredients
of Club Moral, which work well, just as in 'I Feel Bad'. Overall
it seems to me a bit directionless and throughout it reaches out
for a power that is not there yet. It's a bit hard to tell what
is 'wrong' with it. Perhaps the production? The actual songs?
No ideas here. I can see the potential of Bum Collar, I can hear
what I don't like about it, but the solution I don't have. Let's
wait and see what they come up with. (FdW)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/bumcollarsound
A.M.B. - CHLORAMPHENOL (CDR by Tib Prod)
DANNY KREUTZFELDT - DISRUPTION (CDR by Tib Prod)
These two releases on Tib Prod are quite surprising. Not because
Tib Prod releases such things, but the actual, musical content
of the music. Behind A.M.B. we find Miguel A. Ruiz (DSP programming,
digital editing), Heike Boehm (modulated voix) and Siegmar Fricke
(programmings, sequencing). Fricke and Ruiz have been active in
electronic music since more than twenty years, and perhaps that's
the moment when things start to itch. Why always be serious, be
experimental? Why not something to dance too? I am not sure if
that is the thing that went through their mind, but the 'beach
mix' of the title tracks certainly hints that way. It has an uplifting
techno beat, with vocoded vocals. It's perhaps a pity that this
track appears here in four different versions, some rhythmic,
some ambient. But four out of nine is a bit much. Being not much
of a dancer myself, I can't say wether this would fill the floor
very well, but somehow I doubt that. It's a bit too slow, and
a bit too outdated. Ten or so years ago, when ambient house was
it's peak, this would have certainly found it's way to one of
the smaller labels wanting to jump the bandwagon and even today
it makes a highly pleasant listen, without being highly original.
Surprising however to see these boys do this.
And what is also surprising is the EP (twenty minutes) by Danny
Kreutzfeldt, whom we know mostly through his ambient releases
on Databloem. Some of those also carried traces of rhythm oriented
music, as found on Chain Reaction. However on 'Disruption' things
are much more, a lot more noise related. Everything is full on
with regard to the noise. All the filters are wide open, and the
result is, once it started, a full on blast of noise in a good
Merzbowian tradition, but however without the decisive force that
the master of Japan is known for. I think I prefer his other work
much more. It's not that I don't like noise, but this just isn't
it. (FdW)
Address: http://www.tibprod.com
ASCANIO BORGA - INNER GEOMETRY (CDR, private)
ASCANIO BORGA - LIQUID SYMMETRIES (CDR, private)
ASCANIO BORGA - BAD GROUND (CDR, private)
Perhaps to shed some light on his career, Ascanio Borga mailed
me three of his releases, of which Bad Ground is the latest. The
other two are from 2001 and 2002 respectively, but still available.
I will not make a habit in reviewing things that old, and briefly
mention them here. Borga plays guitar, among them in a trash-death
band Die (trash-death), Ossinax (experimental rock), Kajal (techno
rock), Renoir (alternative rock), Thought #0 (dark rock), Peckimpah
(instrumental post-rock), but like so many others captured in
Vital Weekly there is a corner in his heart for experimental and
electronic music.
His 2001 release 'Inner Geometry' is a fixed point in time of
ambient music. Arpeggio's in the title track is perhaps not the
best starting point, but the the three other tracks also stay
a bit too much on the safe side of ambient music. Music that was
produced this way twenty years ago, and will still be done in
excately similar fashion in twenty years time. Fine, but not great.
'Liquid Symmetries' is from a year later and is apparentely entirely
improvised. Long piece, all in the range of eight to fourteen
minutes of slowly shifting material, many with some vague traces
of an acquatic theme, with slowed down bubbling sounds, either
from samples sources of water sound, but heavily processed in
the world of sound effects. Highly ambient, but with a healthy
dose of experimentalism.
Which brings us to 'Bad Ground', after a leap of four years his
latest release. Not sure what happened in those four years, but
life certainly has become a little bit more dark for Borga. Only
two tracks here, still spanning forty-seven minutes, but what
is captured here is certainly more dark than the previous two
releases. Ambient industrial music with a big 'A' and a big 'I'.
Chilling to the bone, this is a post-nuclear war soundtrack. The
last man on earth wanders around through the wasteland and the
nuclear fall out is everywhere. The music is like a giant dark
cloud hanging over this desolate landscape and rusty chains mark
the no go area. By far the best release of the three, even when
also 'Bad Ground' walks common ground in the world of ambient
industrial music, but it's executed with great care. (FdW)
Address: http://www.ascanioborga.com
PODCAST ANNOUNCEMENT:
From: "gintas k" <gintaskr@takas.lt>
Crónica is proud to present the 15th
Crónicaster, by Gintas K.
http://www.cronicaelectronica.org/cronicaster/cronicast015.mp3
http://www.cronicaelectronica.org/?one=cronicaster
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