SECRET DRUID SOCIETY – RESTLESS (CD by First Fallen Star) *
MENDEL KAELEN – REMEMBERING WHAT WAS FORGOTTEN (CD, private) *
LETHE – CATASTROPHE POINT #7 & #8 (2CD by Invisible Birds) *
ARCHON ORCHESTRA – PONG (CD by Shadowplay/Muzyka Voln/Monopoly) *
NOISES OF RUSSIA – HUMILITY (2CD by Zhelezobeton/Aquarellist/ElektroIndustria) *
ANTHESTERIA – PHOBOS 1953 (OST) (CD by Zhelezobeton/7Hz Publishing) *
CHRIS POTTINGER – MOIST MEMBRANE (12″ by Tasty Soil)
HANNAH PEEL – YOU CALL THIS YOUR HOME/SONG FOR THE SEA (7″ by Static Caravan) *
CHRISTIAN WOLFARTH – ACOUSTIC SOLO PERCUSSION VOL. 3 (7″ by Hidden Bell Records)
TERJE PAULSEN – COASTLINE (CDR by Mystery Sea) *
RXAXPXE – DRONING DISDAIN (CDR by Tosom)
KAELTEEINBRUCH – YNNOC (3″ CDR by Tosom)
CHEFKIRK & HAL MCGEE – NIMBUS (CDR by HalTapes)
DANIELLE LEMAIRE – DEAR MR. LYNCH (CDR by Inner Landscapes) *
SKINWELL – OVER PASS (CDR by Gears Of Sand) *
BEN MILLER DEGENERATION – LIVE PERFORMANCES AND RADIO BROADCASTS (CDR by Tygerasylum Records)
RUSTED RAINBOW – MACHINE TRANSLATION OF TEXTS (CDR by Tygerasylum Records)
DAS ALTE HAUS (CDR by Tygerasylum Records)
CHRISTIAN GALARRETA – COMPUTER MUSIC IS DEAD (CDR by Free Software Series) *
NOISH – NOISE & CAPITALISM.TXT >> /DEV/DSP (CDR by Free Software Series) *
JOAQUIN LANA – JACOBIN OF NOISE (CDR by Free Software Series) *
LUNA DOPA – LIQUID SUBWAY TO OBLIVION (CDR by Faraday’s Disc) *
PUH QUH/HOLZKOPF (cassette by Toztizok Zoundz)
SECRET DRUID SOCIETY – RESTLESS (CD by First Fallen Star)
One of the things I think I would never do is to imagine planet Earth without human beings, let alone how it would sound like. Its one of things that is beyond imagination, I guess, well, at least for me. But other people do, and two of them call them Secret Druid Society. Of course its all a matter of interpretation. Who knows, maybe its the most noisy place you ever imagine? Not according to the Secret Druid Society: they think the planet Earth sounds like an ambient soundscape. And why not, indeed? There are no clues here as to the instruments used by this duo, but my best guess is that it is derived from guitars, electronics, synthesizers – human inventions from the planet Earth, when things run on electricity. The bad news is that ‘Restless’ (from what I wondered?) sounds like any album that has been tagged as ‘dark atmospheric ambient’ music. The kind of darkness we find on say a label like Malignant Records. That is not a bad thing, unless you were looking for someone who would open up new doors in the world of ambient music. That’s not what Secret Druid Society does. The walk a path that many before also wandered. They do however an absolutely fine job. Their drones are far from subtle, but sound like they have been dug up from the Earth’s core, covered with dust and dirt, but yet manages to sound like a rough diamond. Perfect rainy day music. Quite nice, for us humans that is. (FdW)
Address: http://www.firstfallenstar.com
MENDEL KAELEN – REMEMBERING WHAT WAS FORGOTTEN (CD, private)
From Groningen (The Netherlands) hails one Mendel
Kaelen, a student of neuro sciences, who wonders about the unconsciousnes: what are the limits of our perception and which aspects of our mind are closed of because of our modern lifestyle. That the objective side of a scientist in training, but on the subjective side he works within sound art, with a strong interest in shamanism. Sound is an influence on us, conscious or subconscious. That’s why it was, for instance, used for religious practices throughout many centuries. Kaelen is trained as a guitar player, mainly spanish guitar, but always had interest in music from Coil, Francisco Lopez, Alio Die and Thomas Koner and started with electronics and field recordings in 2006. He has worked with Machinist before and now releases his first full length album, with four lengthy compositions, in total over seventy minutes. It seems to me that Kaelen’s interest lies within the creation of atmospheric moods, rather than creating a well rounded off composition of some kind. That of course is not a bad thing. In a fine interplay of instruments – mainly the processed guitar I think, field recordings (although hard to define which they are), computer processing and acoustic objects – I believe to hear the sounds of stones – he creates music that is best enjoyed at night, lying down, eyes closed, on repeat and all night – long after one is asleep. I am not sure if it will invoke of memories of what was forgotten, or wether anything else hidden will be revealed, but its surely great music. In terms of soundscaping closer to Alio Die than Lopez, this is a rather smooth work. Nothing new under this particular moon of atmospheric ambient music, but its made with some great imagination. (FdW)
Address: http://www.mendelkaelen.com/
LETHE – CATASTROPHE POINT #7 & #8 (2CD by Invisible Birds)
Kuwayama Kiyoharu is the man behind Lethe. Under his own name he works within the field of improvised music, playing cello and electronics, in a duo called Kuwayama-Kijima and as Lethe he creates music that deals with large spaces with lots of natural reverberation, such as abandoned warehouses, shinto temples, mausoleums and factories. These works are called ‘Catastrophe Point’ and on this double CD we find two of them. One (from 2004) was recorded at Arsenic in Lausanne, Switzerland and the other at an ex-power station in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 2006. Inside such spaces, Kuwayama goes about to record the empty space, picking up large reverberations with the tiniest of sound information. Found metal is being scraped, hit and dragged across the floor. Now that may seem like a ‘heavy’ thing, but if you listen to these pieces, there is a great sense of ’emptiness’ in these recordings. It stays far away, like being removed far away from the microphone(s). I suspect he picks up his ‘action’ with various microphones and then mixes these together when it comes to releasing such works. Its hard to say (and no doubt not really necessary) what this is, this music of Lethe. Ambient? Perhaps, but not as we commonly know it. Experimental? Surely. Action music, performance art? No doubt that’s true as well. You could wonder why two discs. There are some interesting differences between both works. The Scotland work is very sparse: an empty space, a few sounds (in all three tracks). The Switzerland piece has some sort of drone/alarm/buzz going on, with lots of more activity. Towards the end of the first part, the space around is removed and we have a very clear picture of all sorts of acoustic activity going on. In the second part a ‘clear’ piano pops up. Maybe we have to keep the time frame in mind: in 2004 Lethe was perhaps more focussed on ‘music’ in a big space, whereas in 2006 he was more interested in the space itself. I am not entirely sure. Of the two ‘Catastrophe #7’ would count as the more musical one, whereas ‘Catastrophe #8’ would count as a piece of sound art. For either drone lovers, improvised music fans and art goers, there is something for everyone in this quite unique sound world of Lethe. (FdW)
Address: http://www.invisiblebirds.org
ARCHON ORCHESTRA – PONG (CD by Shadowplay/Muzyka Voln/Monopoly)
NOISES OF RUSSIA – HUMILITY (2CD by Zhelezobeton/Aquarellist/ElektroIndustria)
ANTHESTERIA – PHOBOS 1953 (OST) (CD by Zhelezobeton/7Hz Publishing)
The first of these three new releases, distributed or released by Zhelezobeton from St. Petersburg, is straight an oddity. The cover shows us some Renaissance painting with graphics from Atari’s first computer game ‘Pong’. The organ is the main instrument, but then an electrical or computerized version thereof. The sounds are sampled together and put together in strictly repeating, minimal blocks of sound. The string of labels who released this mention that this should be appealing to those who like Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Terry Riley and Recoil (circa ‘Hydrology’). That seems to me a bit too much honor. What this particular brand of minimalism lacks is the working of the overtones, which adds in the works of three American composers that drone/raga like element. This is a minimalism of a much more simple kind. It all seems dead easy, perhaps it is, but having said that, there is also something strangely captivating about this. Think techno without a 4/4 beat, just a bunch of keyboards, repeating phrases in a hyper active way. The only thing that I could think of to compare it was the Mesmer LP on Ash International and that’s what this album is too: mesmerizing.
Next up is a double CD by Noises Of Russia, a somewhat obscure ‘group’ it seems. No names, nor instruments are mentioned on the cover. If you open this in itunes, the text is all Russian, and so are the texts which are off and on mumbled into a microphone. We can merely guess what they are about (titles, in English on the cover, are ‘Contemplation’, ‘Hate’, ‘Image’, or ‘Death Always Becomes Closer’), but no doubt life is unpleasant. This is all guided by music that is played on some analogue synthesizer (or two), bell like percussion, maybe some treated guitar. Quite depressing music. Is it bad? Not really. Is it good, then? Well, no, either. But I guess that’s not the point of this music. No doubt there is something about altered states or such like about this.
Computer game is also part of the release ‘Phobos’ by Anthesteria, of which a film is on the CD too. Not that it means much to me, but then computer games and me just never worked out – the blurb says something about this taking place in an old Soviet bunker and ‘explores such themes as limits of mental possibilities, the electronic voice phenomenon, experiments with thought-transference and impact of fear on the human organism’. The liner notes are all in Russian. Life is never easy I guess. For those who do not speak Russian, there is, in the end, just a CD left with music. And that music is quite nice. Like Noises Of Russia quite atmospheric, but much lighter of tone. Quite gently created with the use of some keyboards, sampling, guitars and occasional shortwave sounds, this is more melodic than Noises Of Russia and not as top heavy. A soundtrack to anything, if one tends to forget the computer game. What is left then is quite a nice CD, which holds hardly any surprise, but one that is crafted with great care. (FdW)
Address: http://zhb.radionoise.ru
CHRIS POTTINGER – MOIST MEMBRANE (12″ by Tasty Soil)
A largely ignored format these days, the 12″ single that spins at forty minutes, the disco single. Perhaps because its more economical interesting to put more music on the same size at a slower speed, but then at 45 they always sound good. But here is one. Two tracks, nine minutes each, from label boss Chris Pottinger, who is also part of Cotton Museum and Slither. What I seem to detect here is the sound of a saxophone, percussion, zither, a guitar, maybe a synthesizer, and perhaps lots of other things. Both sides sound strikingly similar: heavily layered blocks of sound. Everything is close together in the mix and oddly enough I am reminded of Organum here. Not that I could particularly choose an Organum which resembles this, but the closed playing of all sorts of instruments, which doesn’t sound particularly quiet or noise based, but with a strong presence makes this into a wonderful, cinematic record. The haunted horror house soundtrack. Vibrating ghosts screaming from the attic, while the basement is flooded with sea creatures. Where all of your senses pick up everything at the same time, and it drives you, lovingly crazy. If Organum, Nurse With Wound and Af Ursin is your cup of tea, then shiver with this too. (FdW)
Address: http://www.tastysoil.com
HANNAH PEEL – YOU CALL THIS YOUR HOME/SONG FOR THE SEA (7″ by Static Caravan)
One of the most interesting surprises earlier this year was the 7″ by Hannah Peel, called ‘Re-box’, in which she performed four classic tunes (by New Order, OMD, Gloria Jones and Cocteau Twins) with the use of her voice and musicboxes. Now she returns with something that is perhaps more conventional. Peel sings, plays piano, synthesizers, violin and trombone, while receiving help for acoustic guitar, saz, bass, dulcimer, vocals, trumpet and drums. The two pieces on the second 7″ are her own compositions and are great folky, poppy tunes. The a-side ends a bit abrupt of what is a simple composition but with a catchy hook to it. The more dramatic ‘Song For The Sea’ on the flip is the winner here, I’d say. Soaring brass section, rolling drums, cabaret piano interlude and Peel’s lovely voice barely arising from the music. Two fine tunes, a fine record. Not with the same surprise as the first one, but with same great quality. (FdW)
Address: http://www.staticcaravan.org
CHRISTIAN WOLFARTH – ACOUSTIC SOLO PERCUSSION VOL. 3 (7″ by Hidden Bell Records)
Following his two previous 7″s with ‘acoustic solo percussion’ (see Vital Weekly 687 and 706), here is the third volume in what will be a four part series. Like before its hard to believe its percussion music. But this time we get a detailed notes on the proceedings: side E has ‘two cymbals bowed together with one cello bow’ and side F has ‘a snare drum rubbed with a ring of styropor and two cymbals bowed together with a cello bow’ (and made me wonder how many hands Wolfarth has?). Oh, did I mention ‘no overdubs, electronics and other aids’? Maybe that’s something that applies more to side F than E: the rotating sound of the styropor on the snare drum has a percussive element, with the bow bringing the oddity into the composition, but on E, the higher pitched sound of the bow and the cymbals have quite a distinctive electronic feel to it. Two more great sides from a great imaginative player. May I ask for a CD release of all four records, in due time? (FdW)
Address: http://www.ch.wolfarth.ch.vu
TERJE PAULSEN – COASTLINE (CDR by Mystery Sea)
Earlier this year I reviewed ‘Horisont’ by Terje Paulsen, from Norway, and I called him the new kid on the block, following a string of releases on labels Homophoni, TecnoNucleo, Q-tone, Resting Bell, Rain Music, Con-V and here again he returns to Mystery Sea, with a sequel to ‘Horisont’. I believed he was a guitar player, but with these two releases it seems as if he is more a man of field recordings. I might still be very wrong with that. Its very much along the lines of ‘Horisont’, with obscured metal rumble going on, lots and lots of sound effects, bringing this work quite up front. Not a work of carefully constructed microsound, but with some heavy undercurrents of water dripping, boats bumping into the harbor and all that usual imagery that comes with the territory in the Mystery Sea world. But Paulsen does a fine job, by adding some elements from the world of improvised music to it, clanging his metal (strings of a guitar?) here and there, while keeping the almighty drone going. That’s something a lot of peers wouldn’t allow themselves to do. In that respect this is something of a change. Not a sea change, but an interesting ripple. Nice one. (FdW)
Address: http://www.mysterysea.net
RXAXPXE – DRONING DISDAIN (CDR by Tosom)
KAELTEEINBRUCH – YNNOC (3″ CDR by Tosom)
Rxaxpxe is 9 tracks of heavy industrial – think deep bass and road drills, pulses and distorted voice, “Total musical rape” the usual misogynist sex object sentiments, I’m never sure how serious this kind of thing is, though the nature of “evil” here has to be either naÔve in the extreme or perhaps ironic. True evil comes in smart suits and gentle tones best epitomized by in the film The Matrix, or the winning smile of Tony Blair, not the noise and screams and obvious Satanism, just as the SS might seem evil, with skull encrusted daggers this is nothing to the banality of modern urban living, if living it is, its why I suppose zombies despite their looks seem more appealing than the average office worker, a true horror film would last 70 years and show ordinary people doing ordinary jobs having ordinary holidays and ordinary kids and ordinary deaths. The problem of getting this across on the CD format is obvious.. the Kaelteeinbruch is more atmospheric, manipulation of digital artifacts and sound dropouts awash with echo and reverb, slow volcanic processes. perhaps then this like the Hollywood blockbusters, and what is wrong with any of that? (jliat)
Address: http://www.tosom.de
CHEFKIRK & HAL MCGEE – NIMBUS (CDR by HalTapes)
I think Hal McGee has been making electronic music of various types since around the late carboniferous period, check out the web site if you don’t believe me. This collaboration with Chefkirk (Roger H. Smith) is no exception to his previous work, which is a commitment to the electronic genre which brings imagination, sincerity interest and a sense of, god forbid – or the satanic wraths et. al., “fun”….. in this case “dual no-input mixer” which the two seem to improvise in the same creative and superbly pleasing way in which other great (as in good time) musical improvisations work, that is – interest, charm, amuse, provoke, react….. so OK the universe might suck, but the god of Sunday afternoon also made Saturday night –
elsewhere I know, I know I too often have cited Camus and Sisyphus needing to be happy, which maybe the Goths/Emos cant quite see – so I’ll resort to Lennon and
McCartney . “Fun! fun is the one thing that money can’t buy, Something inside that was always denied, For so many years…. bye, bye….” wonderful stuff, excellent work guys! – I mean Roger and Hal here not John and Paul. I recommend this – and hey gloomy face- you can even download it for free! (jliat)
Address: http://www.halmcgee.com/nimbus.html
DANIELLE LEMAIRE – DEAR MR. LYNCH (CDR by Inner Landscapes)
Earlier this year, Danielle Lemaire, along with her husband Jan van den Dobbelsteen, spent some time in China where she finished the music on her latest CDR, and took pictures for the booklet. These are stuck inside a wooden box with a hand sewn thing on top, which looks arty but also a bit tacky. Somehow a package like that fits the music of Danielle Lemaire, which is also very ‘home-made’. Lemaire uses her voice, some keyboard or two, a guitar (sampled or in real time – that is not clear), a piano, some small percussion and has a distinctly lo-fi character. No audiophile here. In her work, either as a musician and a visual artist, she has a fascination for the outsiders in art, even when, with her own involvement in organizing art events, she’s perhaps not the best example of what we think of outsiders (a vision here of some deranged alcoholic in a shed with a dictaphone creating pure genius with a one stringed guitar). She sings her intimate songs in a likewise intimate manner. I am not sure whether the long ‘Live Ars Electronica Linz 2009’ had to be included, since with its twenty minutes and mostly of an improvised nature, it breaks the CD into two (a separate release on a 3″ would have been more appropriate, I think), and moves away from the song like character of the other songs, perhaps the (also) lengthy ‘Vampire’ excluded. This music may not be entirely my cup of tea, but its faithful and careful execution is quite nice. There is room for improvement, but that’s more on the technical side of the proceedings. Seven strong songs, and two improvisations that would have fitted better elsewhere. (FdW)
Address: http://www.iae.nl/users/jada
SKINWELL – OVER PASS (CDR by Gears Of Sand)
All the way from the beautiful city of Montreal comes Skinwell, a duo of Christian Corvellec and Martin Dumais. They already had a release last year called ‘Tunnels’ (which we didn’t review). Seeing this being released by Gears Of sand, this may serve as a clue where we place the music. That is, I think, only partly true. The six pieces captured here display not just an ambient side of music, but in fact go a bit deeper. Obviously dark, obviously atmospheric, these pieces are heavily layered constructions in sound. The cover depicts a city by night, as seen from the air, and that goes extremely well with this music. It has a rough, big city edge, well, perhaps even an industrial edge, which gives this music a lot of internal tension. Somewhere in these black holes, things bump into eachother. Hard to say wether we are dealing here with a bunch of synthesizers, guitars or processed field recordings – no doubt a combination of them all – this is all quite mysterious music. And great it is. A highly successful combination of dark ambient and industrial music, albeit of a kinder brand. See, all is not lost yet when it comes to hoping for some great developments in ambient music. Skinwell shows us that, a fine set of ambient industrial music. (FdW)
Address: http://www.gearsofsand.net
BEN MILLER DEGENERATION – LIVE PERFORMANCES AND RADIO BROADCASTS (CDR by Tygerasylum Records)
RUSTED RAINBOW – MACHINE TRANSLATION OF TEXTS (CDR by Tygerasylum Records)
DAS ALTE HAUS (CDR by Tygerasylum Records)
Jordon Schranz started Tigerasylum Records to release music of his own group called The Eastern Seaboard. His goal is to release music in the free jazz, noise, experimental and avant-rock scene. The design of the releases is simple, effective and informative. Until now he only released music from his own region Brooklyn, but currently he spreads his wings and will release music from all over the world. And I must say the quality of music at the three CDR’s is great and worth listening.
Ben Miller has a lot of experience in the experimental music-world. He created a solo-performance “Degeneration” with a prepared guitar. The guitar is contacted with a lot of analog en digital effects and has been played with all kind of objects and found materials. The CDR “Live Performances and Radio Broadcasts gives a wide variety of different recordings with monophonic radio-cassette, VHS and DAT. Miller plays a lot with all kind of sounds with his guitar and he created his own musical world which is highly experimental, but with a lot of concentration and knowledge of the material used. The sphere is melancholic, minimal, calm and restless and he combines these moods without any problem. A great album with an unexpected and ongoing use of the guitar and effects.
Rusted Rainbow is a collaboration between Aaron Hemphill, who lives and works in the U.S.A. and Francesco Calandrino, who lives and works in Italy. The CDR has a length of no longer than 30 minutes and consists 10 tracks. The duo takes the listener to a great variety of sounds and noises and created by all kinds of soundsources. Although it is not a chaos and the alternation cares for high attention. The CDR starts really noisy like a lot of harsh noise sounds, but after that their world of noises unpack their creativity. But it is not only noise, soundcracks, voice and silence, also a composition with harmonium completes the album. A nice really for the lovers of experimental noises.
Das Alte Haus is an Austrian experimental trio consists of Mario Rechtern, who plays modified saxophones and voice, Bernhard Fashing on drums and gong and Dave Schmidt on bass. They recorded five improvised tracks on 11 and 12 January 2009. The first track starts in free-jazz style and after that the three tracks are more uptempo and develop to a pulsating beat, pumping bass and a freaky saxophone. The last track is a quiet composition with gong and saxophone, smooth played and very useful for lay-back moments. I think it is a good decision of Jordon Schranz to give musicians, not only of a restricted area, space to release their experimental improvisations. (JKH)
Address: http://www.tigerasylum.com
CHRISTIAN GALARRETA – COMPUTER MUSIC IS DEAD (CDR by Free Software Series)
NOISH – NOISE & CAPITALISM.TXT >> /DEV/DSP (CDR by Free Software Series)
JOAQUIN LANA – JACOBIN OF NOISE (CDR by Free Software Series)
Mattin’s interesting Free Software Series continues with three new releases. Usually software is mentioned, but not on the ‘Computer Music Is Dead’ by Christian Galarreta, from Lima, Peru. He has two pieces from two concerts (Mexico and Lima). The first piece is quite long and a damn noisy beast of loud, sine wave like sounds and (perhaps) computer processing – certainly in the second part of the piece. Played loud, the really loud parts pierce right into your brain. The execution of the piece however is done with great care. No fooling about by Galarreta. The shorter piece from Lima is a microphone recording of exploding feedback, sine waves and distortion – the computer is on fire and about to explode soon. Sadly this piece doesn’t leave a similar good impression as the first.
Oscar Martin is Noish, and on his ‘GNU/Linux’, he runs ‘shell, pure data and Ardour’, while adding ‘portable open-tape recorder, cassette tape recorder and a feedback mixer’. That last thing may serve as a clue that this is a bit of a noise release, although not throughout the entire length of twenty-six minutes and twelve seconds. Sometimes it is, and those parts may be of less interest, but there are also moments where he hints towards old electronic music, with glissandi up and down the scale. It makes the entire quite entertaining, but perhaps not always convincing. It seems to me that Noish has not yet made his mind up what he wants to do. I would suggest to go for the more electronic sounds and leave the noise behind.
The longest release is by Joaquin Lana, who uses ‘SuperCollider_(pure: dyne leek and potato)’, whatever that means. Now this is quite a curious piece of hiss like sounds, being chopped up. In say, roughly, the first half of the release these sounds are presented in various shaped. Sometimes loud, sometimes quite soft, but never over the top as a piece of noise music. In the second half nothing happens save for some occasional small hiss that lasts a few seconds. It kind of eludes me why do such a thing, unless I am missing out on the bigger conceptual picture of this. Its a pity since that first half I thoroughly enjoyed. The second half could easily be skipped. (FdW)
Address: http://www.freesoftwareseries.org
LUNA DOPA – LIQUID SUBWAY TO OBLIVION (CDR by Faraday’s Disc)
From Italy is Gabriel Luis B. who calls himself
Luna Dopa and he started in 2008. According to the label, and probably to himself also, the music ranges from ‘deep ambient soundscapes to minimalistic drone collages of sounds made to point out the subconscious nature of the project itself’, and also ‘magick ambient’ is used. Its music that, to be frank, I fail to understand and therefore have a hard time liking. Its hardly music. A far far away drone of some unidentified kind (organ? guitar), some soft percussive, ritualistic rumble and, oh horror, some mumbling voice, which recites ‘texts’ which aren’t exactly to be understood or comprehend in any way. ‘Surreal or dreamlike experiences’? Hardly, I’d say. Its something that annoys me a great deal. (FdW)
Address: http://www.artliberation.org
PUH QUH/HOLZKOPF (cassette by Toztizok Zoundz)
Peter Quistgard is a lovable young man from Amsterdam who produces some interesting wild music with game boys and such like, but found time to start a new project called Puh Quh, which he describes as Atari-Dup. Not a lot of information to go by here, but let’s say that he’s now taking up an interest in dub music, recorded in jam session. Unperfected music which works well on cassette, but little beyond it. A bit reggae like indeed, but not in any kind of ‘band’ like set-up, but played on what may seem ancient keyboards and, indeed, Atari sequencing. Quite simple, perhaps a bit naive, but then put together in a joyous mood and, no doubt, spirit among the players. On the other side of the we find Holzkopf from Canada, which I believe is a one guy project too. Here too one track on this side, lasting about twenty-four minutes. Here its not dub or reggae, but some kind of deranged form of techno, albeit of a slower nature than is usual with this stuff, more distorted and much more freaky. Its also less playful than Puh Quh, and probably even fits the medium of cassette more. Quite raw and undeniably underground. (FdW)
Address: http://www.toztizok.com