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>
KOJI ASANO – GALAXIES (CD by Solstice) *
ERIK FRIEDLANDER – 50 MINIATURES FOR IMPROVISING QUINTET (CD by Skipstone)
JAKUZI’S ATTEMPT – III (CD by Wire Globe Recordings)
JONATHAN ULIEL SALDANHA – THE EARTH AS A FLOATING EGG (CD by Soopa)
DONEDA/RUSSELL/TURNER – THE CIGAR THAT TALKS (CD by Collection Piednu)
THEOLOGIAN – THE FURTHER I GET FROM YOUR STAR, THE LESS LIGHT I FEEL ON MY FACE (CD by Crucial Blast)
DISSECTING TABLE CHAOS ATTRACTOR (CD by R.O.N.F. Records)
MANAMI N. – KILLING WASABI (CD by Private Electro)
MARANATA – TOTAL REPAIR (CD by Ohm Records)
RHODRI DAVIES & LEE PATTERSON & DAVID TOOP – WUNDERKAMMERN (CD by Another Timbre) *
CHRIS COGBURN & BONNIE JONES & BHOB RAINEY – ARENA LADRIDOS (CD by Another Timbre) *
LOOPER – DYING SUN (CD by Another Timbre) *
MARIO GABOLA & AGOSTINO DISCIPIO – UP-SET (CD by Viande) *
ASPECT(T) – WASPNEST (LP by Toxo Records)
IGORRR – BAROQUECORE EP (12inch by aentitainment records)
KIM NASUNG – MINDFUL AWARENESS (CDR by Mind Twisting Records) *
ANNA – ARAIGNEES (CDR by Mind Twisting Records) *
BEN BYRNE – DISPOSITION (CDR by Avant Whatever)
DEAD WOOD/MATTHEW SHAW – SHOTTSFORD FORUM (CDR by Apollolaan) *
JEREMIE MATHES – ARSET (CDR by Mystery Sea) *
LOOPOOL – ARROGANCE IS BLISS (CDR by Hipster Death)
ELEKTRIK UNDERGROUND 2010 (CDR compilation by Motok)
+DOG+ – BLISS (CDR by Love Earth Music)
+DOG+ – ACOUSTIC SHADOW (CDR by Love Earth Music)
EN NIHIL – THE ABSOLUTE (CDR by Love Earth Music)
JUSTIN RODRY & MATTHEW HIMES – ROMANTIC LOVE (cassette by Lighten Up Sounds)
NEON SEA – FADING LIGHT (cassette by Lighten Up Sounds)
A VIBRANT STRUGGLE – THE MOLTEN SNOW TAPES VOL. 5 (cassette by Lighten Up Sounds)
FRANS DE WAARD – KUBUS (cassette on My Own Little Label) *
KOJI ASANO – GALAXIES (CD by Solstice)
It has been nearly four years since we last saw a release by Koji Asano. ‘Galaxies’ is is his 44th full album since 1995, but only the first one since ‘Oboe Trio No.1-No.3’ from 2006 – see Vital Weekly 564. That was an odd album of baroque like music, but for ‘Galaxies’ he’s back on track with something more experimental. I must admit I don’t remember all the previous 43 releases by him by heart, but I doubt if there was a lot of music that used solely field recordings, which seems to be the case with this new release. In this work rain and insect sounds play an all important role. Clocking it at exactly sixty minutes, this seems to be using the sounds from cicada’s in Japan, which sing like no other. This piece seems to be not moving at all, when listened to superficially, but upon closer inspection, there are lost of small variations to be spotted – its most certainly not a straight forward recording of an hour rain and insects. It stays on the same level, volume-wise, which makes this perhaps less of a composition, but more likely sets an environment at home. Why just an hour, and not a DVD of say seven hours? A perfect sound environment, using (perhaps) solely field recordings. (FdW)
Address: http://www.kojiasano.com
ERIK FRIEDLANDER – 50 MINIATURES FOR IMPROVISING QUINTET (CD by Skipstone)
Friedlander is a cello virtuoso from New York, known for his work for John Zorn and many other collaborations. He was commissioned by the San Francisco Contemporary Jewish Museum in 2008 to compose a collection of musical pieces inspired by the Hebrew alphabet. He composed fifty small units. For the CD these units have been clustered – again a compositional process – in seven pieces for this CD. Why 50? Well because he was reaching the age of 50 at that time, and also because it is a number full of biblical connotations. 7 is the number of fullness. 7 x 7 symbolizes the most fullest fullness, combined with one it indicates for a new start. In the composing process Friedlander was inspired by the 14th letter of the Hebrew alphabet, Nun. But despite these evident Jewish sources of inspiration, the music is not overt Jewish music, although echoes of Jewish music surface every now and then. Besides I’m not sure whether Friedlander has Jewish roots and whether he views his music as Jewish. Also this music can hardly be called jazz or improvised music, although both elements are inherent in this music. The music presents itself more as a kind of classical chamber music of a contemplative nature. It is performed by Jennifer Choi (violin), Sylvie Courvoisier (piano), Trevor Dunn (bass), Erik Friedlander (cello) and Mike Sarin (drums), a quintet he formed for this occasion. The music received a very transparent recording. This way it is possible to follow each movement and to enjoy all colors. Nice work. (DM)
Address: http://www.skipstonerecords.com
JAKUZI’S ATTEMPT – III (CD by Wire Globe Recordings)
Jakuzi’s Attempt have their base in Wolfsburg, Austria. They are around since 2004 and describe themselves as a progressive hardcore band. In 2006 they released their first one. Now their next one is out. So they seem to take time to develop their music. This seems the more the case as more as this cd only has four tracks, played by Martin Pfeiffer (drums), Markus Steinkellner (guitars, vocals, programming) and Philipp Kienberger (bass).
This music has all the raw and brutal energy we know from hardcore, but it is combined with elements of another nature. They mix for instance also dark and slow passages in their compositions that make you feel uncomfortable. The title piece ÕII’ is one continuous stream of dark, indeterminate sounds, that never take the shape of a song, but remain an amorphous amount of sounds. They do a passionate job, one must say. Also it is satisfying to hear that they are open for experiment. They do not lock themselves up in limited hardcore-rules. On the other hand, results are not earthshaking, but there is some potential here. So I hope it takes not another four year before they release their next attempt. (DM)
Address: http://www.jakuziattempt.com
JONATHAN ULIEL SALDANHA – THE EARTH AS A FLOATING EGG (CD by Soopa)
A work composed and produced by Jonathan Uliel Saldanha, a young composer from Porto, Portugal who worked with musicians like Damo Suzuki (Can) and Mark Stewart (On-U). For many of the projects and groups he is involved in, he usually hides himself behind the name HHY. For this solo-album he is helped out by seven musicians, one of them being Filipe Silva with whom he runs the Soopa-label. What he is presenting is a kind of concept-album filled with wide orchestral and choral proportions. In line with alchemy and hermetic cosmologies that inspire Saldanha, he seems to like big gestures. After repeated listenings I still find myself not knowing what to think of this pompous musical work. It is pretentious electro-acoustical work that somehow connects to the world of Wakhevitch, Art Zoyd, etc. Some of the tracks evoke medieval and baroque times. Other pieces like ‘Rumor is Listening’ is a sort of intermezzo of sound poetry. ‘The Fall of Lintukoto’ opens with field recordings of birds. The opening track has dominant percussion with jungle sounds in the back, and associations with ethnic music come across. So many influences are integrated in this work. A bizarre work, and in that respect a welcome one. In one way Jonathan Uliel Saldanha spreads out many ideas and techniques. But the results are in my ears only partially satisfying. As a composition, it is not appealing to my standards. A bit too eclectic, and not convincingly incarnated from a consistent idea. The music is performed by eight musicians, including Saldanha himself who did a lot of processing of the material in order to reach its final form. (DM)
Address: http://www.soopa.org
DONEDA/RUSSELL/TURNER – THE CIGAR THAT TALKS (CD by Collection Piednu)
Three veteran European improvisers join forces for this one: Michel Doneda (saxes), John Russell (guitar) and Roger Turner (percussion). Early 2009 they went into a studio in Le Havre. The cd is published by Ecole Superieure d’¡rt du Havre. Doneda is known for his many appearances on records from the Nato-label. Both Russell and Turner appear on many records of improvised music since the end of the 70s. Together they have a long history of working as a duo. But they have no problem Doneda joining in here. It is a fantastic session of very intense and communicative improvisation. The music has drive, direction. It is multi-angled and full of subtleties and nuance. Very vivid music that creeps all over you. (DM)
Address: http://www.esah-lehavre.fr
THEOLOGIAN – THE FURTHER I GET FROM YOUR STAR, THE LESS LIGHT I FEEL ON MY FACE (CD by Crucial Blast)
A decade ago I received a brutal power electronics album from an artist called Navicon Torture Technologies. It was the album “Scenes from the next millennium” released on Malignant Records in 2001. Behind the NTT-project was Lee M. Bartow alias Leech from the New York Power Electronics scene. Genre-wise, NTT, had elements of many industrial-noise sub-genres such as power electronics, death industrial, harsh noise, and powernoise. Now Leech has shipped another project from the dark world of crushing electronics, this time under the flag Theologian. Present album “The Further I Get From Your Star, The Less Light I Feel On My Face” released on the Crucial Blast label is the debut of Theologian. Compared to the ultra-violence of the “Scenes from the next millennium”-album this new project/album more likely operates in the subtle expressions of harsh electronics. The crushing symphonies operates in the sub-levels with utter black ambience delivering some dark and sinister atmospheres. Everyone interested in noise and experimental ambient should take a listen this excellent piece of rumbling darkness. (NM)
Address: http://www.www.crucialblast.net
DISSECTING TABLE CHAOS ATTRACTOR (CD by R.O.N.F. Records)
As if to please some authority without authority, the taxonomy of this is extreme noise, what someone called average noise, in that it has no surprises and is not radical, as I’ve read elsewhere, one track – which once it gets started is a cacophony. I do not want to annoy any racialists “out there” – well perhaps I might, but all the talk of radical and harsh and wall as well as Ad Reinhardt misses the point, and I’m not saying there is no point. The very plasticity of the work, melting Godzilla’s and Atari computers doesn’t deny the analytical – it’s simply not there, and not by being overwhelmed, or ‘being’ in a certain sense. Such analysis will render a disappointment and perhaps the alternative is too ‘continental’. Or all too quickly overcome. My point then is this, its all too easy to account for HNW in conventional, dialectic, (even a version of Marxism will do quite nicely, and perhaps situationism, so the likes of Vomir and Rita can be accommodated) But that is why this work appears “average” when of course both it and the concept has lost its meaning, or better is simply somewhere else. This noise is not “different from” in that it is actively and radically “playing” within some dialects which not only might but does include music, and so for all its difference a *wall* is the point of the dialectic, here no such process can take place, it is in effect a colorless color, understood in the conventions of radicalism as grey, even a terminal grey, but again that is mistaken. It is in fact, and facticity rather than minimalism (HNW) abounds – here – a difference far far more profound, a transcendental difference in itself, and so subject to all that this implies, a similarity or return that is both eternal and eternally novel. Of course this may sound impossible, but there it is, a possibility that with work, hard work can be understood as something which escapes radicalism. And (of course) in its novel eternal return it admits to the fact which sounds strange of being generated by the a-priori past. I’d very much like to be more clear, especially to the analytical, scientific, mathematical mind, as this is not some lit crit metaphysical nonsense (in the Sokal sense or any other) so if you wonder how a wall can be “breached” without either its overcoming or its destruction, retreat, to music, opera, the average, then wiki tunneling electron, for a more technical account as to how the average can overcome something physically, intellectually, whatever – superior. And if you think that metaphor is incorrect excuse me and not this, I’m a poor reviewer. But more important than my standing – we need to “post it” this from now on in every discussion of HN and HNW as well as throwing the drowning musicologists a life line. (jliat)
Address: http://www.ronfrecords.com
MANAMI N. – KILLING WASABI (CD by Private Electro)
Kill Wasabi is a concept album. That is how they called this debut album of Manami N. Mostly I felt a bit anxious about albums with a concept. Lot’s of words had to explain how you had to interpretative so called difficult music. But in this case I am happy with all these words which explain more about the 10 tracks. It gives an extra dimension to the music. Manami Nagahari worked firstly in an office at her birth-town Niigata in Japan. Then she moved to Tokyo and influenced by this city she started as musician to sing in several bands. At the end of the 90’s she started tot make music with the computer. Together with Kenji Yamazaki she starts the band Komoemellia and created music for games and dance tracks. Kill Wasabi is her debut solo album and the style is hard to describe. It contains different styles who doesn’t combine at first sight, but her beautiful voice connects all musical sources together. The album starts with a jazz-standard, with a high night-club mood, complete with strings and horns/saxophone. The short song is followed with noisy sounds which overlapped in easy-listening jazz and back again. It seems something completely crazy, but she can create harmony between these worlds. And that is the concept of the album. A tribute to her roots in Japan, but also to kill something to create something stronger and beautiful. Wasabi is a herb and when you boil it the taste will become stronger. “Heya no naka” is created together with Mark Badur. The original is played with violin and has a great minimal music character, like the early years of Steve Reich. A very strong composition. The remix has been done with horns and has more a melancholic mood. My favorite track is Kawaita Sabaku, what means “I am in the desert.” The track starts dark and with a heartbeat and develops into more melodic moments with strings and percussion. A great track what tells about the thirst and isolation in the desert. An interesting album to start 2011. (JKH)
Address: http://www.privatelectro.de
MARANATA – TOTAL REPAIR (CD by Ohm Records)
“Dag Stiberg: Saxophone/Voice/Electronics, Jon Wesseltoft: Electric Guitar/Electronics, Kjetil Manheim: Percussion, Cover by Lasse Marhaug” though despite its own attempt in text to locate it as “nekroimprov” this misses a significant idea with this sort of noise as extreme noise, once again a ‘non-radicalizing’ cacophony. Just what this non-radicalizing cacophony does is both complex and it turns out more radical than its critics envisage and it might be worth exploring this conceptually as the work does audiophonically, yet not as pure effect. Put simply improvisation in time allows time to dissolve the ego (hence I suspect the “necro”) I.E. the ego is a fiction textually of grammar, – but no more so than in music as ‘organised sound’ which even is brought to a kind of “safety” in Kantian transcendental categories, but which via extreme improvisation (here) removes the fiction of grammar, the idea of representation and the idea from this of identity. We represent identity in music (as organised sound) as much as anywhere else. This identity at its extreme is nothing other than God and the I (ego), the logos etc (word made flesh, Descartes’ cogito..). By not synthesizing ego out of time (which is music) extreme improvisation such as this becomes difference ~*within itself* i.e. the spontaneity (which is time) of extreme improvisation. It breaks up the religious synthesis of the ego and god from time which is nothing other than what all ‘music’ has been hitherto. Even in phenomenology ego is absolute subject post time, and extreme improvisation via its temporality breaks up even the transcendental ego of consciousness of phenomenology. And hence a radicalism which is not bound up in representing radicalism – difference from, but difference in, and radical in, as elsewhere its eternal return of the new. To try to be as clear as possible, on the one hand music which represents- represents something else, i.e. something other, god the ego et. al. as opposed to extreme improvisation’s time, which breaks up representation (repetition of sorts) by an internal repetition. Extreme improvisation in its repetition of difference creates a time, but a time ‘out of joint’ which never totally repeats itself, a true time of events (and so not of a continuous (timeless) representation of God / Ego) where all prior music once was religious, extreme improvisation like this is a spontaneous flow of time which is creative and affecting. This is fairly radical stuff, and I haven’t even begun to expand on what this means to *being*, Dasein.. But even the most religious would see improvisation as becoming rather than being? (jliat)
Address: http://www.ohmrecords.no
RHODRI DAVIES & LEE PATTERSON & DAVID TOOP – WUNDERKAMMERN (CD by Another Timbre)
CHRIS COGBURN & BONNIE JONES & BHOB RAINEY – ARENA LADRIDOS (CD by Another Timbre)
LOOPER – DYING SUN (CD by Another Timbre)
When starting to review, one first has to play the music, well, obviously of course. Usually that starts with the inspection of the cover, press text, website etc, so that I know what I am hearing and I’ll be writing about later on. But this doesn’t always happen. Sometimes I just pick random a CD from the pile and start playing it. This happens with the first of these three new titles on Another Timbre, UK’s fine house for improvised music. I tried to write down what I heard and found myself writing such words as ‘electro-acoustic’, ‘surface scanning’ and ‘electronics?’, but not any specific instrument. Later on I learned that I was listening to Rhodri Davies (harp, ebow, electronics, preparations), Lee Patterson (amplified devices, field recordings etc.) and David Toop (laptop, steel guitar, flutes, percussive devices). So perhaps my sparse notes weren’t far off the mark? They recorded these six improvisations already in 2006 in a studio (not in concert, like many other releases on this label) and they put on display their skills in crafting some extraordinary improvised music. What I especially liked about it is the fact that it sounded so without instruments and so much very like electro-acoustic. Davies’ harp as big sounding and resonating object and everybody playing small objects on likewise resonating surfaces. Its a fine mixture of improvised music and electro-acoustics.
The second release is a more conventional release of improvised music, although perhaps more in the Another Timbre sense than in conventional free jazz areas. Here we have two instruments – the percussion of Chris Cogburn and the soprano saxophone from Bhob Rainey – and a set of electronics, played by Bonnie Jones. She and Cogburn are new names for me. Two live recordings from 2010 here, both from Texas. This is the music of careful exploration of sound, sound possibilities, textures and minimalist moods. Where every instrument, in this case percussion, soprano saxophone and electronics, is explored for all the possibilities. So you can use the saxophone as a percussion instrument and get these high pitched sounds from objects on the surface of the drum skin, whereas the electronics… well, they are what they are: its probably the most difficult instrument in getting them to play something else (analogue?). In these two pieces we can follow them in these exploration, this search for possibilities. One can choose to lie back and let this all flow over you, this stream of sound, or one can sit, concentrate and follow each move. I found both possible here. Music that makes you wander off in some of its sheer silence and minimalism, but also take the route of highly demanding, concentrated listening. Refined.
The final new release on Another Timbre is not by an ad-hoc group – common in this world of improvisation – but by a group that exists for a longer period, Looper. A trio of Ingar Zach (percussion), Martin K¸chen (saxophone & pocket radio) and Nikos Veliotis (cello & video). This release (co-released with the Cathnor label actually) is the follow-up to ‘Squarehorse’ (see Vital Weekly 445). There is apparently a video part to their live music, which obviously is not present on the CD version, but the music can stand well by itself. Of the three new Another Timbre releases this is the one that sounds perhaps least improvised. Looper deals with a lot of sustaining sounds, played by all three and is, certainly in the long opening piece ‘Grand Redhsift’ very bass heavy. Sometimes small sounds come in, mainly it seems from Zach, but throughout its a fine mixture between drone like sounds and improvised music. Veliotis is the man of the drone like textures here, whereas the other two follow suit here, but occasionally play something else. Overall, I thought this CD was a more concentrated effort than the previous – but then in a six year gap a lot can happen. An excellent release all around here. Maybe next time a DVD version? (FdW)
Address: http://www.anothertimbre.com
MARIO GABOLA & AGOSTINO DISCIPIO – UP-SET (CD by Viande)
From Italy a duo of improvised electronic music
by two players which are new to me: Mario Gabola (acoustic and feedback saxophone and electronics) and Agostino Di Scipio (feedback systems with smaller speakers, piezoelectric discs and stuff). To quote from the press text doesn’t mean I necessarily understand it: “this recordings start from a different kind of impro material, from a intensephysical-electroacoustic to a micro-powerelectronic, through napoletan classic song to feedback rings”. In a way I reminded of the LP by Aspec(t) – reviewed right below – as there seems to be parallels to be drawn between both projects. Gabola and DiScipio like their noise too, as things howl around in feedback, but in a way their approach is a bit more mild. These two don’t apply the same brutal techniques as Aspec(t) does, not the rapid changing collage form, and throughout seem to be staying on a similar volume level in each of the eight pieces. I must admit I liked the Aspec(t) approach better. They have the punk approach, whereas Gabola and DiScipio have a more serious improvised approach. Its certainly not bad but also a bit free of taking risks, I thought. Well constructed for sure, so on a scale of 1-10, I’d say a 7. (FdW)
Address: http://www.vianderec.info
ASPECT(T) – WASPNEST (LP by Toxo Records)
The world of radical improvisation is represented here with the music of Aspec(t), an Italian duo of SEC_ on laptop, processed tapes, analog synth and radio and Mario Gabola on feedback and acoustic sax, resonant/feed drums. They both have an extensive career with such bands as Asp/SEC_, Weltraum, Endorgan, A Spirale and Strongly Imploded. All of these, as far as I heard them, are to be found in a similar area of improvisation meeting noise. Themselves they refer to Pateras/Brown/Baxter, John Butcher, Jim Denley, Rudolf Eb.er, Dave Phillips, Sudden Infant, Lionel Marchetti and Jerome Noetinger. This is shown in their music. Partly analogue, sometimes massive noise based, but also with a strong love for small sounds and odd textures. The cover lists eleven tracks, but I found it hard to detect eleven different tracks. It could have been one per side, or thirty, as far as I could tell. Not that it really matters of course, what counts is what’s pressed in these grooves. And that’s something I like very much. I am known as someone who doesn’t love noise being over the top, but when noise is presented as something that comes in a bigger context, either free improvisation, totally controlled or something in between, then you have my blessing. Aspec(t) does exactly that: their loudness fits well with the softer moments, the free jazz of the saxophone, the banging of a drum, and the controlled textures of the electronics. Controlled mayhem as such, but excellent in its disorderly fashion. A very fine record, would be great to see them perform live. (FdW)
Address: http://www.toxorecords.com
IGORRR – BAROQUECORE EP (12inch by aentitainment records)
I’ve been listening to this for sometime and still find it confusing, which may not be a bad thing. It is (perhaps) “A 12″ vinyl in full colored sleeve featuring 6 tracks of a fresh new attempt of extreme music.”. which ” guarantee a satisfying time of horribly entertaining breakcore..”, so amongst such rhythms? Adds pseudo baroque music, not so much pleasant as reminiscent of spoof comedy LPs of Spike Jones, or at this time of year the tradition of pantomime, but then it may well be – or at least is in intent it seems, more like Commedia dell’arte, which was and is taken more seriously. My problem is as the confusion lifts that the mildly entertaining which all too quickly shifts into ‘corny’ can be excused, one can intellectualize even spiritualize pantomime, but that feat is more intellectual than artistic, and ‘guarantees’ and ‘satisfaction’ run counter to ‘extreme’ unless some
derridian somersaulting is performed, but then the applause goes to the silver fox and not to the man dressed as a woman or woman dressed as a man. I always did prefer circus to panto. Maybe I should try another review, one in French letters – nudge nudge, “oh no you wont” (jliat)
Address http://aentitainment.com/vmchk/igorrr-nostril.html
KIM NASUNG – MINDFUL AWARENESS (CDR by Mind Twisting Records)
ANNA – ARAIGNEES (CDR by Mind Twisting Records)
The name Kim Nasung didn’t ring a bell. He seems to be from Poland and has played with people such as Alexei Borisov, XVP, Gilles Aubrey, Zavoloka and others. His interest lies within ‘electro-acoustic, experimental music, noise, musique concrete and field recordings. But there is no mentioning of instruments used here, so we are left with some guess work. We might be dealing with here with guitar and a multitude of sound effects, in order to stretch out minimalist doodling on six string, into three tracks of lush guitar drones. I might be totally wrong of course. Music for the mind, and the awareness thereof, I assume. What I heard was nicely made, in the third part with perhaps too much reverb applied, a pretty decent version of drone music, but in all honesty I must also admit its the sort of thing that I heard well enough before, by others. Usually in a similar good fashion, but then perhaps we have to consider that with the current state of technology its easy to record a fine work (lo-fi artists should take notice!), but Nasung, as well as others in the field of drone music, also seems to be lacking something of his own. That’s something to think about in the future: what do I need to do, to create something that I can call my own?
Likewise I never heard of Anna, a small ensemble of Alice Hui-Sheng Chang (voice), Nigel Brown (accordion, electronics), Natalie Vigier (spoken word) and Alex Vermeulen (guitar). Their work ‘Araignees’ is a three piece/one track pieces. ‘It’s connection of artistic sensitivity 12 dog cycle and moonshot’, it says somewhat cryptic on the cover. A twenty-five minute work that is best classified as a modern classical piece of long sustaining sounds, courtesy of the accordion, voice and the guitar, playing long form sounds, like fog horns, on which a text is recited. Hard to decipher what this text is about (or even what language), but no doubt (?) on ’12 dog cycle’ and ‘moonshot’. It makes a somewhat solemnly tapestry of sound, majestically evolving without too much evolution. Perhaps made due to some improvisation, but sounding ‘composed’ altogether. Very nice. (FdW)
Address: http://www.mindtwistingrecords.com
BEN BYRNE – DISPOSITION (CDR by Avant Whatever)
I hate (well no, more am mildly annoyed) by totalizing ethics, IOW the Daily Mail for those in the UK. Everyone wants to save the whale, and that doesn’t mean I’m a whale hater. Its just in its totalizing it ceases to say anything. The fact that this is produced on “100% post consumer” stuff is no doubt laudable, as is a bowl of bran flakes each morning. And the 5 tacks of lo fi electronica “experimental” Gunteresque works are OK. And that sounds damming and makes me feel wretched, but the only alternative turns me into a Republican who re-cycles his wine bottles. One of the (perhaps all too few?) good things about growing up was being able to pick your nose or bite your fingernails. You see I’m not even going to talk about the hypocrisy in globalization of NGOs – not because it’s a worthy thing to do, or not, and not because I’m a snotty cynical kid, more an old curmudgeon –
so please take pity on me. (oh and James Lovelock — te he) (jliat)
Address: http://www.avantwhatever.com
DEAD WOOD/MATTHEW SHAW – SHOTTSFORD FORUM (CDR by Apollolaan)
According to the website of Apolllolaan, this particular release is already sold out, so why bother with a review, I muzzed? Well, perhaps because I reviewed other music by Dead Wood before. Dead Wood, nom de plume for Adam Baker (who is also behind the Dirty Demos label, of whom I lately didn’t hear much), who teams up here with one Matthew Shaw, of whom I don’t think I haven’t heard before. Dead Wood’s music has slowly evolved, over the years and over a variety of releases, into something which we could loosely define as laptop sound. There is, say, a faint trace of field recordings (people talking, the shopping centre) of which sounds are fed through a bunch of computer plug ins and/or analogue sound devices to create that mild humming drone like sound. The four pieces on this release have that on display in a rather nice way. Its hard to say who does what on this release, if such a thing applies in here (or is indeed necessary, because why should we care who did what here?). The end result is what counts. Four pieces of drone music, delivered with some dignity, and as such nothing spectacular. Not in terms of what it is, or how its made, but throughout executed with some style and great care. Not that shift in drone music, but then perhaps not necessary either. (FdW)
Address: http://www.apollolaan.co.uk
JEREMIE MATHES – ARSET (CDR by Mystery Sea)
Mystery Sea continues to surprise us with new names. Here we have the debut album (or rather ‘his proper significative debut’, which may hint at other releases) of Jeremie Mathes, from France. He studied electro-acoustic composition and uses on this album sea shells, reef, shore, sand, rumbled, insects but also cymbals, candle holder, bass, ebow, horn, various percussions and electronic devices. Not that its easy to tell from what I heard as Mathes knows very well how to transform whatever it is that he uses into five pieces of what is best described as ‘sound matter’. Its not easy to detect some aquatic theme to it, usually required by the label (other than perhaps such titles as ‘Mary Celeste’ and ‘Sund’), but Mathes creates some fine drone like music that goes well with the label’s catalogue (which, come to think of it, taking in account their ongoing release schedule, can be placed along the lines of Drone Records and Taalem, except Mystery Sea does them one at a time). The acousmatic approach used by Mathes is not that of gliding scales of sound going up and down, but slowly building blocks of sound. His music resembles in a way that of Kassel Jaeger, another new name from 2010, that holds promise for the future and in some ways also Main/Robert Hampson comes close. Mathes delivers quite a good debut album. Not really a surprise in terms of ‘new’ music, but its all crafted in a more than excellent way. (FdW)
Address: http://www.mysterysea.net
LOOPOOL – ARROGANCE IS BLISS (CDR by Hipster Death)
From the American east-coast we go to the West to
find another extreme project launched from the U.S. Behind the project Loopool, you find the Seattle-based artist Jean-Paul Garnier. Present CDR released on the Hipster Death-label is the sixth full length album from the artist who began around 2005. The tracks on present album moves in-between industrial-related noise and experimental ambient. There is a lot of interesting things going on thought out this album titled “Arrogance is bliss”. Especially opening track “Wickedness” makes an impression on me with the utterly strange combination of manipulated voices and subtle noise-drones giving a dark and evil atmosphere. As a concrete contrast the the opening track, comes the emotional take on Depeche Mode’s “Somebody” (from the album “Some great reward”, Mute Records, 1984) nicely accomplished by the Loopool. A bizarre, psychedelic and unique launch from Loopool. (NM)
Address: http://www.hipsterdeath.com
ELEKTRIK UNDERGROUND 2010 (CDR compilation by Motok)
The new year kicks of with more music from Nico Selen, who was present in a few of last weeklies Vital with a 7″ by O.R.D.U.C. and a double CDR by NoNotes. This new CDR was officially released on the last day of 2010, and therefore called ‘Elektrik Underground 2010’, so I wondered: why not ‘Elektrik Underground 2011’? On this compilation Selen is the main man for all the music, which he records under a plethora of aliases. Each moniker has its own style, but throughout its all electronic. Two tracks each by O.R.D.U.C. (including a new remix by ‘The Sea’ from his 1981 debut LP!, and by far the best track from that LP), NoNotes, E.M.M. and one by Wolff P. Rilings and three by Selen as Nico Selen. Perhaps over-indulgence? Nah, its probably a good way of self-promotion. As said, the tracks here come from his thirty year career, but were all reworked in one way or another in the second half of 2010. Its a fine showcase of what Selen does, although it stays all quite close to his more experimental work, certainly when it comes to the two NoNotes tracks or the Rilings piece. The two E.M.M. pieces are quite minimal, but also more cheerful. They almost come across like pieces of automated playing. If the recent releases made you curious and you haven’t got a clue where to start, then this compilation is perhaps the best introduction to Selen’s soundworld. Limited to 30 copies only, but with a nice printed cover. (FdW)
Address: http://www.motok.org
+DOG+ – BLISS (CDR by Love Earth Music)
+DOG+ – ACOUSTIC SHADOW (CDR by Love Earth Music)
EN NIHIL – THE ABSOLUTE (CDR by Love Earth Music)
+Dog+ is steve, bobby, lob, ed, sean, dav, andrew, fo, chad, taito, dustin, alison, geordan, josh, gitane , En Nihil is Adam Fritz. All three CDs consist of tracks which are openly thematic “Crown of Nothing”, “The dead will kill the living”, “Raining maggots”… dark ambient, low rumblings and distorted vocals… “illustrating a spectrum very few artists have explored this completely” – which is just the point at which we can begin what I would hope to be a positive critique. Essentially the question is what is a copy and how does it differentiate itself from an event or singularity, this raises the problem of genesis itself… however the idea that there is anything wrong with a copy is neither my concern or problem, that is what I wish to produce, a problematic of the copy. The origin is obvious, species and genera occur from ‘events’ or individualizations of virtualities, by differentiating themselves internally, they are not a comparison to an external form, spectrum, condition, or imprint of an idea or form (Platonic or expressive form – of emotion etc.), “of personal darkness, the cryptic savagery of human emotion” i.e. a track or a song that represents ‘something else’, an emotion an ‘image of thought’ is a copy. It is not the Aristotelian process of re-cognition re-presentation which is capable of being by becoming, or is ‘already there’ as a (Platonic) genre – “death metal” “Dark Ambient”, species and genera are the results of events, not copies of, representations, recognitions of “[e]verything from melodic “songs”, tribal rhythms, ethereal drifts, dark ambient, chaotic harsh noise, rhythmic noise, cut-up sound collages, noise ambient, field recordings and so on”, these are all species of ‘music’, and an illustration of them is nothing other than a copy, a re-presentation, and not the difference in itself which is the source apostori of species, and genera – ‘genres’ and genesis itself, even diseases, as an obvious biological empirical example familiar now to everyone, it is not from some comparative process that a new virus appears but via some internal difference within itself. Given this, there is now a framework with which to critique genre-ism in general which might be useful and ‘the problematic of the copy’, as is demonstrated here and elsewhere in art. (jliat)
Address: http://www.loveearthmusic.com
JUSTIN RODRY & MATTHEW HIMES – ROMANTIC LOVE (cassette by Lighten Up Sounds)
NEON SEA – FADING LIGHT (cassette by Lighten Up Sounds)
A VIBRANT STRUGGLE – THE MOLTEN SNOW TAPES VOL. 5 (cassette by Lighten Up Sounds)
Three cassettes by Lighten Up Sounds, although you might spell it differently. The first is by Justin Rhody and Matthew Himes. Rhody is known from Hepatitis B Youth, (D)(B)(H) and Himes from Shep And Me, Mole Hole and Free Boys. The first plays ‘violin, microphone, feedback, electric guitar) and the latter electronics, tapes, feedback, acoustic guitar. Twenty-four minutes of improvised music which seems a split channel affair, or otherwise its a failure in recording – the b-side is more in balance. I am not sure. The label calls this ‘ugly stuff’, and that’s true indeed. This is ugly stuff, but not necessarily in a negative sense. But the lo-fi noisy improvisations on this tape do not lighten up your day very much, I’d say. The recording, made with a simply microphone somewhere in the space in which the music was created, picks up the signal and the result is a crudely improvised sound, but I must say that these recordings have something about them, which I quite like, although I am not sure what it is. Maybe just because its so low in almost everything perhaps, without going over the top that much? I guess that must be it.
Dan Kaufman is the man behind Neon Sea. His list of instruments shows us accordion, bass, drums, electronics, tape manipulations and vocals rasps. The proceedings start out in some dark ambient land but over the course of sixteen minutes things build up in a steadily crescendo of noise. The second side starts out in a more noise oriented fashion and stays there. Of the two sides the b-side is also the one in which we recognize the bass best, and accordion waving highly reverbed hot beds of drone sounds in the background. Feedback wails along and drums are solemnly in the background. Closed off with a strange tape manipulation. The mixture of noise and ambient works quite well here and Kaufman does a fine job to tie both ends together. Nice.
In 2007Jan-M Iversen, Sindre Bjerga (together sometimes known as Bjerga/Iversen) and Steffan de Turck (Staplerfahrer) got together in a cabin somewhere in the mountains of Norway. A story that I typed before, since that week long session spawned a variety of releases. Armed with their tools – guitar, contact microphones, electronics and they recorded every bit they did. Hence a flurry of releases which goes on for years now. The previous one I heard was ‘Between The Woods And Frozen Lake’ didn’t do much for me (“Just why this was dug out for release kind of eludes me”, I wrote, perhaps somewhat harshly), but then this one however is quite nice. Again the menu prescribes ‘improvisation’ and that’s what these three men do, and they do it well here. I am not sure to what extend these recordings have been edited – hardly it seems to me – but ‘Perfumed Nightmare’, the b-side here, is a nice piece of flowing electronics, feedback, small sounds (cutlery from the kitchen is mentioned) and flutes make up one of the finest moments I heard from this sometimes hit and miss trio. Quite curious to see when this particular vault is empty. (FdW)
Address: http://lightenupsounds@blogspot.com
FRANS DE WAARD – KUBUS (cassette on My Own Little Label)
This is the second Frans de Waard cassette I received for review in a very short time (Arrel/Juur being the first one) and, if you count the New (Y)Ear compilation cassette on Korm Plastics, it is the third. However, as I was featured on New Ear, I can’t do a review here in Vital Magazine (which, incidentally, is a shame as it is a great tape plus it comes in one of the best conceptual “covers” ever). It all goes to show cassettes are alive and well. At least with De Waard they are, which holds a tantalizing promise for the future. Kubus is not only released as cassette, but is also dedicated to the label Kubus Kassettes, which was one of the first Dutch independent cassette labels in the 80s. Apart from the title, there are more connections to the Kubus label. De Waard used Kubus’ label boss Rob Smit’s theories on ambient music (specifically the ambient music of Brian Eno) to create these three long pieces. I will not bore you with the complex ins and outs of these theories, but, worth mentioning is that like Smit, De Waard used glockenspiel as his main sound source. The recordings are selectively reworked in his laptop creating three new pieces; ‘Stemmingen’ (moods), ‘Slag Werk’ (drums) and ‘Terug Gaan’ (returning). The first track features some harsh and grinding frequencies, without being actual noise, wavering in and out of the 16 minute piece. It is impossible to recognize the Glockenspiel as sound source. Track two is completely different and features the clear sound of a bell from the Glockenspiel, which comes as something of a relief after the demanding first track. The bell is struck clear and without any effects, which develops into a nice piece. The side long Terug Gaan features the frequencies also used in the first piece, but now almost developing into a melody. The length of the track allows more interplay between the various sounds and adds general variation, which makes this the best of the three tracks. It is clear that this cassette was made with a firm concept in mind. As such, Kubus feels like pieces created in honor of the concept, rather than pieces made to entertain. Kubus was made for Frans de Waard himself, which gives the tape a “like it or leave it quality”. Notwithstanding, this IS a very worthwhile release, obviously of great personal importance to its maker. A special hooray goes to the cover of Kubus; I really like the grainy feel of the images used. It remembers me of a bygone time of grotty photocopiers and endless yet wonderful hours of gluing and folding covers. (FK)
Address: http://www.kormplastics.nl /moll.html