NOTE: there will be no Vital Weekly in week 8. In week 9 we’ll return but somewhat later in the week, probably Thursday March 1st. Please send announcements in time!
BLEIBURG – PIECES OF A BROKEN DREAM (CD by Cold Spring)
MUSLIMGAUZE – SPEAKER OF TURKISH (Cd by Soleilmoon)
EDWARD KA-SPEL – EYES, CHINA DOLL (CD by Beta Lactam-ring Records)
THE HAFLER TRIO – IGNOTIUM PER IGNOTIUS (CD by Korm Plastics)
JONAS BRAASCH – GLOBAL REFLECTIONS (CD by Deep Listening)
KENNETH KIRSCHNER – THREE COMPOSITIONS (CD by Sirr-ecords) *
AT HOME – At Home (CD by home.pop.rec)
TOMASZ BEDNARCZYK – Summer Feelings (CD by home.pop.rec)
MILIPOP/TOMASZ BEDNARCZYK – S.M.I.L.E. (CD by Eta)
HUBERT NOI & HOWIE B – MUSIC FOR ASTRONAUTS AND COSMONAUTS (2CD by Laton)
INFRA RED ARMY – ENTRAIL (CD by laton)
FRACTAL HEADS – LIGHT ON THE STEPPED PLATES (CD by Laton)
PAPIRO – AVVENTURE LONTANE (LP by Some Fine Legacy/A Tree In A Field)
G.S Ø7 – ACCESSOIRES (CDR by Un Arbe En Bois) *
MYSTIFIED – INSTABILITY (CDR by Ambolthue) *
MYSTIFIED/ORIGAMI STATIKA – WRATH OF GAWD/QUALITY BONES (CDR by Krakilsk)
KLUBB KANIN NOVEMBER 2006 (2CDR by Krakilsk)
KAMLOOPS – I GOT TO HOLD A HUMMINGBIRD TODAY (CDR by Ambolthue)
TRAVIS JUST – NATIONAL REFORM (CDR by Object Collection) *
FRANK EICKHOFF & TRAVIS JUST & ANNE VORTISCH (CDR by Object Collection)
Z’EV – METAPHONICS (CDR by Eter Production) *
RAY OFF – NOTHING LIKE A RIBBON ROUND A PARCEL (CDR by Black Petal) *
DJ WHITE PIMPERNELL – LOVEDJWHITEPIMPERNELLXXX (CDR by Black Petal)
VODKA SPARROWS – DEATH A THOUSAND TIMES OVER (CDR by Black Petal)
LÖTY NEGARTI & HISU & JION JANG – GARGUNTUA (CDR by Hamaika) *
SKIFTINGAR – THOR MOMENTS (CDR by Hamaika)
CANZONIERE SINTETICO – TEUFELTANZMASKEN (CDR by Rudimentale) *
L’ADDIMMURU (CDR by Rudimentale)
CHEAPMACHINES – FUGUE CYCLE (CDR by Con-V) *
SASCHA NEUDECK – SEROTON (MP3 by Con-V)
XEDH – SOMOS BUENA GENTE (MP3 by Tib Prod)
XEDH – COMPOSITION IN RED (MP3 by Camonille)
XEDH – RENCLOSER (MP3 by Picomedia) *
BLEIBURG – PIECES OF A BROKEN DREAM (CD by Cold Spring)
Despite the impressive catalogue of Bleiburg, I must admit that I had never heard of this project before UK-label Cold Spring released this album titled “Pieces of a broken dream”. Fortunately though, a number of more or less known sound artists knew of this very interesting project called Bleiburg. Bleiburg, German-based project headed by Stefan Rukavina, creates music that floats in spheres of dark ambience and ritual industrial. This latest release of Bleiburg represents a
very interesting mixture of materials from collaborations between Bleiburg and other interesting sound artists plus unreleased materials of Bleiburg. The joint venture tracks ranges from neo-folk (collaborations with Soil Bleeds Black, Lonsai Maikov, Larrnakh etc.) to harsh moments of noise (collaborations with Telepherique, Nocturne, Project Toth, Aube etc.). Elements of ethno-electronics also appear through out the album, peaking with the closing track “Traumwelt”, a collaboration between Bleiburg and Vidna Obmana that results in a tense work of ethno-oriented ambient in the best manner of Vidna Obmana. Another great moment on this 150 minutes musical journey comes on second disc with the 14 minutes track “Soshite Sorekara”, an intense track that develops from claustrophobic isolationist ambient to abrasive yet beautifully controlled noise by Japanese noise legend Aube. “Pieces of a broken dream” can both be considered as an impressive compilation of contemporary electronics and as a first-lesson into the sonic world of Bleiburg. No matter which way you choose, this is an excellent listening experience. Highly recommended. (NMP)
Address: http://www.coldspring.co.uk
MUSLIMGAUZE – SPEAKER OF TURKISH (Cd by Soleilmoon)
This is good news! Eight years after the slipping away of Bryn Jones – the man behind the incredible ethno-electronic project Muslimgauze – Soleilmoon Recordings has just released a brand new Muslimgauze-album. The intelligent reader might wonder how a new album can be released so many years after his passing away back in early January of 1999! The simple, yet quite extraordinary, answer to this question is, that Bryn Jones had so much to express musically that he had new materials ready for release on an almost weekly basis. The number of albums released after his death approaches the number of albums that was launched while Bryn Jones was still active. The driving force of Muslimgauze was to express his sympathy for the Muslim people. The combination of this and the fact that Bryn Jones was an incredible artist of electronic sound, resulted in a countless number of personal albums, combining ethnic expressions of the Middles East with pioneering electronics. This new album titled “Speaker of Turkish” presents the more downbeat-side of Muslimgauze. Despite its ambient approach it still contains the abrasive and rough moments that separated Muslimgauze from most other artist from the ethno-electronic scene.
Consisting of only six tracks there is some quite lengthy tracks giving space to ritualistic and hypnotic moments, thanks to the great repetitive and minimalist approach. The rich amount of samples of everything from tables, sitars to Middle-Eastern voices and choirs works excellent with the innovating experimentation of electronic sounds. “Speaker of turkish” is a great exploration into Eastern atmospheres what this might carry of beauty and ugliness. Essential
Muslimgauze! (NMP)
Address: http://www.soleilmoon.com
EDWARD KA-SPEL – EYES, CHINA DOLL (CD by Beta Lactam-ring Records)
In the series of re-releases of Edward Ka-Spel albums, this is probably the one I was most looking forward to, since Eyes, China Doll (second in the series of “China Dolls” albums) is, simply put, a beautiful album. Originally released on vinyl in 1985 on Play It Again Sam was , this was Ka-Spel’s second solo album. On this album he joins forces with Dutch filmmusic composer Hero Wouters, whose influence is obvious. Musically there is a lot going on; there are strange little sounds, samples and environmental bits and pieces thrown in, which give the stark yet clear synthesizer/sequence-based songs an extra dimension. Eyes, China Doll is a typically mid-80s album, but has aged remarkably well. This is because the songmaterial is strong and unique. Ka-Spel’s distinctive lyrics (his wordplay is one of his best talents) are more like little poems set to music. Personally I love all tracks on this album, but a special mention must be made for Hotel Rouge, the opus magnum of this album. Here the combination of the lyrics, song and collaboration between Ka-Spel and Wouters is probably best illustrated. This re-release comes in a nifty strong carton gatefold with the beautiful cover art by Steven Stapleton fully intact. As expected, there are a number of bonus tracks of which Blowing Bubbles I (nothing like Blowing Bubbles II on the album) is of most interest. The more abstract History Book is interesting as it has Silverman and Stret Majest Alarme (of the Dots) playing on it as well. (FK)
Address: http://www.blrr.com
THE HAFLER TRIO – IGNOTIUM PER IGNOTIUS (CD by Korm Plastics)
Already the 7th release in the highly impressive re-release series by Korm Plastics. Originally released by Touch in the summer of 1989, this was the first CD by The Hafler Trio. Ignotium Per Ignotius stands for unknown to the very unknown, which is as much a mystery as the other Hafler Trio CD with a Latin title from that period “E Causa Ignota” – by unknown cause). Releases by The Hafler Trio are never “easy listening” and Ignotum Per Ignotia no exception. This is a brief CD (clocking in at 36 minutes), which for once is a good thing, as there is much to experience. The music seems based upon silence and noise. There are long periods of silence and then suddenly there’s an outpouring of noise. The noise is multi-layered and even though this is a difficult Hafler CD to listen to, there is a strange quality and attractiveness in the music. McKenzie obviously knows what he is doing. There are track titles listed on the sleeve, but the music is coded as one long piece. The CD comes packed in the usual high standard of this series in a wrap-around sleeve with a booklet featuring beautiful graphics and a text in mirrored writing. Not that the text is very helpful towards explaining the music (Hafler Trio texts never give the game away but only add to it), but it is an interesting read. This is a good-looking release and, if you give it some time and attention, you will find the music equally good (or even better)! (FK)
Address: http://www.kormplastics.nl
JONAS BRAASCH – GLOBAL REFLECTIONS (CD by Deep Listening)
With releases by Deep Listening Institute I was always think of drone and related music, deep spaces and such like. ‘Global Reflections’ by Jonas Braasch is however not such a thing. Braasch is classically trained soprano saxophonist, improviser but also someone who likes to collect binaural soundscapes. We find both on this CD, separated from each other. A whole bunch of field recordings from Berlin, Rome, Hong Kong, Montreal, Tokyo and such like, and seven pieces of his saxophone improvisations. I am not a big lover of the regular saxophone sound, and unfortunately that is what he does. In ‘Time To Move On’ there is also Turkish percussion. Overall there seems to be some reverb effect on the saxophone. The field recordings are nice, but too short, and don’t seem to tell a story. They seem to be chosen merely for their nice sound. Throughout this CD I was annoyed: by the endless rambling of the saxophone, the reverb put on, the nothingness of the field recordings. I pass on this one.
Address: http://www.deeplistening.org
KENNETH KIRSCHNER – THREE COMPOSITIONS (CD by Sirr-ecords)
By now Kenneth Kirschner should be well-known, at least in these pages he is. He has had various releases on labels such as 12K, on the internet and plays the piano. On his website you can find samples of his piano playing and the way he treats them, and nothing else. A bit like this CD, really. It has a nice cover, mentions the titles of the three compositions, but nothing else. The piano sounds are fed into the computer and inside the world of ones and zeroes it’s treated. Although I heard quite a bit of his music, I don’t recall I ever treated to this extent. Not so much in the short opening piece (or rather relatively short), but in the following piece, the sound of the piano entirely disappeared, and is replaced by extensive computer treatments. Ambient glitch with capital A and G. In the third and longest piece, Kirschner walks more a balance between the natural acoustic sounds of the piano and treatments that run along. Kirschner’s compositions are always ‘quiet’, but not in a Lopez/Gunter/Feldman way. Sounds are heard, but very seldom die out beyond sustain or have long passages of no sound. There is always something happening. I was reminded here of the work Eno did with Harold Budd: ambient music, using a real instrument, the environment, and sometimes electronics. From the various works I heard so far by Kirschner, I think this is the most varied work, showing well the various sides of his work and recommended as an introduction – the die-hard fans will get this anyway. (FdW)
Address: http://www.sirr-ecords.com
AT HOME – At Home (CD by home.pop.rec)
TOMASZ BEDNARCZYK – Summer Feelings (CD by home.pop.rec)
MILIPOP/TOMASZ BEDNARCZYK – S.M.I.L.E. (CD by Eta)
Although these three releases present quite distinct approaches, they share a melancholic atmosphere as well as a relation to poppy melodies. Tomasz Bednarczyk’s Summer Feelings is the most abstract one here. He uses loops of slow, almost hesitantly struck piano notes, treated and untreated, which are set against heavily processed, grainy field recordings. The album was recorded in the summer of 2006 and each of the tracks, that bear titles such as “Saturday Evening” or “Sad Man on the Train”, is related to a certain event. With this in mind, the delicately meandering piano sounds indeed unfold a narrative character, evoking nostalgically blurred memories of warm summer nights and traveling experiences. Structure-wise the bed of hissing and crackling field recordings forms a nice counterpart to the piano, texture-wise, however, the processing seems just too haphazard and too static to please. This is a pity, since it is a pretty ok album now, but with a more careful treatment of the field recordings it could have been a real great release.
Under his Milipop moniker, Tomasz Bednarczyk produces pop-oriented abstract electronica, with an inclination towards the already ‘classic’ clicks’n’cuts-aesthetic. So Milipop makes use of the familiar vocabulary of semi-complex rhythms, synth washes and tinkling bell-like sounds and he does so quite well. The album offers some nice down-tempo beats, with the atmosphere changing from light to dark now and then and an occasional beatless track thrown into it for a good measure. Some ideas and sound effects recur again and again throughout the album, so some of the tracks are pretty similar to each other, but it still works on the whole.
At Home is a duo of Tomasz Bien and Tomasz Kowalski and their debut shares the melancholic, vaguely naïf sweetness of the Green Blossom’s CD-R reviewed here a few weeks ago (Vital Weekly 554). Their tracks are mostly based on sparse melodies played on analogue synth and many loops of acoustic instruments, with lots of jingling percussion going on, glockenspiel, bells, guitar, piano and small drums. Some tracks have an upbeat rhythm or hectic clatter, while others are drifting dreamily, but all are of a highly fragile quality. This might be just the right kind of music for watching the reflections on small crystal balls on a sunny day or some similar activity. And it is, without doubt, an excellent blend of clattery toy instruments, concrete sounds and delicate, utterly beautiful pop. (MSS)
Address: http://www.homepoprec.pl
Address: http://www.etalabel.com
HUBERT NOI & HOWIE B – MUSIC FOR ASTRONAUTS AND COSMONAUTS (2CD by Laton)
INFRA RED ARMY – ENTRAIL (CD by laton)
FRACTAL HEADS – LIGHT ON THE STEPPED PLATES (CD by Laton)
Brian Eno set the tone for ambient music, but also made the connection ambient and space, and from there a consistent line can be followed, from The Orb’s ‘UF Orb’ to Arecibo ‘Trans Plutonian Transmissions’. Somehow it’s nice to have all this floating music and think of being weightless, so why not dedicate another album to space travels. According to the cover of the double CD by Hubert Noi Johannesson and Howie B it takes eight and half minutes to reach the earth’s orbit and it takes ninety minutes to circle the earth once. Welcome to the soundtrack of this trip. Although this album is just released, it has been produced in the years 1998-2002. Even by those dates this is music wise an album that is pretty outdated (which says nothing about being bad, boring or some such). Lengthy travels on synthesizers, arpeggio’s and stretched drone like patterns. Also the techno rhythm is to a small extent in there. It’s all there in this ninety minute cosmic trip. A bit like the Orb/KLF’s Space project (oops, again), but less the collage like elements. This is ambient house as it should be, a classic model from the early mid-nineties, but newly built. It’s a most pleasant ride through the weightless space, and on a cold but highly sunny Tuesday morning it’s great music to wake up by.
Behind Infra Red Army is one Dmitry Soroka from the Ukraine, a country with a growing community of electronic musicians, with whom he is in contact. Nexsound, the label of Andrey Kirichenko and Kotra, released his first album in the MP3 format. Now it’s time for his first real CD. Originally Soroka played guitar, but then moved to electro-acoustic music and on his first CD he brings a mixture of ambient loaded synthesizers, theremin like glissandi with strange lounge like rhythms, broken beats and trip hop like beats although a bit faster. However one can not put him the corner of the UK protagonists on Highpoint Lowlife or Expanding. Soroka’s ambience is a dark one, as this whole album is covered with a dark and deep atmospheric sound, that leaves not much room for light. Throughout listening to this album, I kept thinking: do I like this, or do I think it’s just ok? Is the dark, sombre tone fitting my taste, well yes perhaps, but at the same time, it not always seem to fit the rhythm part of it. Sometimes it seemed an uneasy marriage. But it’s an album that doesn’t easy give away it’s beauty, and raises more questions than that it provides with answers. Certainly one to investigate more due time.
Likewise I never heard of Fractal Heads, but judging by the names of the involved musicians, I assume they originate from the Eastern part of Europe too: Sergey Malkin and Dmitry Kravchook. Again Laton releases a work that was recorded some time ago, 1999 in this case, but for some reason has been lying around until now. From the three albums by Laton presented here, I thought this was the weakest one. Analogue synthesizers playing ambient like notes (hardly big time drones here or anything), taped voices, simple sequenced rhythms. Throughout the tracks were too long and didn’t contain that much information or lacked the quality to be trance like to keep my interest going on. Perhaps I am missing a point entirely here (which is very well possible of course), but I think Fractal Heads could have done a nice CDR, but didn’t necessarily have to step up to the format of a compact disc. (FdW)
Address: http://www.laton.at
PAPIRO – AVVENTURE LONTANE (LP by Some Fine Legacy/A Tree In A Field)
According to the insert with this album, Papiro’s live performances in the past have consisted of playing one note continuous at obsessively volumes. Luckily this album is nothing like that. In fact, this fully instrumental album has a considerate amount of notes – and even melody. These days, Papiro (a classically trained violist) likes his instruments to have more than one key and to date from a pre-programmable era. An impressive array of analogue synthesizers is therefore listed on the back of the sleeve. The music on this fascinating album has a melodic, upbeat character, harking back to analogue synthesizer days, which was extremely popular in Germany in the late 70s-early 80s. Papiro’s music owns much to the works of Roedelius, Asmus Tietchens (on his Hematic Sunset albums) or even Bruce Haack, but comes off original enough to stand on its own. As a whole, this album is perfectly suited for any retro-styled party. All hail therefore to the groovy glow-in-the-dark cover, which fits the music like a dream. (FK)
Address: http://www.treeinafield.com
G.S Ø7 – ACCESSOIRES (CDR by Un Arbe En Bois)
The website of this label is pretty vague as to what they do. Largely because it’s in French only, but also at that there isn’t much information. It seems they sell CDRs but also multiple’s/editions of artworks. Whoever is behind the label or the band Gs ø.7 I don’t know. The music is best described as ambient with an experimental touch. The keyboards play partly melodic, partly dissonant arpeggio’s on a keyboards, fed through a line of sound effects that alter the sound only slightly, a bit of echo, a touch of reverb there, supported by a train like rhythm in a track like ‘Dkle 17+5’ Other sounds are perhaps to be classified as field recordings. The music doesn’t ‘move’ very much, i.e. is highly minimal in approach, and doesn’t sound anything like ‘new’ in any sort way, but it’s quite nice, pleasant, yet a bit strange, but not too much. Nice music to have around while doing the work around the house. (FdW)
Address: http://www.unarbreenbois.be
MYSTIFIED – INSTABILITY (CDR by Ambolthue)
MYSTIFIED/ORIGAMI STATIKA – WRATH OF GAWD/QUALITY BONES (CDR by Krakilsk)
KLUBB KANIN NOVEMBER 2006 (2CDR by Krakilsk)
KAMLOOPS – I GOT TO HOLD A HUMMINGBIRD TODAY (CDR by Ambolthue)
Despite the fact that Mystified has a website, we don’t learn much about the band, except that they released quite a lot of material, and that one of their releases has a remix by Robin Storey, a.k.a. Rapoon. I think I wish I didn’t know this. The simple reason is that I was already thinking that Mystified sounded a bit like Rapoon, but even more like the old Zoviet*France, the area when Storey was still a member. But perhaps now everyone thinks I made this up after reading about the remix. Well, either way, I was and still am a big fan of the old zoviet*france stuff, and especially their longer works, I think Mystified with their somewhat shorter approach, leaps the big gap that has been there for many years now, quite nicely. Rough, sketch like, psychedelic, partly rhythmic (more techno than ethno), this is quite a nice release, stirring good memories and offering new ones.
More Mystified can be found on a split CDR with Origami Statika, which here is Swamps Up Nostrils and Resin. It starts out with two nice pieces of heavy layered guitar sounds, but in ‘Yahwehs Revenge’ it’s all out noise, which is a pity. So more Sunn O))) like excursions would have been nicer. The best piece is the next one ‘Sunday Jam’, an excursion into highly controlled feedback, which slowly falls apart. Perhaps a bit long. Then we get nine short pieces by Mystified, which seems to find their sources in treating acoustic objects. They are looped around to create small particle like sounds, densely shaped and quite organic. Here the zoviet*france is gone, and they go along the paths of Jeph Jerman and Kapotte Muziek, although Mystified uses more electronics to treat the sounds. Occasionally the leap into a rhythm and that sets them apart from the more musique concrete oriented counter parts.
I am not sure if Klubb Kanin organizes a lot, or wether Krakilsk will release the concerts, but this is already their second release of live recordings made at that klub in Trondheim, made on two different dates last November. Unlike the previous release (see Vital Weekly 555) this one is less noise related. On disc one only Erik Blekesaune’s slightly unfocussed semi-noise excursions are in that direction. Eiko sings songs (well, perhaps), and has a rhythm or two here and
there, but it’s not really good. Strutz & Jerves computerensemble are quite nice with a cosmic synth piece that has nice psychedelic qualities. Kara Me Maskin close the first disc (all tracks are long, mind you) with a piece that has percussive qualities in a strange sampled and semi modern classical way. The second disc was recorded twenty days later and has five different artists and a jam by all of them. This was clearly to be the evening with more noise happening The House Of Brown Noise open up here with duet of fuzzy guitars, which may work for this amount of time live, but not on CDR. Except from Swamps Up Nostrils, who play around with rhythms and noise, all bands use guitars to some extent. To be honest, none of these tracks did appeal to me very much. Nice in some cases, but throughout boring in other cases.
And ah noise when we go back to the Ambolthue catalogue. Kamloops is new to me, but it turns out to be a side project of our Dutch friend Staplerfahrer, who work started out in the more noisy oriented areas of the music world, but since quite some time mellowed out. So time for a noise oriented side project. Here he presents one track of about thirty minutes, of digital noise, clipping in the high end. Highly stereo (for once I am listening of headphones, not to disturb the young one around) and highly minimal in approach. Walls of feedback float around. It’s all nice indeed, but for one idea perhaps fifteen minutes too long. (FdW)
Address: http://www.ambolthue.com
Address: http://www.krakilsk.org
TRAVIS JUST – NATIONAL REFORM (CDR by Object Collection)
FRANK EICKHOFF & TRAVIS JUST & ANNE VORTISCH (CDR by Object Collection)
If I am correct Travis Just is a musician who is partly based in New York, and partly in Berlin. He plays saxophone, and his work is partly based in improvisation and partly in modern composition. An example of the latter is found on ‘The only Way To Reform Modern Lettering’. It’s a bit hard to describe what it is all about, but it deals with ‘a single pitch of an alto saxophone’, which are recorded on a minidisc, and then live instruments, in this case flute and tenor, play similar pitches. Alongside there is the sound of a conversation, but I am not sure what that has to do with it. The piece is highly minimal, but lengthy sustaining sounds and occasional bits of talking, which are far away – it could have been as easily something that was recorded during a live concert, with some audience noise. On the same disc there is also the piece ‘Nationalism In America’, for ‘tenor saxophone, zither and television set’, which has five section of each minutes. The television is played once for ten and once for thirty seconds. Otherwise this is a very quiet piece of music. Soft slow pitches of sound, an occasional pluck on the zither. It’s a bit hard to relate to the title of the piece, but both sound very nice. A bit like Morton Feldman with respect to the sparseness of notes played.
More action (?) is on the disc of improvised music, a trio of Just on tenorsaxophone, Anne Vortisch on electronics and Frank Eickhoff on computer. It’s not really a loud disc or anything, but there is more going on than on the previous disc. Still the areas of letting the saxophone sustain, but the electronic sounds from both ends (analogue I assume and digital) form a nice addition to the saxophone, and in total make a very intense and powerful twenty minute piece. Kind of musique concrete, electro-acoustic and minimal music in one package, and that works, perhaps oddly enough, quite well. (FdW)
Address: http://www.objectcollection.us
Z’EV – METAPHONICS (CDR by Eter Production)
The ever so, and even more now, active force of z’ev sees him playing around the world, and occasionally with the people of Polish ritual music makers Hati. They now release a work by z’ev that was recorded two years ago in London. Metaphonics is a term ‘for what is now generally referred to as Sacred Music’, it says on the cover: ‘that is, a music whose intent is to alter consciousness or to transpose between states of consciousness and/or levels of reality/ies’. I didn’t follow z’ev recommendation of listening in total darkness, but I can sense what he is about. In the thirty-five minutes, z’ev depicts a semi-industrial landscape. A tape-composition of sounds floating about, using the stereo spectrum to it’s full capacity, but which at the same time still shows z’ev’s interest in rhythmic music. There is a strong rhythmic feel to the music, which might be occurring due to the massive level of layered the sounds, which are slightly out of phase, going from one speaker to the other. After following his career for the last twenty-five or more years, I must say that his recent shift into using more and more studio based composition, is a great one. Not many of his recent releases let me down, and ‘Metaphonics’ is no different. A strong, dense mass of sound. Even in some light. (FdW)
Address: http://www.hati.info
RAY OFF – NOTHING LIKE A RIBBON ROUND A PARCEL (CDR by Black Petal)
DJ WHITE PIMPERNELL – LOVEDJWHITEPIMPERNELLXXX (CDR by Black Petal)
VODKA SPARROWS – DEATH A THOUSAND TIMES OVER (CDR by Black Petal)
Releases on Anthony Guerra’s label Black Petal are mostly on CDR, but they always have a nice look, making them stand out of the rest. The music is usually to be found in the areas of improvised music, and usually from a more rock oriented part of the world. Ray Off are a four piece from Dunedin, New Zealand and they use cello, noises, voice, keyboards, melodica, violin, harp, violin and echocello. All four members are credited for using voices, but it doesn’t like that at all. It might not even be called rock music by any standard, but more like a quartet of various strings, with the occasional addition of voices. It’s all improvised for sure but in a nice laidback manner, a bit folky, a bit ambient, introspective and calm. Relaxing music, in a strange way.
Which can not be said of DJ White Pimpernell, who hails from the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, where there is a small community of noise lovers. DJ White Pimpernell, who is responsible for the drum machine, electronics, electric guitar and shredded (?) voice, all done at the same time, while ‘he still manages to pump his fist’. Behind DJ White Pimpernell is Adam Sussmann who is an improvising musician and of whom we reviewed a release a very long time (Vital Weekly 392), which he made with Will Guthrie and Matthew Earle. Here under his solo banner he goes out, way out into the land of noise. Loud and distorted, and perhaps with the wall of feedback he puts on, it’s not strange that he can play all of these instruments at the same time, but it’s all bit too long for me.
The best release of this trio is a duo of electric guitars: Anthony Guerra and Mark Leacy under the guise of Vodka Sparrows. Guerra should be considered well-known to the regular readers of Vital Weekly. Leacy is a member of Castings, from Sydney, but also The Alzheimer Blanks, Painted Jesus Brown, Ray Off as well as running the Spanish Magic label and organizer of concerts. ‘Long night comedown heaviness for drinkers close to gone’, but I listened early evening with no intake of alcohol, but perfectly sensed what this was all about. Desolate music for lonely people, even if you have a group of two. Slide guitar, slow strumming, lots of reverb. All making perfect sense if all the bars are closed and one is at home drinking that last glass you should never drink. Great emptiness. (FdW)
Address: http://www.blackpetal.com
LÖTY NEGARTI & HISU & JION JANG – GARGUNTUA (CDR by Hamaika)
SKIFTINGAR – THOR MOMENTS (CDR by Hamaika)
The first time the name Löty Negarti popped in Vital Weekly, was in issue 425, when we spelled the name of his label wrong. Now on Hamaika two new releases. More electronic but improvised music. First there is a trio disc of Löty_Negarti (who gets credits for ‘bajo, retroalimentacion, amplificador, objetos, platos, diaposon, vox, computadora’), together with Hisu (‘violin, marimba, objetos, retroalimentacion, bicicleta’) and Jion Jang (‘voz, marimba, platos, mordiscos, papeles’). Even when my spanish/basque is not great, I can figure it’s a mixture of electro-acoustic objects, including a bicycle and electronics, such as a computer. It starts out with a long, but nice piece of scraping sounds and electronic eruptions. Oddly enough this piece is featured on one channel only – I am not sure wether this is a mistake, or intentional. Not too noise related, but also not too quiet. In the tracks that follow, noise plays a bigger role. Computerized distortions prevail here, certainly in ‘Paladar De La Tinieblas’, but when the distortion is kept within limits, it’s all actually quite nice. Quite angular improvised music.
Which is something that can’t be said of Skiftingar, which is a trio of Ali Truta on drums and vocals, Alvaro Rincon Pena on bass and vocals and from Iceland Klemens Olafur on guitar and vocals. ‘rock DadA’ it says on the cover. A collection of utter lo-fi recorded ‘rock’ songs that are as badly played as they are recorded, all under the guise of ‘art’. Yeah, right. (FdW)
Address: http://www.gatza.org
CANZONIERE SINTETICO – TEUFELTANZMASKEN (CDR by Rudimentale)
L’ADDIMMURU (CDR by Rudimentale)
Since 2005 Rudimentale devotes it’s work to promoting ‘alternative music’, through CDR and MP3 releases. Perhaps the large MP3 disc they also sent will be reviewed some day (with just two ears, it is not possible to hear everything, sorry). Canzoniere Sintetico got their name from singing groups from the 60s and 70s, but they are much more a group of improvisation and they are an international bunch: Rinus van Alebeek (V short, walkman, 4trackrecorder, effects), Tirriddiliu (acoustic guitar, various instruments, objects), Manuela Barile (voice) and Antonio Mainenti (voice, nose, classic guitar, effects) and their idea is to expand beyond the idea of a folk band. They say. But for the outside listener, the reviewer, I hear an interesting bunch of improvised sound collages, involving quite some voices, but also a variety of objects being played. It’s perhaps at twenty-three tracks a bit overlong, and some more editing would have been in place, but throughout it’s a nice release.
Also by nature of improvisation comes the release of L’Addimmuru, a duo of Luca Sciarratta on prepared guitar and Dario Sanfilippo on live electronics. Their name means in Sicilian something like stale, rotten, deteriorate, damaged which they find appropriate for their music. It would perhaps be logical to expect some noise, but that’s not the case. In stead their eight improvisations are throughout quiet but still roughly edged. Guitar and electronics make nice gestures and work nicely alongside eachother. The sound quality is however not the best there is, which doesn’t serve the music very well. Somehow, somewhere I have the feeling there would have been more inside it, if recorded and mixed somewhat better. (FdW)
Address: http://www.rudimentale.com
CHEAPMACHINES – FUGUE CYCLE (CDR by Con-V)
SASCHA NEUDECK – SEROTON (MP3 by Con-V)
When I put on the latest Cheapmachines, I checked the volume: not too high, because it would be all noise anyway. Digital noise that is actually good. But noise. I walked in the backroom to get something and after a few minutes I thought: what did I do wrong, as I don’t hear anything. It turns that this CDR is still playing, and still at the usual volume, but that Cheapmachines have delivered a very quiet work. ‘Using layered recordings of electronic and wind-powered organs, guitar and field recordings’, Cheapmachines’ Phil Julian has created something that is not like any of the previous Cheapmachines (at least the ones I heard). Most of them, as said, were particular noise related, and sometimes musique concrete, but never far out in the drone field as on ‘Fugue Cycle’. Of the three parts, the first two turn out to be the ones with the most action, but it’s the third piece that goes way out in the field of drone music. Shimmering tones that makes small, but ever changing waves, taking up roughly thirty minutes of this release, but would stand out making a release by itself. Think Phil Niblock but quieter, or Paul Panhuysen’s ‘Magic Square of 5’, Alvin Lucier’s ‘Music On A Long Thin Wire’, but not as low bass like, and combine this, and get ‘Fugue Cycle’. A damn fine release. His best, no doubt.
Sascha Neudeck is a biochemist and a musician from Vienna. I believe this is the first time I hear his music. previously he was on the noise territory, but has now left for some more microsounding, poetic and stillness in music. The laptop is working overtime here. Partly drone related, with some modified electro-acoustic sounds on top, or below the surface, depending on which track you are in. I thought it was all pretty ok, but nothing too much out of the ordinary. A seen it all, heard it all case, but is perhaps not positive, but, like I said, it’s quite ok. (FdW)
Address: http://www.con-v.org
XEDH – SOMOS BUENA GENTE (MP3 by Tib Prod)
XEDH – COMPOSITION IN RED (MP3 by Camonille)
XEDH – RENCLOSER (MP3 by Picomedia)
These three new works by Xedh, also known as Miguel A. Garda from Spain, show a departure from the previous noise related releases. Whereas his previous releases (see Vital Weekly 445 and 523) were released on CDR, these three are released as MP3, which is a pity, because they would have deserved to be released as CDR as well, me thinks. On ‘Somos Buena Gente’ we find the original Xedh track and three remixes. The original piece is the total opposite of the previous work: a really calm piece of drone music, made out of electric static signals, recorded almost below the threshold of hearing. A great piece. It gets remix treatments from Tüsuri, which basically sounds the same. Loty Negarti and Plagasul at least do something and both of them spices things up and makes the waves cascade. Nice one indeed.
On ‘Rencloser’ things are approached from an entirely different perspective. Rhythm plays an important here. Hectic and nervous, the sound of the chaos in a big city, always in motion, but the deep end bass sound and humming of drones, make this foremost a nocturnal affair. Three short tracks of big city paranoia. For those who love releases on Ant-Zen or Ad Noiseam.
On ‘Composition In Red’ only one track, spanning twenty-three minutes and combines the best of both ends: it has rhythm, but in very cut-up, collage like fashion, with ambient like synths. Maybe at twenty three minute quite an epos, but together with his own version of ‘Somos Buena Gente’ his best work to date. (FdW)
Address: http://www.tibprod.com/singles
Address: http://www.picomedia.org/pmact12.htm
Address: http://www.camomillemusic.com/097.htm
podcast announcement:
From: “Niels Mark” <nmp@herlevbibliotek.dk>
I have now made an english version of the website for our monthly music podcast-show “Ultra_FM” concentrating on experimental music. Check it here:
http://www.herlevbibliotek.dk/musik/podcast/english/
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All written by Frans de Waard (FdW), The Square Root Of Sub (MP <sub@xs4all.nl>), Dolf Mulder (DM) <dolf.mulder@hetnet.nl>, Robert Meijer (RM), Gerald Schwartz (GS), Niels Mark Pedersen (NMP), Henry Schneider (SH), Jeff
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