PLEASE NOTE: NO VITAL WEEKLY IN WEEK 33! Announcements for that week should be on time!
FELIPE OTONDO – TUTUGURI (CD by Sargasso)
HUNTSVILLE – PAST INCREASING FUTURE RECEDING (CD by Hubro)
ASTRO SONIC – COME CLOSER AND I’LL TELL YOU (CD by Hubro)
THE BUREAU OF ATOMIC TOURISM – SECOND LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS (CD by Rat Records)
TEUN VERBRUGGEN & ARVE HENDRIKSEN – BLACK SWAN (CD by Rat Records)
NO END OF VINYL (CD by Cronica Electronica)
TONEFLOAT : IKON – STREAMS OF CONCIOUSNESS 130806 – 131006 – 131106 (LP by Tonefloat/Ikon Imprint)
SPACEHEADS – SUN RADAR EP (CDEP by Electric Brass Records)
VINCENT BERGER ROND – EN DEHORS DE TOUT, PART 1 AND 2 (double CDR by Freaky Waves)
GUSHING CLOUD – BEAT WINGS IN VAIN (CD by Intabgible Cat)
DOG HALLUCINATION – SERVING TWO MASTERS (3″CDR by Intabgible Cat)
STEPHAN MATHIEU – THE FALLING ROCKET (2LP by Dekorder)
TOYS ‘R’ NOISE (LP by Tandori Records)
V4W.ENKO – IN FORMATION (CDR by FF Space)
DAVID HELBICH – OUTCUTS (CDR by Surface Noise Recordings)
MIGUEL A. GARCIA/OIER IREURETAGOIENA – SOHORNA (CDR by Obs)
BRUNO DUPLANT & DARIUS CIUTA – SHED 1 (CDR by Triple Bath)
COPPICE – COMPOUND FORM (CDR by Triple Bath)
ARTIFICIAL MEMORY TRACE – ELECTRIC BLUE (3″CDR by Tentacles Of Perception)
ASHTRAY NAVIGATIONS – INSECT DESCENT (CDR by Obsolete Units)
C/O\R/C\O/R\A/X – TAPE\CIRCLES (cassette by Obsolete Units)
KILT – CULOS ASADOS (cassette by Obsolete Units)
METALUX – PAW THE ELATED RUIN (cassette by Obsolete Units)
PAWEL KULCZYNSKI – WHEN ATTITIDES BECOME FORM #1 (cassette by Schmelest)
LACK – COMMITMENT TO ACADEMIA (cassette by Imgrovllum)
IBLACK THREAD – FRAGRANT HOOF CARVINGS (cassette by Trumeric Magnitudes)
PRIMAVERA (cassette compilation by Trumeric Magnitudes)
FELIPE OTONDO – TUTUGURI (CD by Sargasso)
Here a composer from Chile with his first album of four pieces. There are ‘collaborations with dancers, interviews with Zapotec-speaking women, sonic explorations of the Javanese gamelan and field recordings carried out in Mexico and India’: Felipe Otondo is a composer of electro-acoustic music. Trained in Chile, and via Denmark now in the UK. His work has been presented at various festivals. So four pieces here, all around the ten minutes. Starting off with the gamelan piece ‘Irama’, well actually ‘based on rhythmic principles found in Javanese Gamelan music’, the gamelan us, as such not to be recognized, but throughout this is a nice piece of rhythmic musique concrete/computer music. Changing on and on. A very nice piece. Rhythm is in some way also part of ‘Teocalli’, inspired by a short story by Julio Cortazar. It sounds like a field recording made on the streets with people drumming, along with voices of the locals. Quite a scary piece, for whatever strange reason. ‘Ciguri’ combines Antonin Artaud and the Tarahumara Indians in Mexico in an abstract piece of electronics and sparse processed percussion. It’s perhaps a pity that the final piece, ‘Sarnath’ opens with similar percussion/processed, but then from Buddhist pilgrimage sites in India. Whereas ‘Ciguri’ was a fine piece, this last one seems to be a repeat of that one. That seems to me a pity. Whereas the other three pieces were similar but not too similar, the fourth piece was more of the same. It didn’t ruin an otherwise fine release, but I think I would have loved to hear another side of the coin. Otondo may have an academic background, his music sounded quite fresh and off the paths usually chosen by his fellow composers. (FdW)
Address: http://www.sargasso.com
HUNTSVILLE – PAST INCREASING FUTURE RECEDING (CD by Hubro)
ASTRO SONIC – COME CLOSER AND I’LL TELL YOU (CD by Hubro)
If my memory is anything to go by in these hot days (probably isn’t), I recently left some Hubro CDs with Dolf Mulder, deemed to jazz-like for me. If I remember well. But these two new releases are more my kind of Hubro releases. Both rooted in the world of improvised music, obviously (I’d say, it’s Hubro, a well-known house for improvised music), but in Huntsville, for instance, this is all a bit covered up with a more rock like texture. This trio, with Ivar Grydeland, Tonny Kluften and Ingar Zach, play the sort of music that easily defies any line, improvised, (post-) rock, psychedelic, and even ambient. The music was recorded in the Emanuel Vigeland Mausoleum (Oslo), which may account the extended use of reverb which is sometimes present, especially when Huntsville tones down and adds a bit more air to their music. There are some great, dark textures woven in here, ranging from the very soft to the jubilant loud. Excellent.
A bit more ‘rock’ like is the approach taken by Astro Sonic. Also a trio, of Erlend Slettevoll (fender rhodes, moog voyager, prophet V), Rune Nergaard (bass, electronics and drum machines) and HardNilssen (drums, gongs, bow, tablamachine, vibraphone and electronics). Their rockist approach owes much to the world of krautrock, which bangs and bangs, with wicked strange electronics and jazzy interludes on the keyboards. Pieces here are throughout quite short and to the point, which is very nice. Lots of energy can be found here, even in the more introspective tunes they play, such in ‘Orbiter’. A ‘sweaty’ release for a sweaty day, I guess. A certain amount of unrest got hold of me. (FdW)
Address: http://www.hubromusic.com
THE BUREAU OF ATOMIC TOURISM – SECOND LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS (CD by Rat Records)
TEUN VERBRUGGEN & ARVE HENDRIKSEN – BLACK SWAN (CD by Rat Records)
Teun Verbruggen is a Belgian drummer and improviser. After finishing his education at the conservatory in Brussels, he became popular sideman, a very busy bee involved in all kinds of music. He played with Paolo Fresu, Ernst Reyseger, Flat Earth Society, Fred van Hove, Uri Cain, etc. But he became more and more motivated, to develop his own music. And here we have two results from this desire. First a duo album with Norwegian trumpeter and sound painter Arve Hendriksen of Supersilent fame. Verbruggen sent his contributions digitally to Hendriksen, consisting of solo improvisations on drums and electronics. Hendriksen completed the recordings with flute, trumpet and electronics, adding semi-ethnic melodies. So I do not know if this music really is coming from a shared vision. Resulting in atmospheric sound collages. Sometimes very poetic, sometimes very brute like in track 7. Semi-religious music like in track 2, close to Stephan Micus. I admit a curious qualification. The floating sounds by Hendriksen over the restless drum escapades by Verbruggen combine very well from time to time. Because of the chosen procedures, it is most of all a Hendriksen album. His contributions define most of the musical structures. Several pieces simply went by, others caught my attention. Because of the complex patterns by Verbruggen on drums and electronics, but also because by the ever fascinating warm sounds coming from the trumpet of Hendriksen. The Bureau of Atomic Tourism is a different piece of cake. It is an avant garde band compiled by Verbruggen on invitation by the Follow the Sound festival. A band with a very international line up: Andrew d’Angelo (sax, bass clarinet), Jozef Dumoulin (Fender Rhodes), Nate Wooley (trumpet), Marc Ducret (guitar), his old mate Trevor Dunn (bass) with whom he worked in Nozzle Slag, plus Verbruggen himself (drums, electronics). Their starting point is free improvisation. The opening and closing pieces plus one other track are the result of free group improvisation. Important input comes from New York-based d’Angelo. Not only because of his extravert and powerful playing, but also as a composer all other pieces on this album. There is the jumpy ‘Meg Nem Sa’ reminding of X-Legged Sally and with a mean guitar solo by Ducret. ‘Marthana pt 1’ and ‘Pt 2’ are at the core of this cd. Part one starts with strange ambient-like sounds on the background, trumpet and sax write down their long lines as if they have all the time of the world. Halfway the background sounds come to the forefront and starts a dialogue with the drums. Also the second part wakes up slowly, with the Fender Rhodes taking the lead at one moment. ‘BooBeeBooBeeBee’ starts again very free and open with a prominent role for the trumpet. Gradually the piece turns into a complex battle of drums, bass and guitar. Very together with interactive playing. Like in ‘Meg Nem Sa’ also rock elements pop up from time to time. Call it eclectic. Everything is recorded live on a concert at the Paradox, Tilburg (Netherlands). (DM)
Address: http://www.ratrecords.biz
NO END OF VINYL (CD by Cronica Electronica)
There is a great amount of sympathy and respect here for the work of Pure, from Austria, who released ‘The.end.of.vinyl’ back in 1999 as a 3″CD and 12″ on Mego. It was all about the possible disappearance of vinyl as a medium and created with vinyl. Pure is sometimes known as Dieb13. There is also much, much respect here for people who took on the task to do a ‘remix’ of that old album, such as @C, Christoph de Babalon, Cindytalk, Pita, Rashad Becker, Arturas Bumsteinas, Current 909 as well as newcomers (for me) as JSX (which is one Jorge Sanchez-Chiong), Goner and Opcion. But to what end is this all made? That is my big question. Is this bringing some musical form to an entirely new audience? I would doubt that. It’s probably more like preaching to the converted. It doesn’t have the need to sell music by Pure, as I doubt wether his old release is still in print. It’s great music here for sure, but also a bit of masturbation. I think I would have rather spend my time hearing something from Pure. (FdW)
Address: http://www.cronicaelectronica.org
TONEFLOAT : IKON – STREAMS OF CONCIOUSNESS 130806 – 131006 – 131106 (LP by Tonefloat/Ikon Imprint)
Dirk Serries keeps ongoing by releasing music. He has been active since the eighties and discovers the several musical styles. Important for his music is the minimal approach of melodies, harmonies, rhythm and disharmony. The last releases like the last album of his latest project called “microphonics” is more complex and has more emotional layers. In the trilogy Streams of Conciousness he looks back to the past and plays in a nostalgic mood harmonic music as he did in the ambient period of vidnaObmana. For now he doesn’t use different kinds of instruments, but only his guitar and off course a serial of pedals. The music of the three albums is divided in six compositions which will last about 21 minutes each. The aim of the records is to play it a low volume, but at a higher volume you will here more diversity in the several layers. The music is just been played and created without any pretension or goal, without any idea to create something new, but it is just a reflection of adoration of ambient music. The concept of Dirk Serries is I think well-known to the readers of Vital Weekly. He builds up his music in a slow tempo and adds melodies and minimal chords to the basic layers. The strength of these releases is that the mood of the music is very meditative and without any eruption. Some guitar sounds will come back in other compositions of the the trilogy, but in another musical environment. These recognizable sounds give comfort and security to the listener. The harmonic melodies are very pleasant for the ears and the slow development of the music keeps the mind open and watchful. These new releases of Dirk Serries are indeed no revolutionary albums, but the concept of these approach of ambient music is like a warm bath. The records are released by Tonefloat and Ikon Imprint in a limited edition of 99 copies, but it also possible to download them at Bandcamp. (JKH)
Address: http://tonefloatikon.bandcamp.com/
SPACEHEADS – SUN RADAR EP (CDEP by Electric Brass Records)
After a six year silence, at last a new release appears by the Spaceheads, a duo of Andy Diagram and Richard Harrison. Both know each other since the early 80s as members of Dislocation Dance. Diagram also figured in The Diagram Brothers and The Pale Fountain, new wave groups from that same period. More recent he worked with James and David Thomas. Harrison lives in Manchester and plays regularly with improvisers from Manchester and London. In 2002 he released a solo album of experimental music ,‘Drone Hill 225’. Under the name of Spaceheads the two operate since the beginning of the 90s and released several discs over the years. Harrison plays drums, percussion and electronics. Diagram plays trumpet connected with electronic gadgets. On this new mini cd we find four well-defined poppy instrumentals. Very catchy, up tempo and melodic works. All four staying between 3 and 4 minutes. The title track is a very funky ride. This is simply very well-crafted pop music that doesn’t bother with the latest trends. (DM)
Address: http://www.electricbrass.com
VINCENT BERGER ROND – EN DEHORS DE TOUT, PART 1 AND 2 (double CDR by Freaky Waves)
Often when recorded music is used as sound material, the treatment of this material makes the original beyond recognition and only very few aspects of this sound material are used in an identifiable manner. Berger Rond is in fact at the other end of the spectrum. He uses far larger samples of pre-recorded, often classical music, and by consequence he uses and plays with many more qualities of this music. Especially dynamics, harmony and melody come to the forefront. In a way comparable to work of Holger Czukay who also used extended samples, but put them into well known musical frames. Berger Rond is far more multidimensional in his approach and reframes the whole into something new and unheard. This is the case for all the work I know of him and also for this new double bill. For the first time I have been able to identify a sample. The pan flute that occurs several times in one of the tracks is undoubtedly taken from the movie ‘Aguirre’ by Werner Herzog, and is found on a record by Popol Vuh of the same name. Besides the samples, Berger Rond also invites collaborators to make their musical contributions in most of the pieces. These are also often treated by Berger Rond I think. Although I do not want to pretend to understand the music by this original talent, I think he is still developing his craft. The pieces turn more and more into organic wholes instead of moving along a bit too mechanical. Berger Rond on his new release: “ Different perspectives on the same theme in 12 compositions and 17 poems / ideas (most translated and adapted to English). You can interpret them like you want. I value the interpretation of others, then my own, already known by heart. Don’t want to crush your sensitivity with heavy words.” The same theme? I wondered what the theme is. As far as I can deduce the pieces didn’t centre around one and the same musical theme. Maybe he means a non-musical theme. What I can say is that Berger Rond is clear and consistent in what he presents – in his idiosyncratic way – to the world. It is up to you to go into this bizarre world, constructed along his unique musical grammar. He plays with music as if it chewing gum. Moving and pulling the music into many directions, seemingly at random. Surreal atmospheres, a very distinct possible world of chamber music. (DM)
Address: http://www.freakywaves.com
GUSHING CLOUD – BEAT WINGS IN VAIN (CD by Intabgible Cat)
DOG HALLUCINATION – SERVING TWO MASTERS (3″CDR by Intabgible Cat)
Right before this, I was at the computer doing some stupid work which required some concentration, I was playing something old by The Orb. You know, hot weather, nice ambient music. But then work, as in reviewing called me again, and I started this CD. For a few minutes or so, I was confused. Was I still playing The Orb’s laidback ambient dub? I double checked, but no, this was indeed Gushing Cloud, also known as Gus Kumo, also known as Cory Bengtson, who plays guitar, bass, saxophones, piano, synthesizer, drums, zither, percussion, sampler, turntable and computer/editing, plus various guests on a couple of tracks. Most notable guest is Thymme Jones, once of Cheer Accident and Illusion Of Safety and throughout loveable man. He plays trumpet on piece and drums, moog, synth, trumpet, singing and handclaps on another. I assume not all at the same time. Gushing Cloud has been around since 2004 and dealt a lot with the use of samplers, vinyl, and chaotic live shows. Since 2010 he plays less live and concentrates on actually to play the music. It’s music that really surprised me. Not just because it shared a sensibility with The Orb, which is still one of those bands I really like, but more because it’s sounds all quite raw yet highly refreshing. Dub like pop music, ambient dub like, jazz like, laidback. All a warm summer needs, I would guess. All of these pieces are heavily layered, with always something happening somewhere. Somebody else who came to mind here, was Sam Hamilton, except here it was all instrumental. Uplifting, crazy music, bouncing all over the place. Surely highly psychedelic all together. Some very fine eclectic release. One stay for those times when stupid work requires my attention and I need some suitable soundtrack to work harder.
On the same label, but then on a 3″CDR, is the release by Dog Hallucination, a duo that exists since 2004. Here we find “Doggy P. Lips” (the ” ” are not mine) and D. Petri. They made it into these pages before, with releases that I liked, but which were also quite vague. This is the same as with this new release. Mostly evolving around a guitar being played, looped and creating mildly raw atmospheric tunes, which are nice, but perhaps also not more than alright. When a drum sound leaps in, there is a bit of post rock/tribal drumming to be spotted and that was actually the best bit of the release. I am not too sure what to make of this. I think I enjoyed the naivety of it all, but I am not sure if there was any more to it. (FdW)
Address: http://www.intangiblecat.com
STEPHAN MATHIEU – THE FALLING ROCKET (2LP by Dekorder)
Sometime ago I picked this up on Mathieu’s new label site as a download, and learned that he’s now interested in releasing on vinyl or 24-bit flac and nothing else. No CDs, no MP3s, no Itunes, no Spotify and celebrating 64 more years of vinyl to come. I sincerely hope Mathieu will live to see that. I myself would never claim something about the future, having wrongly announced the death of cassettes a long time. Crystal ball gazing is perhaps not something I am very good at. Anyway, here ‘The Falling Rocket’ is now released on a double LP, not on Mathieu’s imprint but on Dekorder, who already released two 10″ records from him. Currently Mathieu’s set-up consists of a Farfisa VIP 233 organ, mechanical gramophone, a Hohner Electronium and radio, of which he controls with real-time computer dealing. His music hasn’t changed much over the past few years and I could complain about that, but I won’t. If you have been reading these pages over the last ten or so years, you probably know I am a big, big admirer of his music (hence the fact that I grabbed this as press download, without paying my duties as a reviewer, simply because I don’t review downloads, but I was very curious about this). I love all things drone like, minimal and mysterious, all of which one can find easily in the work of Mathieu. Mathieu paints monochrome pictures in sound, with varying shades of one color. Say the Rothko of sound (hoping Mathieu’s life is longer, again, and ends more happily). Nine pieces, of which seven are about ten minutes, and the sum of the other two is also ten. I was wondering if there is some logical or concept behind that. Nine of these ten pieces sound like textbook Mathieu, but ‘Tiede 1’ is a work that is actually noisy, something we are not used from him (with that one notable exception ‘Kapotte Muziek by Stephan Mathieu’). This has quite an aggressive, maybe even violent undercurrent. It’s a bit too heavy for me, but maybe I just have an urge for mellow music? This is great stuff, obviously. More please! (FdW)
Address: http://www.dekorder.de
TOYS ‘R’ NOISE (LP by Tandori Records)
The bandcamp site of the label, which seems to be their only source of ‘information’, actually doesn’t provide us with a lot of information, and the band’s website lists many concerts, shows two video’s of art installations, and such like, but sadly not a lot of information. In one of the live videos on their site, we see them play live, and this makes more sense if we relate that to the music we hear on this record. In the opening piece they stomp away like any good ol mighty krauty Faust, but in the other pieces they seem to be exploring more experimental sonic qualities too. The kraut rhythm returns every now and then, but throughout this shows an interesting experimental rock side. Sometimes, as said, kraut like, but also psychedelic and musique concrete like, the best French tradition – Toys ‘R’ Noise hail from Lille – with the ‘studio as instrument’, think Biota or Mnemonists. It ranges from the ‘drill’ approach to very subtle, quiet drone like sounds of e-bows and guitars. All very powerfull and perhaps not always the newest in approaches, I must say that Toys ‘R’ Noise actually delivered a great record. Highly varied in moods and textures, with an excellent control of the sound matter at hand, and a fine, detailled production. Great record. (FdW)
Address: http://tandorirecords.bandcamp.com
V4W.ENKO – IN FORMATION (CDR by FF Space)
Maybe it sounds disrespectful, but somehow, so far I thought the music of V4W.enko, also known as Evgeniy Vaschenko, as heavily inspired by the work of Alva Noto. Very much the territory of digital treatments, of clicks, of cuts, beeps and beats. Whatever goes into the computer, it’s being fed back through the use of Ableton Live, chopped up to short rhythmic particles, pitched up (mostly) and sometimes down (not a lot, unfortunately, as it would add a more dynamic richness to the music). Somehow in these seven pieces, all of the sounds used sound very similar. Nervous, hectic sounds, fighting together, but not always making much sense. It’s somewhere derived from the world of dance music, I guess, even when there is not much to dance here. I must say this music wasn’t cut for me. It sounded too similar in sound approach, but I guess also in the way V4W.enko builds his compositions here. That quick nerve wrecking sound, that hectic beat material and sometimes going on for way too long. Very much a glitch release from more than a decade ago, but not entirely there yet for a revival. (FdW)
Address: http://ffspace.info/extention/
DAVID HELBICH – OUTCUTS (CDR by Surface Noise Recordings)
An excellent package: 7″ sized, four sheets, with images of sound waves, but also what seems to be scores and a picture. David Helbrich was born in Berlin and via Amsterdam and Freiburg, now lives in Brussels. He studied composition and philosophy. He has eighteen tracks here, spanning eighteen minutes. The shortest piece is thirteen seconds, the longest two minutes and nineteen seconds. All of these pieces use field recordings and the title indicates what it is: table tennis, Aldi (supermarket), balcony, birds, paper cuts (a bit of German is required here). On the surface these pieces seems to be as straight as they are, but Helbich cuts miniature bits of silence into this material, so making these not ‘just’ field recordings, but actual compositions out of them. It’s all quite conceptual in approach and while the sounds Helbich recorded are nice by themselves, his ‘cutting’ is fine enough, but I doubt wether I would be interested in hearing a lot more of this. The best ideas are simple and one-off, no matter how diverse the input is, it’s always a bit of sound with a few holes in there. But as a total package – music, images, ideas – this is a great one. (FdW)
Address: http://www.surfacenoise.be
MIGUEL A. GARCIA/OIER IREURETAGOIENA – SOHORNA (CDR by Obs)
A split release by Miguel A. Garcia (sometimes known as Xedh) and Oier Iruretagoiena. The first has four tracks of about twenty-five minutes and the latter just one track of the same length. In recent years I began to like his music more and more, especially when it seems to be having some thought into it. Based on field recordings, I should imagine, but then heavily processed into four pieces here of highly dark, delicate drone matter. It almost sounds like static hiss, like the taped events of an electrical current, on the brink of dying down. Maybe it dies, occasionally, when it rises out from the sheer inaudibility, such as in ‘Ipurtargik’. Essentially Iruretagoiena does the same thing, but then considerable louder than Garcia. If I have to guess, I’d say he stuck a contact microphone on nearly defective piece of machinery, like an motor of some kind. His piece has two main parts and in both he keeps processing the sound, in the second half with what seems to be some stomp boxes, like distortion. Both Garcia and Iruretagoiena work in a minimalist fashion, changing bits in the color of the sound to keep up a full level of interest. Each in their own fashion, which works out twice nice. Excellent release. (FdW)
Address: http://abser1.narod2.ru/
BRUNO DUPLANT & DARIUS CIUTA – SHED 1 (CDR by Triple Bath)
COPPICE – COMPOUND FORM (CDR by Triple Bath)
It’s been a while since we last heard from Greek label Triple Bath (crisis?), but here they return with two fresh releases. I am not sure if we should see the first as a kind of brother/sister release to the recently reviewed ‘(G)W(3)’ (see Vital Weekly 886) which had two pieces, spanning some 76 minutes of music. I assume – again – that this is another result of exchanging sound files through the internet. Not as long as the previous one, 48 minutes, divided in three pieces. Whereas the previous was largely based, so it seems, on the use of field recordings, this new one is more like a combination of field recordings, the empty room versus water dripping, with some long strum on the guitar to create a bit of feedback like experience. Mood music, as you could have easily guessed. Although the release is divided into three separate pieces, its really one and the same thing throughout, with the first one being a fifty-fifty balance, the second being more on the water dripping and the third has occasionally a stronger emphasis on the feedback like sounds of the piece. I am not sure what to make of this. It seems to me quite a conceptual kind of release, three variations on a theme, but also it sadly is a bit too much of the same thing.
Of more interest, I thought, was the release by Coppice, which is a duo of Noe Cuellar and Joseph Kramer (both of whom I am not sure I heard before), who recorded their thirty minute ‘Compound Form’ live in the studio in October last year. They use ‘prepared pump organ, tape process, transmitters and acoustic filters’. This is an odd piece of acoustic sounds, played manually I should think, of drone like sounds, but at one point also getting a bit more rhythmical, with sounds derived from the body of the organ – I imagine. It moves you from something that is very soft to something that is very loud, and very present. A vibrant collage of sound, improvised, acoustic and yet somehow it also reminded me of electro-acoustic music, with an odd, strange, little melodic touch to it. A totally fascinating sound work. Perhaps in a way also highly conceptual, but also highly musical. Excellent. (FdW)
Address: http://www.triplebath.gr
ARTIFICIAL MEMORY TRACE – ELECTRIC BLUE (3″CDR by Tentacles Of Perception)
Now that the heat continues, and the need to continue reviewing is more and more pressing, I am learning to keep my curtains and windows closed for a longer period and don’t let the sunshine in, and the ventilator off. So I can hear more music by Slavek Kwi, also known as Artificial Memory Trace (see also last week). Here we have a very personal work, using ‘field recordings’ made in the hospital around the time his two sons were born (3 and 1 years ago). You hear the buzzing of machines, the ultra sonorous picking up of heartbeats, baby’s first cry and such like. Occasional some people talking, but throughout something very quiet. There is a piece for each son here, who no doubt will not yet understand what they are hearing, should they be at all interested in what their daddy is doing in his spare time behind the computer. Kwi processes the sound a bit, but mostly uses layering of sound events, and radical cutting of the material. If have been around the birth of children in maternity hospitals then these sounds may sound familiar – they did for me, even when that was a while ago. There is something utterly peaceful about these recordings, with a slow development of the sound and some radical filtering. Hopefully there will be a time when his boys will fully appreciate these pieces. A very personal project for all of us to enjoy! (FdW)
Address: http://www.artificialmemorytrace.com
ASHTRAY NAVIGATIONS – INSECT DESCENT (CDR by Obsolete Units)
C/O\R/C\O/R\A/X – TAPE\CIRCLES (cassette by Obsolete Units)
KILT – CULOS ASADOS (cassette by Obsolete Units)
METALUX – PAW THE ELATED RUIN (cassette by Obsolete Units)
Back in Vital Weekly 828 I told you that for a while I was I heavy collector of the music of Ashtray Navigations, but perhaps also because I was more in the heat of record stores; more than I am these days. In that particular issue of the weekly, I reviewed a new LP by him, after a lengthy pause of not hearing his music, which I quite enjoyed. This new CDR – in a nice pro-printed digipack – I probably like even more! Here Phill Todd, the man behind Ashtray Navigations, explore in four lengthy and one short cut the boundaries of guitar and sound effects, resulting in blues of another planet: slightly distorted but long form guitar symphonies. Slightly metallic ringing, in the best tradition of Vibracathedral Orchestra or Organum, due to the use of the reverb, but quite melodramatic in say ‘Sweeping Song’. In ‘Insect Descent Trajectory’ however Todd is on his older game of psychedelic walls of guitar noise. Heavily layered with sounds crawling like maggots everywhere. But in ‘One Million Pleasurecards All Painted White’ he is already working that ambient streak using field recordings and a good old phaser. It’s a deceivingly simply piece, but one that works quite nice, in all its minimalist moving. A long release, some seventy minutes, but one has the idea that it is too long. Like with any good psychedelic music, you dive right in, stay under and keep floating. Excellent release!
Sometimes a cassette is so brief in length, that it is indeed hard to form a proper opinion about it. The neatly packed release by C/O\R/C\O/R\A/X for instance probably doesn’t exceed over ten minutes. This oddly named band is a duo of Xhe Xhen (1/4inch tape machines and objects) and Tmm Mulligan (modified turntable). I assume we are dealing here with a live recording, but perhaps not. But the briefness of this is all too brief for me. The rumble and scratch with the displacement of sound signals here and there bouncing off into nowhere, sound nice, but perhaps I would prefer this to be a bit longer, and on a CDR and form a more critical opinion about this.
Kilt is a duo of Raven Chacon and Bob Bellerue and on ‘Culos Asados’ (which sounds like something nice on the table, but means ‘roasted asses’) they have two pieces taped at concerts. No instruments are mentioned, but these are one hell of a heavy slabs of noise meets drone. I was thinking it sounds like some heavy breathing into a microphone and could perhaps pass as another extreme form of sound poetry, but no doubt this is all more about no-input mixers and microphone abuse, certainly in the second half of each piece. It’s all maybe a bit too long for my taste. Both of these live recordings are alright, I guess, but tend to be a bit too long for what they are. Perhaps being there at the concert, as we see more and more, would have been better.
Behind Metalux we find MV Carbon and Jenny Graf Sheppard, both of whom I don’t think I heard before. According to the website there is “homemade electronics, tape delay, blaring riffs relayed via both guitar and synth” as well as vocals. It’s being compared with Wolf Eyes, Nautical Almanac and Smegma, which I can all see in here. There is a certain looseness about this material in combination with a fair amount of noise scapes, a bit of good ol industrial mixed punk and there you have it. Eight songs apparently on this tape, which I thought was hard to decipher into eight tracks, but alas. I am afraid this wasn’t really my cup of tea. Too chaotic, too punky but not in a fine way, too messy in terms of recording and maybe too haphazard in recording. Maybe a bit of the same problem I would have with the bands they sound alike, I guess. (FdW)
Address: http://obsoleteunits.com
PAWEL KULCZYNSKI – WHEN ATTITIDES BECOME FORM #1 (cassette by Schmelest)
Music by Pawel Kulczynski was reviewed before, in Vital Weekly 878, but then as Wilhelm Bras. Under his own name he explores another territory. He still uses his home made synthesizer, but plays far more abstract improvisations here. The whole thing was recorded in a thirty square metre concrete silo, but I am not sure why we are told: it’s not easy to hear this if you listen to these recordings. Maybe something got lost. There was a certain risk of police intervening with these actions, as happened three times – perhaps another so so interesting fact. In forty six minutes Pawel Kulczynski plays around with his analogue modular synth and in general moves along some of the more heavy textures, feedback like sounds and hiss and scratches. Only when the sweeps are short and loud, you hear the proportions of the building, I think. I thought it was nice but perhaps all a bit long for what it was. At one point on the second side I was thinking, ‘yeah, so what now?’, is this it? Is there anything else, something different? That sadly didn’t come. Very much indeed the sort of thing that you find released on cassette I was thinking. (FdW)
Address: http://www.pawelkulczynski.com
LACK – COMMITMENT TO ACADEMIA (cassette by Imgrovllum)
It’s a bit of guess here. It’s project called Lack, who plays roland tr707, jomox xbase09, x0xb0x, ehx polychorus, holy grail+ and memory boy. The two pieces, total perhaps twenty minutes, where recorded live 1/7/12 at Meadowsofdan. That, plus the website below, is about what is mentioned on the cover of this tape. I am not too sure why this had to be released. I can imagine that if one did a concert and the recordings turned out nice, one wants to release them. But in this case I must say I fail to see that. Slow music with a rhythm centered in the middle, some ornamental electronic sounds around it, improvised, it seems on the spot, but it nowhere seems to grab the listener at home. I can’t judge how it sounded in a concert hall, but on tape it all sounds a bit naff. Why would you want to release it? (FdW)
Address: http://lmgrovllum.org
BLACK THREAD – FRAGRANT HOOF CARVINGS (cassette by Trumeric Magnitudes)
PRIMAVERA (cassette compilation by Trumeric Magnitudes)
VON HIMMEL – FLORID PAGODA (cassette by Donkey Disk)
These three came in one and the same package, without any information. The first two have no information on the cover, but the ‘info’ on the label itself, brings me to the bandcamp mentioned below, which also has no additional information. Some would call this probably guerrilla marketing? I wouldn’t. It’s hard to say what Black Thread does. Maybe connecting to the world of old and almost broken down reel to reel players I would think. Have loop, will play (almost) and will add a bit of electronics. Quite hissy and very blurry (just like the cover), but despite that I thought it sounded not bad at all. “Are we listening to the sea again”, a sound man once asked me during a sound check. We didn’t then, but I am not sure right here. We may do. Nice one.
The other one is a compilation with three bands, Mundo Animal, Dark Spring and Black Thread. These inhabits a similar space as Black Thread, with a likewise lo-fi tone to it. All of these people – and who says they are not one and the same? – use tape-loops, electronics and the acoustic tumble rumble of contact microphones scratching the surface. Whereas Black Thread on the other tape had a certain cosmic quality to it, the music here seems to be all lo-fi, improvised and working with the rot of the reels-to-the-reels. Quite mysterious music in a way. Maybe it’s all a bit crude and naive, but I thought this was all quite enjoying. Whatever the hell it is about.
As said, the package contained three tapes, and the final is by Von Himmel, called ‘Florid Pagoda’ and probably released by Donkey Disk. here we find four pieces, that last about thirty or so minutes. I can see why they were send together, as this covers pretty much similar ground. Ah, there is probably some new movement, which of course I was not aware of, which does their own thrift store searches for these old reel to reel players, more walkmans with no dolby and use that along with one synth and one echo unit? I have no idea what that movement is called, but these cosmic adventures are quite nice. Von Himmel is of all the bands here probably the most electronic one, or the one which has the most electronics on top of the cassette/reel hiss. A bit out of tune at the start of the second side, but let’s say everything is attracted to that particular wormhole. An excellent trio of experimental, lo-fi noise based ambience. (FdW)
Address: http://turmericmagnitudes.bandcamp.com
Address: http://www.discogs.com/label/Donkey+Disk