MARAT SHIBAEV – SEEING TOKYO (CD by Lantern) *
SOKIF – AFFECTIONATE UNSELFISG (CD by Plop) *
CHRISTIAN WOLFARTH – SCHEER (CD by Hiddenbell Records) *
GINTAS K – NOTA DEMO (CD by Creative Sources Recordings) *
SAL SOLARIS – DIE SCHERBEN 2004-2010 (CD by Kultfront/Zhelezobeton) *
EXIT IN GREY – SHADOWS OF STILLNESS (CD by Zhelezobeton/Muzyka Voln) *
NAEVUS – STATIONS (double CD by Tourette Records)
NAEVUS – OTHERS (CD by Tourette Records)
BARDOSENETICCUBE – GAME OVER? (CD by Deserted Factory) *
BARDOSENETICCUBE – AMBIWAX (CD by Senile Dementia Production) *
OF SILENCE (CD compilation by Alrealon Musique/Blondena Music/Silent Media)
DR JAYNE INSANE – ANTI ART ALLIANCE (LP by Lamour)
OLLE OLJUD – 27/28 (7″ by Lamour)
SMALL THINGS ON SUNDAYS – IN SLOW MOTION (CDR by Attenuation Circuit) *
GEORGE CHRISTIAN – AOS RIOS URBANOS (CDR by Spectropol Records)
LUKASZ KACPERCZYK – WALKS (CDR by BDTA) *
CHRISTIAN KOBI – RAW LINES (CDR by BDTA) *
ZOPAN – VHS ESP (CDR by BDTA) *
INSTAGON – THEE START OV THEE END (CDR by Placenta Recordings)
NUNDATA – PENANCE (cassette by Color Triangle Recordings)
STEAMROOM BANDCAMP (download)
MARAT SHIBAEV – SEEING TOKYO (CD by Lantern)
SOKIF – AFFECTIONATE UNSELFISG (CD by Plop)
Sometimes you know him as Martin Schulte, but Marat Shibaev is his real name. He changed his musical approach and decided to go for a name change. The change might be considered, I think, a bit more subtle. A real change would be if he would play acoustic guitar, but on ‘Seeing Tokyo’ he explores the techno dub a bit more and carves his grooves a bit deeper. All inspired by the city of Tokyo, the crowds, the energy, the flash designs, fast and full. This is music that keeps bouncing and bouncing, and owes a lot to the world of Kompakt, more than his previous work, which was a bit more Kompakt meets Chain Reaction. Here it’s all more dance oriented, and when he leaves out a more angular beat, such as in ‘Hydraulic’, and smooths everything this should be the perfect album to get you to work on the Tokyo subway. Which can be easily a 72 minute ride, as this is the length of this album, which is a lot. I don’t think this is music you start and play in a linear way, all the way through. This music requires action, such as traveling, doing the dishes or driving on the express way. It ticks away time very nicely, no demands on the listener, just a pleasant ride on these grooves.
In the same little empire of Nature Bliss, an umbrella organization for various Japanese labels and their interests, we find Sokif from Tokyo. He previously had releases on Revirth which I don’t know, but I believe sounded different. On this album he profiles himself as a classical composer. He plays piano mostly but there is also violoncello and alto saxophone, and has four female vocalists singing, Calu (Matryoshka), Eriko Kuribayashi , Kana Otsubo (Spangle called Lille Line) and Jo Mango (from UK, also performs in the Vashti Bunyan band) – I am quoting the press text here, as none of this means a lot to me. I have no idea what to make of this. The wordless singing/chanting is not really well spend on me, and the thing is: the voices singing wordless ah’s and ohhs seems to be sounded quite similar throughout this music, topped with atmospheric piano playing, making that most pieces here sound alike. At times I was reminded of Les Disques Du Crepuscule – no particular artist or release really – but in the end I decided I wasn’t blown away. Pieces being too similar and perhaps too corny too. Modern music for modern living: maybe a bit empty? (FdW)
Address: http://www.naturebliss.jp
CHRISTIAN WOLFARTH – SCHEER (CD by Hiddenbell Records)
One of the more exciting players of percussion music, at least for me, is Christian Wolfarth. Perhaps because his music is not always sounding like percussion music, but that might not be the only reason. Wolfarth released an excellent series of 7″ records in which he played real time his kit and more often than not it sounded like something else. Here he plays cymbals only, and to a certain extend that is what we hear indeed. Certainly in the opening minutes of ‘Scheer 1’ this is the case. It’s hard to say what he uses to play these cymbals, here or further down the line but it might include anything that makes a sound: sticks, stones, styrofoam or shavers – translated in Dutch ‘Scheer’ would mean ‘Shave’. And perhaps he uses all sorts of motorik devices on these cymbals and thus generates a wealth of overtones. Maybe he uses a bow, maybe more than one. This sort of overtone playing is quite important on this album which consists of two pieces, but it’s not exclusively done with overtones. There is a bit of ‘stick’ playing to, here and there, and the recording is warm and beautiful. Very spacious as one feels the presence of the acoustic space in which the music was played and recorded. Sometimes reminding me of Jason Kahn – who wrote the liner notes – or drone masters like Radigue, especially the deep end drone of ‘Scheer 2’, but going through various moods and changes, Wolfarth has created a fine album of his own making, free of any reference or influence, it seems to me. A work of fine composition, me thinks, rather than improvisation. I might be wrong. (FdW)
Address: http://www.christianwolfarth.ch
GINTAS K – NOTA DEMO (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)
The one thing that I thought was the surprise here is that a label known for it’s improvised music would release a CD by someone ‘using the computer’, as it says on the cover. Laptops and electronics may have been part of other releases on Creative Sources Recordings, but usually in combination with other instruments. I met Gintas K years ago and he’s really nice guy, but with his recent releases I must admit he lost me. Not that this isn’t something to not like, as his music is quite alright, but it seems, time-wise, out of place. The eleven pieces on ‘Nota Demo’ sound like being improvised using max/mps, pure data, audio mulch or anything such a like, but its Plogue Bidule, a software thing I never heard of, along with VST plug ins and a midi keyboard/controller. The input could have been anything and is no longer to be traced back to anything you heard before. It sounds a bit like the ‘modern electronics’ from the sixties, but then using computer techniques. Nothing wrong with that I’d say but something that you may have heard before very well. Maybe on those vintage electronic music records, maybe in the world of Vital Weekly in the last, say, fifteen years, when laptops became household objects. Like I said, I enjoy this to some extent, the whole bunch of eleven tracks, forty-three minutes, but in all honesty: who is Gintas K trying to convince here? I have no idea. This is, in 2013, perhaps the sort of ‘quick’ album (and I fully admit, I have no idea how it took to do an album like this) that would end on bandcamp for the real die hard fans, but as a release on CD is perhaps a bit much. (FdW)
Address: http://www.creativesourcesrec.com
SAL SOLARIS – DIE SCHERBEN 2004-2010 (CD by Kultfront/Zhelezobeton)
EXIT IN GREY – SHADOWS OF STILLNESS (CD by Zhelezobeton/Muzyka Voln)
Sal Solaris is ‘one of the most outstanding Russian post-industrial projects’, Zhelezobeton says, but I never heard of this duo from Rostov-On-Don and Moscow. That of course says nothing. The way this release starts made me think we are going to deal with some gothic music. Popular obviously, but not over here, in this particular, dark corner. I understand that this release is the first in a new series by Zhelezobeton and kultFRONT to ‘publish the archival works of Russian post-industrial projects’ and this collects rare pieces from Sal Solaris from the period 2004-2010. Pieces from compilations, sometimes never released and some of these are covers, such as from Sleetgrout (whoever they are) and Depeche Mode, or even an ‘added-to’ version of Tchaikovsky’s ‘Swan Lake’ ; classical music with extra electronics. I must say I am a bit clueless about this release. It’s not bad at all in a way. It has some nice dark electronic music, quite ambient most of the times. But there is also this undercurrent in the music that makes me think ‘gothic’, such as that Depeche Mode cover, which I can see go down well with the black crows/crowds, or when I read in the press text they have an “austere ideological persistence of the ‘early National-Bolshevist period'”, which sounds like them running around in military uniforms on stage. No doubt the dress-up aspect in important, but I can do without. A piece like ‘Trepet’ has that ‘gothic feeling’, but in other pieces this is absent and they are just creators of fine dark ambient, such as in ‘Pripadok’, with its voice sample from a movie. I have mixed feeling about this, but in the end I would give this the benefit of doubt.
Something which I perhaps understand much better, is the music of Sergey, who calls himself [S] most of the times and who works also as Five Elements Music and Sister Loolomie, whole running labels as Still*Sleep and Semper Florens. Since 2004 he is also working as Exit In Grey, and has released a whole bunch of cassettes and CDRs, and ‘Shadows Of Stillness’ is his second CD release. The differences between his various projects are small, I think. Sister Loolomie is at the harsher end of drone music, but between Five Elements Music and Exit In Grey the differences seem quite small. Both of these projects deal with highly atmospheric music and the difference might be that Five Elements Music is a bit more abstract and Exit in Grey is a bit more melodic. Maybe! [S] uses guitars, effects, harmonium, Polyvox, field recordings, VLF radiowaves of Earth atmosphere and space bodies. Four pieces, somewhere between ten and fourteen minutes, of these dense atmospherics. Dark perhaps, but as dark as Sal Solaris or Bardoseneticcube does get, and there is always an element of melody in this music. Sometimes perhaps a bit buried in the drones, but sometimes more upfront. That adds a nice texture of light to the music. Light shimmering in the morning, carefully popping its head around the world. You see night becoming day. That is what I feel with this music. Nothing here that you haven’t heard before of course; Mirror is something that comes quite close to this, or Aidan Baker, but so many others may count a s well. Exit In Grey stands in a long tradition of drone based music, but is sufficiently ‘unique’ to stand out, finding his own voice. Now here’s someone who should be as big as Baker, Troum or Mirror, I’d say. (FdW)
Address: http://zhb.radionoise.ru
NAEVUS – STATIONS (double CD by Tourette Records)
NAEVUS – OTHERS (CD by Tourette Records)
Naevus is a band from the U.S. which started in 1998 and released several albums at different labels. Lloyd James is the only member who survived all these years. Other members are and were Joanne Owen on bass and accordion, Greg Ferrari on guitar, John Murphy on drums and Hunter Barr on drums. Stations is a compilation of all officially released Naevus recordings from 2001 to 2013, which are not available on a current editions of Naevus album. The album “Others” consists 16 covers recorded from 2001 – 2012. The band covered songs like ‘Walking Spanish’ by Tom Waits, ‘The Only Mistake’ by Joy Division and also some traditionals. Both albums are released by Tourette Records based in Houston Texas. The music at Stations is a mix of post-rock and folk and the intensity of the music is not always strong. Maybe it is the lack of the strength of the voice of Lloyd James or the monotonous singing. Although the first track “The Body Speaks in Tongues” has an experimental atmosphere and different use of the sound of the voice. The folk-alike songs are mellow and have a traditional character. The post-rock-alike songs do miss the depth and aggression or power to give the songs more impact to the listener. I listen to the albums at several times and occasions, but the music sometimes catches me and sometimes not. The quality of the recordings and the technic of the use of the instruments is okay. The songs from their beginning period do catch me the most, because there are more experimental parts in the music. If you are a lover of experimental post-rock and folk this collection will be a nice introduction of Naevus. (JKH)
Address: http://www.touretterecords.com
BARDOSENETICCUBE – GAME OVER? (CD by Deserted Factory)
BARDOSENETICCUBE – AMBIWAX (CD by Senile Dementia Production)
Two new (?) releases by Igor Potsukailo, Vladimir Manevtsov and Sergey Matveev from St. Petersburg who work as Bardoseneticcube and who have already a whole bunch of releases. They are down in the books as a band of very dark ambient with a sense of industrial textures and rhythms. This is what these two new releases are also about.
First we have the Japanese released ‘Game Over?’. I am not sure to which game this refers, as there are no further titles to the individual pieces. The credit for all the music goes out to Igor Potsukailo solo here and we find Bardoseneticcube mostly in a dark place. The CD opens with a spoken word intro, drenched in reverb, and then mostly introspective dark electronics. Lots of sampling going on, going round and round in loops, but it never has a full on proper rhythm. These nine pieces stay more or less in one place and all fit the same dark universe in which they sparked off. Lots of reverb to add that spooky feeling, and that’s what perhaps also adds the industrial tag to the music.
Not a lot of information either on the ‘Ambiwax’ release. It gives a website address for the mp3 web release, an e-mail address and the title, which is also on the transparent outer case. Here we find Bardoseneticcube in a broader range of styles and with shorter pieces than on ‘Game Over?’. There pieces with lots of rhythm, sampled metallic percussion, icy synthesizer sound scapes and such like. Here too, on many places, we find an excess of the use of reverb, to create all those atmospheres. Of the two this one is the more varied release in terms of musical approaches. I have no idea if this is done as a trio, or solo. I am not sure which of the two albums I liked more. There is something to say for the variation of ‘Ambiwax’, but in the end I think I would go for the more unified, ‘together’ album of ‘Game Over?’, which perhaps made more to sense to me as a whole. Fine, cold music for a short winter’s day. (FdW)
Address: http://www.desertedfactory.com
Address: http://www.sendem.ru/releases/40/AMBIWAX.html
OF SILENCE (CD compilation by Alrealon Musique/Blondena Music/Silent Media)
Just yesterday I was on the phone with one of our more irregular reviewers and we talked about an online compilation he was to review. I once again told him about my reservations for reviewing compilations, although I understand why they are released. We agreed that one possible exception might be the thematically organized compilation and so of course, today, I get this ‘Of Silence’. I will leave out the booklet’s finer points on John Cage and ‘4’33’ and anechoic chambers, as I assume this all to be part of anyone’s historical musical knowledge – or else gogoogle. So, here we have three bands/persons creating a track of silence: Pas Musique amplifies silence and re-records them in a silent room for a couple of times, Shaun Sandor has a contact microphone recording of a classical guitar and a floor tom at rest in an active room and Ben Link Collins has ‘studio silence and the perceived stillness of nature’. Each of these pieces is here on this release and each piece is passed onto the next on the list, who adds, subtracts, distorts on that based on their own concepts and then passes it onto the final person. Nine tracks in total and never a second of ‘real’ (what is that?) silence. Actually it’s never very silent either, I was thinking. There is a fine sense of sound processing on these pieces. Now that’s what I call an interesting compilation. It has a refined concept of collaborative efforts and some excellent music. This is sort of thing that would not have been out of place on Line I think, except of course the pieces here are (much) shorter than on a Line CD. But the overall approach is more or less the same. Microsound – does anybody still use that term, I wondered – music in optima forma, and has some excellent deep, drone like pieces and never goes anywhere too soft. An excellent all around release of musique concrete, sound scaping and fine concept. In terms of laptop productions it may walk some paths you have heard before (Chartier, Meelkop, Behrens), but it works rather well here. (FdW)
Address: http://www.silentmediaprojects.com
DR JAYNE INSANE – ANTI ART ALLIANCE (LP by Lamour)
OLLE OLJUD – 27/28 (7″ by Lamour)
Already started in 2008, Lamour is not just a label, but also a club, ‘with focus on curating multi-creative artistic crossings for artists, musicians and audience’. They probably didn’t release a lot of records, as they are up catalogue number 002 and 003 here. The latter takes the form of a LP by Jan Liljovic or Jan Liljekvist or Dr Jayne Insane as he is called here. On the press blurb we see with an amplified cello, but if he plays such a thing here on ‘Anti Art Alliance’ is doubtful. For some reason I keep thinking here about all those toy synths you see around these days, Monotrons, click on synths, nebulizer or whatever they are called, yet Dr Jayne Insane went into the EMS studio in Stockholm to record this record, so presumably this was in Studio 4 I would think, with its fine old analogue synths, the Bucla and the Serge. But what he gets out of this machines is loud and noisy, and actually sounds like ‘good noise’ to me. Not the kind of harsh noise that is The Wall, but of that noise yet intelligent kind. Here we have someone who composes with the noise available and does it well. It seems that this LP is actually quite short, but maybe that’s only how I perceive it. Play loud, I’d say. Too late to play this over christmas, but that would have been a blast.
Something different is the 7″ by Olle Oljud, ‘one of the most beloved artists in Sweden’s experimental music sphere’, as Lamour says – although I never heard of him. His record is split in two opposing sides. One side is very noisy, not unlike the sort of noise produced by Dr Jayne Insane, but it seems more straight forward, more indeed like a harsh noise wall of some kind, even when it has a bit more variation. It’s alright, but the better piece is on the other side, which is nicely subdued and far away, remotely humming away. No doubt this is also a slab of noise when it would be ‘normalized’, but it would loose easily some of it’s edge in the bumpy bass region. Quite a nice 7″ on colored vinyl. (FdW)
Address: http://www.lamour.se
SMALL THINGS ON SUNDAYS – IN SLOW MOTION (CDR by Attenuation Circuit)
More music from the already active duo from Denmark, Small Things On Sundays. A while they presented their first LP (see Vital Weekly 887), but Henrik Bagner and Claus Poulsen are mostly active on CDR and cassettes. ‘In Slow Motion’ is their latest album, quite short I was thinking with twenty-nine minutes of music, but otherwise with all the usual ingredients of their music. Highly atmospheric music, using guitar, radio, tapes, viola and ‘various gadgets’ but I assume also lots of reverb, delay and other sound effects to create dense, atmospheric patterns of sound, which reminded me once more of the old Zoviet*France, but also of City Of Worms, one of Jeph Jerman’s late 80s bands. Lo-fi sampling with lo-fi electronics, creating these dark moody soundtracks for the twilight zone, night becomes the day, day becomes the night. It has a fine live feel to it, of out takes of a longer section, but trimmed at both ends. That is something else I actually enjoy from this release. These five pieces are to the point. Improvised, perhaps, live, maybe, but also trimmed down and all the unnecessary, or unwanted bits have been removed and the great parts are released. More people should have a similar critical approach. A small fine release by this excellent duo! (FdW)
Address: http://www.attenuationcircuit.de
GEORGE CHRISTIAN – AOS RIOS URBANOS (CDR by Spectropol Records)
The last album I have heart of George Christian was a collaboration project with the Japanese musician Mehata Hiroshi, an album which was also released by Spectropol Records (Vital Weekly 866). Instead of that album, this album has a good recording quality. George Christian is a guitarist who lives and works in Brazil. The album is inspired by the movements of the urban rivers and the flow in during life-time. The first two tracks are created by acoustic guitar and are beautiful improvisations which gives a meditative mood. The combination of the fine melodies and the touch-full use of effects make these compositions to well-balanced pieces of guitar music. The third track disturbs the silent mood with distorted guitar chords and dissonant melodies. The peacefulness return by again an acoustic track with a lot of reverb and echo effects. The album is about life, the elements of life, the destruction of life, the exchange between nature and culture and between life on earth and the cosmic. The fifth track is created by piano samplers, slide guitar and electronic generated tones. This track is like a journey to the inner-self or to the outer space. The album ends with the track called “Aborted Cry” and that is what it is. A screaming guitar built up his anger and stops without any warning. George Christian makes a big step forward in his musical career and this concept album is effective. (JKH)
Address: http://spectropol.com
LUKASZ KACPERCZYK – WALKS (CDR by BDTA)
CHRISTIAN KOBI – RAW LINES (CDR by BDTA)
ZOPAN – VHS ESP (CDR by BDTA)
A trio of new releases on Polish BDTA, all of which are by people I never heard off. Kacperczyk’s first release was called ‘Studies In Listening And Easy Listening’ under the guise of ShortSleeves, released by Modularine.info. ‘Walks’ is his first album on CDR. Like before, apparently, he uses a modular synthesizer, which are set to ‘generative patches [..] which enter into a dialogue with sounds coming from instruments made by himself’. Five pieces here, totaling forty minutes, of music that sounds pretty much improvised altogether and which seems more electronic than with any ‘real’ instruments. What it does seem to use is crackles of contact microphones, field recordings and maybe, maybe a guitar in the final piece ‘Uncertain’. In every piece I heard something nice, but overall I don’t think I am that impressed by it. It’s all a bit too loose for me, just not special enough. It’s not bad either, but this could be telling us the same thing in fifteen minutes, or last twenty pieces in four hours. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it left me unimpressed.
‘Raw Lines is the second part of a trilogy after Canto (2010, Cubus Records)’ it says on the cover of the release by Christian Kobi. He plays soprano or tenor saxophone, with in one piece also feedback. He is from Switzerland and studied classical music and improvised music, and has played with John Butcher, Lionel Marchetti, Christian Wolff, Jonas Kocher and many others. Like the Kacperczyk release this is improvised music but then restricted to one instrument, and no interactions with others. It’s not always easy to recognize the saxophone in these five piece (total length twenty-seven minutes), not just in ‘IV’ which is the longest piece and comes with controlled feedback, but also in the other pieces I am more reminded of electro-acoustic music then of a saxophone being played. Kobi uses some very close miking to capture the sounds from his instrument, using mouth and hands and not necessarily blowing down the mouthpiece. A truly fascinating release I’d say, played with much control and much creativity over the instrument. Short but powerful release. Here’s someone I wouldn’t mind seeing performing.
The last new release is by someone named Zopan and ‘VHS ESP’ is a sound installation. I copied the description for you: “Changes in light intensity, saturation and fluctuations on the magnetic field video cassette signal gives the micro changes in sound generated from TV PAL output . Mechanical and unplanned modulation arising from randomization image on video tapes recorded at the beginning of the 90′s. Random image content. Four video recorders, audible range of the waves emitted by function generators type ZOPAN KZ 1406 0.0005 Hz-100 kHz, produced in the 80′s by the Polish Institute of Scientific Equipment Manufacturing and three old TV’s at a time were used to create these sound.” Like a soundtrack watching is perhaps better than hearing, or perhaps, things will be more clear that away, but here we have three long pieces of this installation in action. The end result are quite nasty drone like sounds, which are quite captivating to hear. It hums mean and loud, but it’s never really noise like. Violent harsh uneasy drone music, with the last piece adding a weird sense of rhythm to it. Think Pan Sonic but then much longer and much more minimal – in all three of these pieces actually. Maybe a bit too long at times, but altogether quite nice. (FdW)
Address: http://bdta.bandcamp.com
INSTAGON – THEE START OV THEE END (CDR by Placenta Recordings)
America’s Instagon is a big band in the best Jazz tradition, or maybe it’s better to call them the Grateful Dead of noise music? They jam around and record everything. Maybe they have an open door policy, allowing people to drop by and jam along. I counted around twenty-three musicians being part of this release, including Rent Romus, Chad E. Williams and Lob, the bands’ Jerry Garcia. The recordings here are from 2007-2008 and from sessions 454, 455, 457, 470, 472, 475, 482 and 487. The music is what we already heard on previous releases (see for instance Vital Weekly 877). Although Instagon calls itself an ‘experimental sound art jazz jam band’, it’s not always jazz like what they do. Sure, in ‘Under The Stars’ one could think so, with its laidback jazzy guitar and drums, or the wilder free improvisations of ‘Lost In Outland’ but sometimes these improvisations take a whole different route. Spacious, electronic, wildly meandering over astral planes, especially in the longest two pieces here, ‘Funeral For A Droid’ and ‘Bearded Lady With Elongated Vocal Cords Telling Too Many Stories’ (which sounds like a Nurse With Wound title, I thought). In the first electronics play an overall important role, while in the second it’s a weird combination of a meandering bass and all sorts of improvisations added. It’s hard to say but the balance here might be more towards the free jazz spirit and lesser towards the more cosmic doodling they are also known for. Like before the recording quality might leave something to improve, I’d think. Instagon’s music would definetly benefit from a more clearer recording and mixing, unless of course it’s part of a certain esthetic to do it like they do, and over the course of some years I actually think it’s their intention to do it like this. Probably regarded as ‘authentic’, but I’d say: try explore the depths of the music more through some more elaborated stages of mixing and editing. (FdW)
Address: http://placentarecordings.blogspot.com
NUNDATA – PENANCE (cassette by Color Triangle Recordings)
A handcrafted cassette, Xerox photo and religious texts in thin gold of what appears to be the confession from the Christian liturgy. Side one has what appears to be two tracks, the first gentle electronic noodlings and field recording, distortion, but all at low levels, the second a beat driven piece of electronica, which no doubt owing to the use of commercial tape finishes well before the end of the cassette. The second side a more wallesque mix of abstract non rhythmic noises to begin, and industrial echo spaces to follow… The lack of effort in recording, packaging and mix all part of the by now well known DIY aesthetic. Just as familiar as the feedback glitches…. Which is not to say this isn’t un-pleasant, but makes one think how ‘experimental’ and ‘improvisational’ after several hundred examples ceases to be just that, it becomes terribly familiar, which again is not to say that this is in anyway bad. In fact elsewhere I have made the point that reality as it is, not as
how its presented in the media, is very boring. If it were not why do we need mobile phones, wide screen TVs, art, sport and culture in all its forms. If reality was interesting enough in itself. So noise as a genre when it becomes so familiar is boring repetition saying nothing new if it ever did say anything. Which is why I address it as The Real, whether we like it or not, and we – being spoilt by living, which much of matter isn’t, and living on a very interesting planet, seemingly not that common, given our luck we still demand entertainment. Well this like any art of the Real is no longer entertaining…. Or to quote my Microsoft outlook express often remarked ‘no new messages’…. (jliat)
Address: http:// colortriangle.blogspot.com
STEAMROOM BANDCAMP (download)
When you and me open up a bandcamp page then it’s probably hardly news; When Jim O’Rourke did it recently it was all over the (internet-) media. To some he’s a genius and has a reputation that spreads beyond the cosy little world of Vital Weekly and it’s inhabitants. But following the announcement of O’Rourke’s Bandcamp, I didn’t see the releases reviewed. Interest may not run that deep. Over the christmas I had time, due to the generosity of O’Rourke, to hear nine of his Bandcamp releases. It opens with a very recent release, 2013 released, 2012 recorded of a CD which was available during the 2013 Japanese tour of O’Rourke with Celer’s Will Long and Christoph Heemann. Two pieces, forty minutes in total (do I hear ‘LP re-issue’?) of drone music. In both of these pieces, ‘Falling Wall’ and ‘Previous Wall’ the guitar seems to be the primary source, couple with some electronics – perhaps. In ‘Falling Wall’ it follows the route of a careful build up, while in ‘Previous Well’ it’s one place and moves around a stand still point in space but with the guitars layered in a furious circle around it. Especially this noisy end of drone piece worked really well. Minimal, careful, but noise based. ‘Play Loud’ would be a fine recommendation here!
Also available on the same tour as a CD was a forty minute recording by Heemann, Long and O’Rourke recorded at Steamroon, no doubt as a sort of ‘preparation’ for the tour. I am not sure if the entire tour was them playing together or solo sets in combination with a collaborative effort. Here the drones seem to me more of an electronic kind and the interesting thing: it’s no cigar. I mean it doesn’t fade in, stays there for a while and then end; in which the audio looks like a cigar. This moves between parameters of slow evolution. It’s like cascading sea waves. Sometimes washing loudly upon the shore, and then it’s quite for some time, and up these waves move again. And sometimes these waves are life threatening and seem like a nasty wash. I am not sure wether this is was made with analogue electronics or perhaps some sort of computer music, but it sounded most lovely indeed; lovely most of the time, nasty at carefully selected occasions.
Also from 2013 is a live, solo, recording from The Guggenheim House in Kobe. Maybe on the same tour? Here too I must admit I have no idea what O’Rourke is using to play his music. It might very well be field recordings, electronics, computers or even at one point I seem to heard a guitar. Unlike ‘Coast’, this is one piece divided into various sections which differ from each other. The overall tone of this work is sombre and introspective, but breaths nicely in a very delicate, warm recording. It moves through various sections in a very gentle way and some of these may be very soft, here too are some nice, grittier bits to be heard. In a way, this reminded me of the O’Rourke during ‘Disengage’.
The fourth release is called ‘Another Slow Night’, recorded in 2011. A title which may shows the romantic in me: I envisage O’Rourke at home, surrounded by his apparatus, not wanting to watch a movie or delve into his record collection, but simply pours in a sake, switches on his machines and then let it happen, watching and adjusting as things evolve. These drones seem to generate themselves, and respond and interact to each other, like a pendulum moving on and on, but also like a living organism, growing bigger and bigger. Excellent music for this time of the year: full of slow nights. One to stick on repeat for such an evening.
In 1990 O’Rourke composed a work for string quartet and oscillators and recorded the electronic part of that. The fifth release are the two parts as played by Hatano Atsuko and Chiba Hiroki (both violin), Teshima Erika (on viola) and Sekiguchi Masambumi on cello. Here we find the majestic drone music that is simply gorgeous and perhaps what you would most expect. Think Phill Niblock, think Alvin Lucier or simply think Jim O’Rourke. These two parts are quite close to each other, like two sides of the same coin. Slow and majestically evolving, rather than revolving, with part one being somewhat deeper and part two somewhat higher, but excellent excursions and part two ending a mighty crescendo. Great.
I haven’t heard ‘Scan’ in a long time, even when I off and on play older Jim O’Rourke releases. This 1992 release was a split with Syllyk, and perhaps, if my memory serves well, I didn’t like their piece that much so perhaps I didn’t play it that much in years to come. This 2013 remastered version is quite soft, but perhaps that’s how it should have been. In this thirty minute collage of field recordings – fireworks, cars, construction work – with a very sparse musical setting and very minimal electronics. A very quiet work indeed. A work in the best tradition of Luc Ferrari and one that fully requires your attention before it unfolds it’s beauty. Excellent musique concrete.
I haven’t seen Makino Takashi’s film ‘The World’ from 2009, but Jim O’Rourke did the soundtrack for this. Not seeing the movie, although some images are in the download folder, is always problematic I should think when reviewing soundtrack albums. I can imagine that O’Rourke follows the film in his music, moving from section to section. I can’t help to think that there is an element of improvisation in this piece. I might be entirely wrong of course here and somewhere there is a written score for this, but I am tempted to think that O’Rourke made a bunch of directions for various segments of the movie and played along as they happen. There is a section around thirty five minute break which sums this up, I think. The guitar is rather playful, with percussive bits rattling about, in a non-linear way and some distorted horn like sound. Of course, preparations have been made but essentially improvised. Guitar, lots of electronics, contact microphone rattling and maybe field recordings make up a rather loosely orchestrated fifty-plus minute piece. It’s perhaps not something you would easily expect from O’Rourke, but just because of that you perhaps would.
Also a soundtrack is ‘Not Yet’, Jim O’Rourke’s 2003 film, about which the Rotterdam Film Festival wrote: “Not Yet, by Jim O’Rourke, is the only finished and screened film by this musician so far. He uses a scene from [Brian DePalma’s Blow Out]. The camera revolves around a sound technician who enters his studio and discovers that all his magnetic tapes have been erased. The physical effect of this disorienting scene is enhanced by double printing and an eerie, floating soundtrack”. Here, on Bandcamp, the soundtrack lasts over fifty minutes, while the website I culled the above information from says that the film lasts 18 minutes. The same website also gives you this O’Rourke quote: “In 2003 I discovered a box of tapes I had thought I had erased, and had long forgot about. The tapes were all from between 1986–1991… The box also contained what would become… the music for the films Door and Not Yet.” Maybe this soundtrack is a combination of both? This is altogether an entirely different soundtrack. A minimal set of electronics, cobbled together, in response with each other, slowly evolving. Sounds drop in and out, but other stay around for much longer and it makes up an excellent piece of organ music. Play with two hands, one organ and then layered together in a great phase shifting way, but not necessarily in a very sequenced way, if you know what I mean. Gradually, perhaps after eighteen minutes or so, the piece moves slowly into a more controlled environment. It doesn’t loose any of its brittle sharp edge, but it gets more spaced out, and the movement of sounds dropping by get sparser and sparser. This is one of those finely tuned ear piercing drone pieces, certainly if you forgot to turn down the volume following ‘Scan’.
The final release I am reviewing from Jim O’Rourke’s bandcamp is also a re-issue, and might have been one of my first introductions to his music. I reviewed this record in Vital 22 (1 Dec. 1991), that is the paper version of this e-rag, which existed from 1986 to 1995. Hard to get, so I’ll take the liberty of re-typing that text: “The first of many LP and CD releases to come from this talented guitarist from Illusion Of Safety. Not just a guitarist. Jim is also a teacher and composer. According to the information this record contains his “purely electro-acoustical” work. Side two uses sandpaper only. According to the cover there should be a French horn present somewhere, but due to Jim’s processing of the sounds, I can’t tell where that horn is… A great part of this record is filled with very dark, low tones. One side starts really soft, developing in into an organ-like sound, slowly accelerating (similar to a starting train), which suddenly stops. The other side (no titles, or separate tracks) reminds one of the work of Brian Eno. This album is highly recommended! But with the high dynamics of the pieces, one has to put forward today’s cliche: why not on CD?” It’s good to see this finally in the digital domain. I have been playing this album for years and always wanted this on CD, so you can’t imagine how delighted I was to hear it without crackles (last man on earth enjoying CDs over vinyl, I guess). It might be all just an illusion, but sincerely think I hear ‘more’ now then I ever did on the LP. Maybe the details worn out along with the vinyl? You can imagine my joy of hearing this again. Spending a whole two days with all of this music from Jim O’Rourke was a true delight. Let’s hope for some more (Let’s hope for a review copy of ‘Old News #9’!) (FdW)
Address: http://steamroom.bandcamp.com/