Editorial news: we have decided to stop reviewing MP3 releases. Please do not send any discs with MP3 releases. Just send me an e-mail with a link and a short description, so people can download it. The amount of releases pile up every week and I can no longer devote time to MP3s. Whatever you see coming in the next few weeks are the last ones. Please do not send anymore. Also: releases that do not contain the original artwork will most likely be no longer reviewed. The real thing is necessary for a real judgment. If you wish to send us not the real thing, please contact us first. <vital@vitalweekly.net>
SETH NEHIL – FLOCK & TUMBLE (CD by Sonoris)
EISUKE YANAGISAWA – SCENERY OF WATER (CD by Gruenrekorder)
MIRAK TWELVE (Compilation CD by Hymen Records)
JOY VON SPAIN – LADY LAZARUS (CD by The Scatological Liberation Front)
FRANZ HAUTZINGER & BERTRAND GAUGUET & THOMAS LEHN – CLOSE UP (CD by Monotype Records)
THE DIVISION – MANTRAS (CD by Lens Records)
FEEDING THE TRANSMITTER (CD by Amp Bit<if//go)
RANDALL HALL – THE PASSAGE BETWEEN (CD by Innova)
NEIL ROLNICK – THE ECONOMIC ENGINE (CD by Innova)
NARTHEX – FORMNCTION (CD by Potlatch)
PHOSPOR – 11 (CD by Potlatch)
NOVELLER – PAINT ON THE SHADOWS (LP by No Fun Productions)
ZAIMPH – DEATH BLOOMING PLEASURE (LP by No Fun Productions)
ALLEIN LUDDITE – MUSIQUE POUR PERSONNE (CDR by Ambolthue Records)
THE WJIIK ANIMAL PROJECT – LIVE AT NIU (3″ CDR by Ambolthue Records)
JON WESSELTOFT – UNDER A TROPICAL MOON (3″ CDR by Ambolthue Records)
BILLY GOMBERG & JAN KEES HELMS – ANYPARK (CDR by Lor Teeps)
UNTITLED FOLDER – LABEL COMPILATION (CDR by Untitled Folder)
FOR KINGS AND QUEENS – ONE DAY I DISCOVERED A DREAMACHINE (CDR by Subterranean Sonic)
KRK – ACOUASM (CDR by Acheulian Handaxe)
MATT SCHOEMAKER – THE SUNKEN PLETHORA CONSUMES ALL (CDR by Mystery Sea)
BLANK DISC & JONAS KOCHER (CDR, private)
KASPAR VON URBACH – THE LAST LAUGH (CDR by Klang Und Krach)
BIRDS BUILD NESTS UNDERGROUND – COLD DREAMS (CDR by Klang Und Krach)
ANONYMEYE – THE DISAMBIGUATION OF ANONYMEYE (CDR by Sound & Fury)
FELICITY MANGAN – LIMETORM (CDR by Sound & Fury)
PEFKIN – ZUGUNRUHE (CDR by Sound & Fury)
HEIL SPIRITS – TRACING NEW SWORDS FROM CHASING OBLIVION AND OTHER COLLECTED SKETCHES (CDR by Sound & Fury)
CRANK IGLOO (CDR by XVP)
JEFF REHNLUND – EMPTY GLOVE POINTING (cassette by XVP)
GEHIRN.IMPLOSION – ALLUMFASSENDER UNKONTROLLIERBARER SOG (CDR by Tosom)
COREPHALLISM (3inch CDR by Apop Records & Lascivious Aesthetics)
TOMAS KORBER & PHILIP JULIAN – HERBE ZEITEN (3″CDR by Con-V)
POLDR – ROAMING DAYLIGHT (3″CDR by Faunasabbatha)
announcements
SETH NEHIL – FLOCK & TUMBLE (CD by Sonoris)
Throughout the years we have reviewed much of the work of Seth Nehil, who belongs with people like JGrzinich and MNortham to the main players of the US drone scene, which finds itself largely based in field recordings, but also acoustic instruments and just a little bit of electronics. All of this is collected and played and then put together into pieces of music. Music that is not easy to describe as it simply defies categorization, which is always good (and difficult for such reviewers like me, who like to use them). Partly we could say the music is improvised on the side of the instruments, percussive mainly. Then afterwards, or perhaps before hand, field recordings are put to it, something set in a loop, although not always ‘on’, and sometimes dropping out of the mix, in order to return later. If a word applies to this music, then ‘organic’ would, I think, be appropriate. Organic in the way the material is put together: from various sources, but it seems to fit together like it always was. Organic also in the sense of playing the instruments and the use of field recordings. This leads to some pretty strong pieces of music, in which we also recognize someone like Af Ursin or Yannick Dauby. Dense and delicate. (FdW)
Address: http://www.sonoris.org
EISUKE YANAGISAWA – SCENERY OF WATER (CD by Gruenrekorder)
Germany’s Gruenrekorder is a label which releases all kinds of experimental sound art, but field recordings have the main interest. In some cases, such as here in ‘Scenery Of Water’, it deals with pure and unprocessed sounds. Eisuke Yanagisawa hails from Kyoto, and works as a field recordist since 2004. On this CD he has eleven pieces from Vietnam, Myanmar and Japan. Somehow ‘water’ runs as a theme through all of these pieces. What is there to say about these recordings? Not much, I guess. There seems to an absence of any human activity. Just outdoor sounds (well, and indoor, such as in ‘Bathroom’), and they are recorded well, if not a bit soft, volume wise. It works well with headphones. Nice enough, perhaps most engaging to those which places has visited. And where as six pieces have been recorded in Kyoto – the only place I have visited of the various locations here – I can’t say I ‘recognize’ anything. Might not be the necessary anyway. I guess for those who love Chris Watson and want to seek out more alike. (FdW)
Address: http://www.gruenrekorder.de
MIRAK TWELVE (Compilation CD by Hymen Records)
Teknoir – the anniversary compilation from German label Hymen Records from 1999, still stands as one of my all time favorite electronic music compilations. The span of expressions on that particular compilation was remarkable and made the whole trip through the 2+ hours of playing time a true pleasure. Now ten years later, the time has come to celebrate the twelfth anniversary of Hymen Records. And then, what has happened in the meantime? Stylishly there is a change from the dark and overall harsh expression on Teknoir to this new double disc-compilation titled “Miwak Twelve”. As the long slowly soundscapes of opening track on “Miwak twelve” titled “At the heart of it all” from artist calling himself The_Empath sets in, the listener soon gets the idea that there is quite a change in comparison to the early years of the label, circa Teknoir. The tone on the opening track is tranquilizing and dreamful in its nature with downbeat rhythms and beautiful guitar strums weaved into otherworldly soundscapes. Many other great moments are found on the “Miwak Twelve”-compilation: Post-rock-inspired electronica from Nebulo on “Sunurb”, Ambient-oriented contributions from artists such as Dryft, Hecq and the slightly more glitch-oriented Access To Arasaka. Chillout electronics from Combustion and Jerome Chassagnard to the more upfront and harsh moments from projects such as artists like HPC and Mad EP Vs. Bryce Beverlyn II. Othercool moments comes from Lowfish with his minimalist technoism and my favorite moment on the entire compilation, being Christen Plum and his excellent darkside-oriented breakbeat-track Capstone Switch. So many styles on the compilation, though quite a few contributions floats in the breakbeat-oriented spheres. Miwak Twelve is a superb and highly entertaining compilation ranking on the same quality level as the Teknoir-compilation. Unquestionably this will end up as one of this year’s greatest compilations of electronic music, if you ask me! (NM)
Address: http://www-hymen-records.com/
JOY VON SPAIN – LADY LAZARUS (CD by The Scatological Liberation Front)
Present album from the Washington-based composer Joy Spainhower offers a truely unique and unheard sound experience with its combination of classical music and contemporary noise. Musically the compositions of the album titled “Lady lazarus” moves in stylistic sound spheres of opera, orchestral music and acoustic noise and digital noise. What differs the composer from similar projects is the talented and strong female vocals sometimes sung in opera-styles and other times in hostile expressions reminiscent of Diamanda Galas. A good example of the originality of the album is the seventh piece titled “Entrance of duga” opening with cinematic orchestral music but slowly and discreetly, via the sound of horn instruments, transformed into harsh expressions of crushing power electronics. “Lady lazarus” is the second album from the artist, but with this original approach to “classical avantgarde meets noise music”, there are certainly foundations for a proper CD-release from Joy Von Spain. Hope it will come! (NM)
Address: http://www.scatologicalliberationfront.org/
FRANZ HAUTZINGER & BERTRAND GAUGUET & THOMAS LEHN – CLOSE UP (CD by Monotype Records)
If you want, you can book this trio. It says on the cover. It means that this is an ongoing affair for these solid improvisers. Thomas Lehn, the well-known player of analogue synthesizer, teams up with Franz Hautzinger (quartertone trumpet, electronic devices) and the person whom I think is new to me: Bertrand Gauguet on alto and soprano saxophones. The recordings were made in concert, one early 2007, one early 2008. As you can imagine this is a work of total improvisation, but its in capable hands. The three play very good, sometimes heavily controlled, such as a major section in ‘Close Up 2’, with long sustaining tones, but also more chaotic and uncontrolled – relying on the free jazz approach – in the two pieces around it. Hautzinger and Gauguet play the instruments as objects, producing all sorts of tones and notes and not in the regular way as these instruments should be played. That’s nice enough but my personal favorite is that second piece. Slow, minimal, changing, moving and intense, with what seems to be a leading part for Lehn’s synthesizer. In the third part this is continued but with outbursts of free play. That’s a fine mixture too. The opening piece didn’t do that for me. Quite nice indeed. (FdW)
Address: http://www.monotyperecords.com
THE DIVISION – MANTRAS (CD by Lens Records)
Before his solo career, Matthew Schultz has been the founder of the industrial project Lab Report that was established in the late 80’s. In 2003, Matthew Schultz began his solo career with the album “Foundscapes” that belongs to the dark ambient scene. The same can partly be said about this latest effort from the artist, though this first part of a trilogy ranges wider than just pure ambient. Taking its starting point in the aforementioned Division-trilogy, present album has the specific title “Mantras” and very much takes its inspiration in ancient cultures of the east. Thus there is much eastern rituality around the album: Where the opening part of the album circulates in dark ambient-spheres, ritual beats slowly appears as the album develops, adding a great mysterious and alluring atmosphere of eastern culture. As the album reaches the end, Matthew Schultz once more takes us back into drifting ambience. Excellent album! (NM)
Address: http://www.lensrecords.com/
FEEDING THE TRANSMITTER (CD by Amp Bit<if//go)
While listening to music I try to avoid doing too many other things, but then I am not looking at the cover all the time. So it happened that I was listening to this compilation while eating and thinking at one point: all the time this is playing this has been nice electronic music. Lots of crackling, micro techno ambient glitch or whatever you could call this lot of modern electronica, but then it also dawned on me that I never wanted to get because a particular track stirred my interest that much that I wanted to know the name of the creator. Is that odd? Perhaps not. Perhaps its not easy to surprise this listener that much anymore, and perhaps its a certain fatigue. On a track by one Mats Twunky sounded out of place, with its slightly distorted ambient drone, which sounded odd, not bad. Included otherwise are Micheal Santos, Ocp, Maps And Diagrams, Poborsk, Autistici, Pleq Ninestein, Dy, Sinusodial and others. Some of these names you may recognize from releases on 12K, Static Caravan, Audiobulb or Baskaru, which means this is not just a compilation of second rate copycats that didn’t get anywhere. This is surely one fine compilation with no stand out pieces, but then also no pieces that let the listener down. (FdW)
Address: http://www.ampbitifgo.co.uk
RANDALL HALL – THE PASSAGE BETWEEN (CD by Innova)
NEIL ROLNICK – THE ECONOMIC ENGINE (CD by Innova)
Randall Hall is a saxophonist, composer and improviser with a classical education.
His performances range from classical music, to avant garde and improvised music. He debuted with ‘Neither Proud nor Ashamed’ on the Innova label that now makes his second album possible: ‘The Passage Between’. The CD contains six works, most of them composed by Hall himself. ‘Carnivore’ is the opening work that is a real blow. A live recorded improvisation for saxophone and electronic effects. A very aggressive and rough piece. A smash in the face.
To be followed by ‘Neuf etudes, Cahier 1’ composed by Tunisian composer Christian Lauba. A work in four parts where each part concentrates on one extended technique. It is the only work on this CD where improvisation plays no role. ‘Three Reflections on Eternity’ is a totally free improvised work in three parts by Hall playing baritone saxophone and Jonathan Kirk who processes the sax-improvisations through electronic devices. Again a work that comes very close to you whether you like it or not. This is an extraordinary collaboration. Kirk in way maximizes and intensifies the playing by Hall, creating a massive and emotional experience. Great!
‘The Passage Between’ is for saxophone and prerecorded tape. On the tape are manipulated sounds of heartbeats and early vocalizations from his children. Accompanied by Hall’s sax improvisations the piece evocates the process of life before and after birth. An almost meditative first part escalates halfway in very brute part (birth) and then enters away more well-balanced territories of life. ‘Quelque chose que mon pere a tunu a ses mains’ is a very personal and thoughtful work. This cd is absolutely a fantastic next step by Hall who manages to create a very fruitful going together of acoustic and electronics due to this strong musical intuitions.
Four new works on the CD by Neil Rolnick. All of them are very accessible and have a certain lightness over them. This is because Rolnick makes no secret of the fact that he finds inspiration in popular music. The titletrack ‘The Economic Engine’ attracts most of the attention. A work in four parts played by the Todd Reynolds String Quartet and the New York based ensemble Music >From China. The String quartet is combined with traditional instruments. Eastern and western sensibilities accommodate with each other in a beautiful and respectful way. ‘Hammer and Hair’ is performed by Todd Reynolds (violin) and Kathleen Spove (piano). The piece entails many references to jazz, blues and popular music, that are transposed here in the classical context of a sonata. A pleasant work that leads us through differentes moods and tempers. Like Randall, Rolnick also finds inspiration in his family life. ‘Uptown Jump’, performed by MAYA, a trio of flute, harp and percussion is a percussive work with nice melodic lines breaking through from time to time that sound very familiar. The closing piece ‘Real Time’ dates from 1983 and was released earlier on record. It is played by the Hartt Contemporary Players, Neil Rolnick on synklavier and Douglas Jackson as conductor. It starts in a Louis Andriessen post-minimal style. It is all about the real time interaction between chamber ensemble and computer generated sounds. Also this early work shows that Rolnick enjoys citing and reworking themes and motives from popular music. (DM)
Address: http://www.innova.mu/
NARTHEX – FORMNCTION (CD by Potlatch)
PHOSPOR – 11 (CD by Potlatch)
The French Potlatch label is a steady, strong force when it comes to music that is improvised but also dealing with electronics in one way or another. Rarely however they come as extreme as Narthex with their oddly named ‘Formnction’ (the words ‘form’ and ‘function’ pulled together?). It seems a more conceptual approach to improvised music. Marc Baron and Loic Blairon plays saxophone and double bass. They recorded six improvised pieces of thirty minutes each and then selected the best moments, each of five minutes in length, replaced their sounds (why?) with 1000 and 500 khz frequencies and this is what we hear. Two times thirty minutes of lots of silence and occasional sine wave tones. Now, don’t get me wrong: I like the music a lot, but I am afraid I don’t understand the process to get there. It leaves some many questions unanswered. Why don’t straight away do an improvisation with a bunch of sine waves and make something equally nice. Only half way through the second piece there is suddenly something that reminds us of the real instrument. A highly conceptual release, quite nice, despite the fact that I didn’t get the concept quite right.
Perhaps a more conventional ground of improvisation is covered by Phospor, which is something of an all star big band: Burkhard Beins (percussion, objects, zither, small electronics), Axel Dörner (trumpet, electronics), Robin Hayward (tuba), Annette Krebs (guitar, objects, electronics, tape), Andrea Neumann (inside piano, mixing board), Micheal Renkel (prepared acoustic nylon string via computer) and Ignaz Schick (turntable, objects, bows). Germany’s answer to
Mimeo perhaps? I think we deal here with studio recordings of the group, which were later mixed by various of the participants. This is highly vibrant improvised music. Music that partly finds its power in the use and abuse of traditional instruments but also in the improvisational power of electro-acoustic music. At times things are furious loud, chaotic and energetic, whereas they also show how to pull back, ease on down and create introspective moments such as in the opening of ‘P9’. Hard to believe that at these occasions there is also a large group at play. Excellent work, this one. (FdW)
Address: http://www.potlatch.fr
NOVELLER – PAINT ON THE SHADOWS (LP by No Fun Productions)
ZAIMPH – DEATH BLOOMING PLEASURE (LP by No Fun Productions)
The ubiquitous technologies mean that playing a CD is generally no problem,
unlike vinyl which in this case means finding space and setting up the relevant hardware in my studio has caused a delay. That’s my excuse. And of course whilst the newer technology has approached a zenith the problem is just how long the digital media can be relied on. With changing codec’s and systems and the reliability of storage or unreliability we face the prospect of one day being virtually blind. At least with a vinyl the data can be seen as well as heard which is more than a charm but a metaphysical statement as to the universe being analogue rather than digital. A clear clash of cultures – mathematics of the virtual Vs the plasticity of the real. An LP is flesh and better flesh clad in vinyl – erotic and festishizing, however here both LPs employ not noise but each 3 tracks of drone like continuums In being more delicate, Zaimph (Marcia Bassett) employs guitar and vocal, Noveller (Sarah Lipstate) again guitar as analogue is strangely delicate and ephemeral as if the material itself is already something organic and found before the cruelty of number. (jliat)
Address: http://www.nofunproductions.com/
ALLEIN LUDDITE – MUSIQUE POUR PERSONNE (CDR by Ambolthue Records)
THE WJIIK ANIMAL PROJECT – LIVE AT NIU (3″ CDR by Ambolthue Records)
JON WESSELTOFT – UNDER A TROPICAL MOON (3″ CDR by Ambolthue Records)
Inhabiting the field – or more likely that industrial landscape of dereliction itself an all too familiar metaphor for the failure of modernity in all its guises- playing with what was once avant garde or cutting edge – if not as obvious taking their victims/muses from behind a la Deleuze these three works perhaps attempt a passing slap, Musique pour Personne is 4 long tracks of noise/drone guitar, track 1 fairly homogenous, 2 more chaotic cut ups 3 returns to longer and deeper tones, 4 is more of a mix of low pitched feedback bump and grinds. Whereas Live @ NIU has a very quiet start – splutters and gasps towards the end of loud synth improv noise, by phased industrial/electro noodlings some unidentified speech – grows and develops!!! Synth oscillator manipulation appears out of the industrial ghosts of the past- its only with the Wesseltoft a more clear re-interpretation of the past is formed or deformed in an indistinguishable single track of electric noise- occasional representations of proto-rhythms but a general denial of content/concept – excellent. (jliat)
Address: http://www.ambolthue.com/
BILLY GOMBERG & JAN KEES HELMS – ANYPARK (CDR by Lor Teeps)
Recently the name Jan-Kees Helms popped up in Vital Weekly a couple of times in the announcement section to announce exhibition in Amersfoort, the Dutch city were he hails from. But his own musical history goes back some twenty or so years, when he comes from a political end of music (punk and beyond), with his own project Little Seed and Lor Teeps. In the late 80s, early 90s an active force in the worldwide experimental music scene. I also remember seeing him playing a concert with waste materials from McDonalds. Then he moved out of the picture a bit and since some time, he’s back, creating video’s for which he asks others to compose music. For an event dealing with city parks, he wanted to create a piece of music using sounds from a park in New York City and from Amersfoort. The result is part of an installation. I never heard of Billy Gomberg, but he’s from New York, where he recorded several parks. The two composed two pieces together, and each has a solo piece here. I hardly visit a park in Nijmegen, where I live, but perhaps because the forest is quite nearby, so I can avoid places were people are packed up to relax. We hear in these compositions people talk, kids cheer, a dog bark, and far away sounds from the city. In ‘Anypark 1’ it seems to me the American parks and in ‘Anypark 2’ the dutch ones. Gomberg and Helms both apply some processing – a loop here and there, some equalization – but the original sounds are always at the centre in the two collaborative pieces. In the solo pieces is the other way round and things deal with the processed environmental sounds almost exclusively. Maybe I would have chosen a different order of the pieces, but that’s merely detail. Throughout its a very nice release, a major break from the old Lor Teeps releases, but a fresh start also. (FdW)
Address: http://www.antenna.nl/deeez/muziek.html
UNTITLED FOLDER – LABEL COMPILATION (CDR by Untitled Folder)
Untitled Folder is a web based sub label of Mikroton what I gather is a Moscow based label / promoter of “mostly improvised electroacoustic, electronic, computer.. (music) with potential for conjuring brave new musical world” Information provided was sketchy so I’m not sure if this “label” has subsequently released a CDR or that this is just a hardcopy for review. A very optimistic enterprise – although the brave new world of Huxley is one of control, overcome by savagery. it might be that the newly democratized USSR like the not so recently USA has avoided the nihilism of Europe which might account for the misunderstandings re – meaning. From what *here* seems like naive enthusiasm about the experimentalism or the mistaken ideas re deconstruction and popular culture. Claire Lumiere (Kurt Liedwart) 06/003 & SndIOerror -(2 tracks of Lopezesque glitches across a lo-fi hum) – Dental Meat (Kurt Liedwart/Serge Kolosov) – (2 more similar with chimes etc swathed with reverb) Alexander Grishin / Kurt Liedwart Fünfundzwanzig – (again similar with some stringed instrument ) Kurt Liedwart / Valery Posternak – (As before but we have someone speaking in Russian? ) – so a kind of eclectics and avant whimsy from my position- I’m uncertain of just where its located- as the bareness of minimalism is confronted by the reverb and poetics? Leaves me puzzled. (jliat)
Address: http://www.mikroton.net/uf.html
FOR KINGS AND QUEENS – ONE DAY I DISCOVERED A DREAMACHINE (CDR by Subterranean Sonic)
About a year ago I reviewed the first release of For Kings And Queens, also known as one Jens from Berlin. On ‘Merz’ (see Vital Weekly 629) he drew his inspiration from the likes of Nurse With Wound meeting Merzbow meeting The Hafler Trio, which might be an unlikely pairing and it didn’t work very well. His music was played on guitar and effects, but without much refinement or detail. It seems that Jens took notice and for this new release, which is about transformation, awareness, time and changing, he indeed succeeds better in what he wants. The music, consisting of two pieces is lengthy and spacious, but not smeared together with all the sound effects or ideas he can find. It works best, at least for a while, in the longest piece ‘After A While I Could Transform Myself – Water Remix’, which keeps moving and changing throughout the piece. It moves in an area, stays there for a while, but then moves on. It never stays there for too long, and Jens keeps overall control of the structure of the piece. That makes this quite a nice release. The way up I guess. (FdW)
Address: http://subterraneansonic.blogspot.com
KRK – ACOUASM (CDR by Acheulian Handaxe)
Behind KRK we find Matthew Ostrowski and George Cremaschi, both from New York and both part of the lively improvisation scene. Cremaschi is perhaps the lesser known of the two. He plays contrabass and analog electronics here, whereas Ostrowski plays digital electronics and controllers. I am not sure if Ostrowski picks up the sounds produced by Cremaschi to chance them through the use of computerized techniques. Eight pieces here of pretty wild playing. From on end this is the true world of improvisation, with its free play, rapid changes and everything you shouldn’t do to an instrument (not as told by your teacher), but this goes mainly for the contrabass. Whatever else going on is what makes this more interesting, well, at least for me. This is the electronic component of the music. Things buzz, cracks, glitch, peep and hum. Like all good things microsound meeting improvisation in the world of musique concrete. Its again very lively, energetic, short and to the point. This release last about thirty-one minutes and that seems to me the right length for such vivid music, leaving the listener quite breathless afterwards. Things work best when the two ends, analogue improvisation and computer technique, meet up in the middle. Electronic jazz like in ‘Mateotechny’, but also nicely drone like in ‘Psithurism’. A release full of surprises. (FdW)
Address: http://www.handaxe.org
MATT SCHOEMAKER – THE SUNKEN PLETHORA CONSUMES ALL (CDR by Mystery Sea)
Following last week’s release on The Helen Scarsdale Agency, here is another release by Matt Schoemaker. Again its a work of analogue electronics and field recordings. And also again like last week, there is one piece which seems to be dealing with ‘just’ environmental sounds, water of course (this is Mystery Sea after all), in ‘Hovering’. The other three pieces might rely on field recordings but they are well hidden in the electronic treatments given to the material by Schoemaker. Highly organic once again, highly atmospheric, once again. Perhaps it costs me more trouble to enjoy this following the ‘Erosion Of The Analogous Eye’ from last week. Maybe its the similarity in approach that makes two of these discs in one week from the same person a bit much. I do think that ‘The Sunken Plethora Consumes All’ is a great work. There is no doubt there, or perhaps even better (the somewhat shorter pieces make a bit more coherent compositions), but in this vast crowded field this is maybe a bit much. One to put aside for a while, and then return to it. The work is worth it. (FdW)
Address: http://www.mysterysea.net
BLANK DISC & JONAS KOCHER (CDR, private)
The band Blank Disc is new to me, and so is the name Jonas Kocher. Blank Disc seems to be Srdjan Muc (guitar, objects) and Robert Roza (no-input mixer, electronics, objects), whereas Kocher plays electronics. Three pieces recorded on two different dates, and one piece which seems to be a solo of Roza. Their improvisations operate at the louder end of the spectrum, noise even, maybe, but throughout these four pieces it seems to me that they love to improvise more than putting up a noise fight. Loud and noisy, but they know how to cut in the volume and re-build from virtual silence again. Acoustic objects struggle to find a place with no input feedback sounds. Its all pretty decent stuff that is going on here, however with not many surprises. Lots of this kind of stuff was already heard elsewhere, and on many occasions also better. In its entire form this was all a bit long for my taste. Half way through the second piece, say after twenty or so minutes (about half the release), I was well nourished on this meal. (FdW)
Address: http://www.jonaskocher.com
KASPAR VON URBACH – THE LAST LAUGH (CDR by Klang Und Krach)
BIRDS BUILD NESTS UNDERGROUND – COLD DREAMS (CDR by Klang Und Krach)
An odd release here by the noise band Kaspar von Urbach. Two pieces, one lasting just five minutes and one forty-eight. The latter begins with the voice of Burroughs, quoting Gysin about ‘literature being fifty years behind painting’, and somewhere in the piece we hear McLuhan’s ‘the medium is the massage’ as a loop. All set to a sound collage of sorts. There are noise bits of them rambling on some sheets of metal, electronic (guitar pedals), but what makes this release more interesting than the usual noise bunch, is the fact that Kaspar von Urach knows how to pull back. They build in moments of relative silence, although not as ‘microsound’ as some of the bits on ‘Selfbondage’ (see Vital Weekly 656), which was throughout a better release. That one was a mixture of styles (ambient, microsound, folk noir, noise) and I was wondering which style they would pick to explore. It was noise in the end and while they don’t do a bad job, this release didn’t please me that much. Maybe a solid mixture of noise and say microsound would be a thing for them. The ideas are there, just needs shaping.
Behind Birds Build Nests Underground we find Michal Brunclik and Petr Ferenc, who are armed with a bunch turntables, vinyl records and loops create their work ‘Cold Dreams’. It takes a while before I realized that they use vinyl only, which was nice, but somewhere around the ten minute mark things dawned on me. That’s not bad, since I must admit I am not the biggest lover of works like this. Even when I like the music itself, I keep thinking: well, this is made with sounds other people have produced in the first place. I think Birds Build Nests Underground do a nice job, sometimes it stays a bit too long in a loop, and some of the fades are a bit crude, but its nice enough though. More the kind of stuff you should witness in an intimate setting in a small concert space, rather than play at home, I think. Which makes me wonder why people actually release music like this. (FdW)
Address: http://www.klangundkrach.net
ANONYMEYE – THE DISAMBIGUATION OF ANONYMEYE (CDR by Sound & Fury)
FELICITY MANGAN – LIMETORM (CDR by Sound & Fury)
PEFKIN – ZUGUNRUHE (CDR by Sound & Fury)
HEIL SPIRITS – TRACING NEW SWORDS FROM CHASING OBLIVION AND OTHER COLLECTED SKETCHES (CDR by Sound & Fury)
I don’t keep lists of concerts I attended, but I am pretty sure I saw Anonymeye from Australia at Extrapool once, and for one reason or the other I seem to remember it as quite nice. But I have no idea what it sounded or looked like. Andrew Tuttle is behind Anonymeye and at first I thought he was a noise act – the first two, short, pieces are in that vein. But it turns out that Tuttle is a guitarist in the best John Fahey tradition. Picking the strings like the master himself, but when traveling Europe, he stayed at Worm in the room where the CEM studio is now located and recorded on ancient, pre-historic synthesizers a bunch of sounds, which he mixes with his guitar playing. He doesn’t do this at random, but carefully selected sounds that work well, either in the background or more upfront. It may seem, written down like a duo of weird analogue synth sounds and warm guitar picking, an odd combination, but it works well in the ten pieces Anonymeye plays here. An excellent release.
Oops. Back in Vital Weekly 681 I reviewed a 3″CDR by Felicity Morgan, and now I see a release by Felicity Mangan. Its the same person, and I have no idea why I wrote Morgan. Maybe dementia kicks in? Nobody corrected this (people are usually keen on sending their corrections quickly). The five pieces here, on what could have been a 3″CDR too, were recorded in ‘the Estonian winter’, and uses guitar, wind chimes, paper bags and field recordings. The music here is quite soft and not very outspoken. It all sort of passes without knowing. Just in ‘Tea Tree’, a soft tinkle on the guitar, things sparkle a bit more then in the others. In winter time you close the doors, but why does it sound like its recorded next door? Its a pity because I assume the material itself can be pretty interesting.
Pefkin is a new name for me. I have no idea who is behind it. They use ‘processed guitar, free form percussion, haunting vocals and analogue electronics’, according to the information. From what it sounds like, they could be from New Zealand (although they might be from Australia, just like the label). Its fairly interesting stuff going on here, but nothing much out of the usual. However I like to make an exception for the title, which is great sounding piece of waving electronics, long sustaining voices, a nice set overtones and free play on the guitar, all in a highly melancholic mood. Nice one altogether, no surprise.
And of course the label that is called Sound & Fure is perhaps more inspired by noise than Faulkner (who knows; or Shakespeare; who knows) as proven by Heil Spirits – where do they find names like that. Three slabs of power noise, of which ‘Violent Decay 1’ reminded me of Ramleh – always good, but I prefer the original. Second best is ‘Violent Decay 2’ with its slightly more subdued texture and the title track is just very standard noise. Not so my thing, these sins of the youth. (FdW)
Address: http://www.soundandfury.com
CRANK IGLOO (CDR by XVP)
JEFF REHNLUND – EMPTY GLOVE POINTING (cassette by XVP)
Behind Crank Igloo we find a collaboration of Crank Sturgeon and Igloodoom, being Matt, Hubert and Bartek. The latter releases also as XV Parowek and he releases this recording on his own XVP label. This collaboration is for once not recorded through (e-)mail, but its a recording made on December 7th 2008 in Warsaw. A mixture of electronics, distortion, (contact-) microphone abuse and such like. Things arrives in waves here. Its not one long howl of noise, but rather a wave that builds up, and then moves out again, collapses (like the musician scaring of all the noise? I can’t imagine). I am not sure if I should think this is great, a daring move to bring some variation into the world of noise, or perhaps also possible: the meeting of three wasn’t that much of a success. Not knowing how to improvise, or too much waiting for what others would do, leads to a pretty incoherent concert recording. Maybe someone should have taken the trouble to do an edit and throw away all those parts in which they are searching too much. Not really the best of works around.
On the same label a cassette only release by Jeff Rehnlund, of whom we reviewed ‘Gangnam Basement’ on LP in Vital Weekly 667. He’s, like Crank Sturgeon, part of the US noise scene. In principle he looks for the lowest means possible to create his noise. Microcassette recorders belong to his favorite devices. Hand held, a somewhat broken cable (with hum), equalizers full open, and sometimes layered by re-recording them onto other tapes, taking all hiss for granted. Yet his music isn’t always about the full noise explosion. He occasionally leaps into softer areas of feedback, which brings a necessary amount of variation to keep things like this interesting. At forty minutes still a bit long I think. (FdW)
Address: http://www.xvp.pl
GEHIRN.IMPLOSION – ALLUMFASSENDER UNKONTROLLIERBARER SOG (CDR by Tosom)
This CD of recurring long drawn out noise/drone by Gehirn.Implosion appears to be a requiem for a dead child – Mio (27 days old). Its 6 tracks use heavy feedback and distortion to provide minimal and bleak landscapes, whose titles provide something of the sonority – Forlornness – Your Way – Night Sky – Sadness – Only Sounds – Time Behind The Time. There isn’t much anyone can add? (jliat)
Address: http://www.tosom.de/Tosom-Home.htm
COREPHALLISM (3inch CDR by Apop Records & Lascivious Aesthetics)
This is Shane Broderick (of Two dead-sluts One good fuck) “this debut recording Mr. Broderick offers a brief glimpse into his struggle with personal demons of hereditary mental illness, sexual addiction and depression which serve as subject matter” and so is in its programme similar to the Gehirn.Implosion in that it resolves as subject matter some heavy emotive stuff. And so the problem of anything other than a sympathetic nod is ethically for me very difficult. Are we supposed to enjoy what is the expression of such harsh emotions, or are we in not feeling the proposed response being in-human. Communicating such feelings artistically is notoriously difficult as the subjectivism is so deep. It was once common to invoke metaphor in the form of demons and universal archetypes to express across emotional divides these experiences. There are two tracks here the first a fairly spacey landscape the second more industrial, but insufficient to convey much because of this. Of course its possible to go straight for it – like the Lennon’s untitled debut LP (working class hero) but there is always the danger of embarrassed self pity – in more musical terms then OK we have Beethoven’s fate knocking at the door or Mahler’s second. But even here with such sublime attempts on my first hearing of it I laughed as it sounded like bad Hollywood film music, a few years on and I wept along with a large proportion of the audience. This “big emotional stuff” is hard to handle- like revenge its best served cold and certainly noise as signal without meaning isn’t up to the task of universalizing these emotions. (jliat)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/corephallism
TOMAS KORBER & PHILIP JULIAN – HERBE ZEITEN (3″CDR by Con-V)
The title of this release is translated as ‘Harsh Times’ and maybe from the likes of Philip Julian, whom we also know as Cheapmachines, this might be a program title – even when these days he plays a softer tune too (and much better at that). Here he teams up, armed with his laptop, with Tomas Korber, the Swiss guitarist and electronics improviser who worked a lot with Jason Kahn and Gunter Muller, among many others. Its not mentioned on the cover, but I think this is a work of live improvisation. Some of the changes are rather crudely played and also sound wise this seems above anything else a live recording. Its however not a work of harsh noise. Below the surface there is the almighty drone (of, I think, Philip Julian) and Korber plays his guitar and electronic in a somewhat louder vein, with clang and bang here and there. A pretty nice work I think that holds the attention of the listener throughout the piece, also when it moves, towards the end to a somewhat more subdued area. (FdW)
Address: http://www.con-v.org
POLDR – ROAMING DAYLIGHT (3″CDR by Faunasabbatha)
Last week I said I never heard of Nicola Ratti, but I did (in fact on several occasions), so I know I have to be careful saying when I never heard of a name, but I am pretty convinced that I never heard of Poldr, which seems to be one Benjamin Laurent Aman. He is a visual artist as well as a composer under such guises as Poldr, Crystal Plumage and Inner Ends Of The Coils. I think for Poldr he just uses a guitar (or bass) and electronics. Two tracks of dark atmospherical music, which however don’t sound too good, too slick. And perhaps that’s what Aman intended for this. The rough edge suits the music well I think. Everything is pitched down to the deepest undercurrent of the sonic spectrum. No surprises here, and perhaps a somewhat better recording quality would make things a bit sharper (which would certainly be something for the future) but its nice enough for the amount of time it gives itself. (FdW)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/faunasabbatha