SISTER OVERDRIVE – THE SHAPE OF FAILURES PAST (CD by Granny Records) *
TIM FEENEY – CAROLINE (CD by Weighter Recordings) *
MATTHEW PHILIP HOPKINS – NOCTURNES (LP by Vittelli)
IF, BWANA/FIEBIG (split LP by Attenuation Circuit)
POSTMARKS – NATIONAL PARKS (CD/LP by Monotype Records)
BRAIN CONNIFFE, SUZANNE WALSH AND DIARMUID MAC DIARMADA (LP by Lumberton Trading Company)
ASTRAL SOCIAL CLUB – METAL GURU/MOONAGE DAYDREAM (7″ by Must Die Records)
TJONG POW – MORE LIKE RANDOM OBJECTS OR ROCKS (CDR by Must Die Records) *
JAGUAR MIN – EQUINE (CDR by Must Die Records) *
ERNESTO DIAZ-INFANTE & LISA CAMERON & LEE DOCKERY – AT THE KSE 6TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT (CDR by Kendra Steiner Editions)
M.B. & ICYDAWN – IGNEA OCCASUM SOLIS (CDR by S.M.Y.W. Prod) *
DEISON & CANDOR CHASMA – ANTIMATTER CIRCLES (CD by S.M.Y.W. Prod) *
UNCODIFIED – SOME THINGS COLLAPSING (CDR by S.M.Y.W. Prod) *
GOOZE & SUE69 – HALLO! (CDR by Shit Noise Records)
NONOISE, TORTURE BORDER, GAY NOISE & HENRY C. RIAL – TORTURE AND NOISE PART 3 (CDR by Shit Noise Records)
MURDER LANGAGE AND YOU MUDER GOD (CDR compilation by Amalgamated Torso And Such)
ERIC LUNDE – AUDIO DEMONSTRATIONS OF THE OPYCAY 1.5/DIGITAL AUDIO DEGENERATION UNIT (CDR by Amalgamated Torso And Such) *
MAP_HAZARD (CDR by Amalgamated Torso And Such) *
N.D.N.L – DID YOU GET HOME OKAY LAST NIGHT? (CDR by Hideous Replica) *
ADAM ASNAN – VEIL AFTER VEIL (cassette by Hideous Replica)
FOSSILS – ABSTRACT AT HOME (cassette by MJC)
TROY SCHAFER – ACTION FOR SOLO VIOLIN (cassette by Dusty Grass Imprint)
NIHILISTINEN BARBAARISUUS – VAINAMOINEN (cassette by Infernal Kommando)
NIHILISTINEN BARBAARISUUS – SYNKKA TUULI (cassette by Infernal Kommando)
SISTER OVERDRIVE – THE SHAPE OF FAILURES PAST (CD by Granny Records)
My third encounter with Sister Overdrive, the musical project of Yannis Kotsonis, following ‘Annick/Philomeia’ (see Vital Weekly 717) and ‘Honey’ (Vital Weekly 790). Now, on CD, in a small edition of just 100 copies, he contains his strange excursions in the land of concrete sound, electronics, field recordings using bits from vinyl, old tapes and such like. Thirteen pieces in thirty-nine minutes may suggest that we are dealing with some of a pop length here, but that’s not the case. If anything, I’d say this is sketch like, half an idea, half a composition and made from trial and error; very much, so it seems recorded in an improvised manner. The seventh piece for instance sounds like a locked groove, being played around in a changing pattern of delay pedals. You could say it’s a groove, but not exactly the kind you move your feet to. You would bang your head with it. Non (the black album) meets techno – or perhaps that the 12″ by Non called ‘Rise’ in the eight piece. It’s stuff picked up from the floor, the debris that landed there after an intense recording and editing session; stuff that can always be recycled by the likes of Sister Overdrive. It never stays anywhere very long, pieces get cut short rather abruptly and some are merely a loop or two spinning around. It’s quite alright, in it’s own way, it’s own esthetic approach. That’s why it’s hard to compare this is with something else. Sister Overdrive would probably ‘loose’ out comparing this with something else, but that’s the not idea anyway. For what he does, he does pretty well. But you could wonder if you would easily play this again and again. Maybe it’s lacks something that you could call captivating. (FdW)
Address: http://www.grannyrecords.org
TIM FEENEY – CAROLINE (CD by Weighter Recordings)
Two works for solo percussion, following Nick Hennies work for ‘snare drum’ (see Vital Weekly 897). Hennies is the man behind Weighter Recordings. Maybe his idea is to have a label for percussion music? But this is the second release, so perhaps too early to tell? Nicely hand pressed covers with not a lot of information. We learn three things. One is that the two pieces were ‘performed and recorded in Berkshire, NY and Tuscaloose, AL, 2010-2013’, secondly there is ‘a drum, with hands’ (two hands I assume, as it doesn’t mention any other players) and, thirdly, it’s ‘for Lou Cohen’. Perhaps that’s enough to know, I was thinking. The rest might be overkill. Two pieces, but it seems that each piece consists of a various movements, not just from those hands but moving from doing one thing to the next. Feeney plays very minimally, rubbing with his hands the skins of his drum in rotating ways, creating a kind of acoustic drone. If you thought this was all to do with rhythm – in a conventional sense of the word – than you are wrong. Feeney doesn’t bang the drums but explores the sonic qualities of the skin and the surfaces below. By rotating his hands over the skins another kind of rhythm arises, especially in the opening piece, which is called ’21’29″‘. This is perhaps also the piece that is most strongly ‘one’ piece, slowly changing over the course of these twenty-one minutes and twenty-nine seconds, whereas ’18’55″‘ has three distinctly different movements, with some pause in between these movements. An excellent release of great minimal music somewhere on the border of composition and improvisation. One of those things I like very much, I guess. (FdW)
Address: http://weighterrecordings.com
MATTHEW PHILIP HOPKINS – NOCTURNES (LP by Vittelli)
This is the first piece of vinyl by Matthew Philip Hopkins from Australia, who has released ‘a decade of micro-edition cassettes and CDRs’, and who is a member of Vincent Over The Sinjk, The Bowles, NOTV and Half High, none of which I ever heard of. Apparently he is using a synth, cassettes, effect pedals, contact microphone and random objects to record his music, which, in the case of this album, he did at night, hence the title. One shortish piece, one longer and one taking up the entire b-side. Headphone music, I think, both in the creative stage and both for you as a listener (although mine don’t reach that far, so I stuck to the speakers). Vittelli lists a bunch of references, Nate Young, Basinski, Rushford & Talia, Andrew Chalk, Giancarlo Toniutti, RLW and to a certain extend I can see all of that, even when I would add Idea Fire Company or Matt Krefting also. A slow moving sound, build from loops of sound, and careful, slow, manipulation of effects, which makes that this isn’t static at all, and also perhaps not really that delicate. Shimmering just below the surface is a somewhat darker undercurrent, which adds a nice roughness to the music. Mellow but rough? Yes, that is possible, I should think, as Hopkins proofs it. The overal tone of his music is gentle indeed, but in the lower region there is a mild distortion going on. That makes this is an excellent record. Very delicate, very refined and yet still an uncut diamond. If you like your drones like that, to be out of the ordinary a bit, and you love them on (grey) vinyl, then this is your new name to discover. (FdW)
Address: http://vittelli.com
IF, BWANA/FIEBIG (split LP by Attenuation Circuit)
Although best known for their CDR and online releases, Attenuation started to release vinyl too, and this is their second release. Like the previous release this is split release, here with If, Bwana and Gerald Fiebig. Both of them have had a number of releases on this label. They use each other sound sources, but which leads to different results. On the If, Bwana side we find the sound of recorders as taped by Al Margolis, mister Bwana himself, and organ recordings by Fiebig. Apparently, according to the info, we have two pieces here, one of each instrument. In the ‘usual’ methods applied by If, Bwana all of these sounds are layered together, not unlike Phill Niblock would (with whom If, Bwana tours every now and then). Chopped into small loops, on a constant repeat mission, but never starting at the same time, forms a rather dense mass of sound. Many layers should be understand many, maybe even 1,000 or so. The recorder piece is slightly dissonant it seems and has an edginess which I don’t think I heard before in If, Bwana’s music. It just as easily moves over into the organ piece, which applies a similar technique, but which is slightly more ‘melodic’ and less dissonant and maybe more what you would expect of such drone like sounds. It’s something I rather enjoy, very much. This is maybe the lo-fi version of Niblock, but it’s one that works quite well.
Now Fiebig, on the other side, may use the same recorder and organ sounds, he also adds the acoustic guitar of Jesus Jackson (processed by Emerge), the electric guitar of Mathias Huber and an electric recorder which he played himself. Here more is indeed less. You could expect a lot more sounds, and even more density than If, Bwana does, but it’s not something like that at all. Fiebig distributes the sounds quite sparsely over the course of his side. It moves very slowly, back and forth between the different sources and just sometimes you recognize the acoustic guitar, or the recorder. Sometimes playing together, but it seems that a lot of the times they are on their own, like stars at night – moving solely in the firmament. That seems to be the case here, with very occasional interaction. If that happens, in what seems to be the middle of the record, small melodies are formed around carefully placed crackles, slowly moving a gentle drone in to fade out in the end. Nice, gentle music. Perhaps the most gentle music I encountered on this label. Pressed on white vinyl, which is perhaps not the most optimum for this delicate music. (FdW)
Address: http://www.attenuationcircuit.de
POSTMARKS – NATIONAL PARKS (CD/LP by Monotype Records)
Postmarks is a duo of Boris Hauf (baritone and tenor sax) and Dudley Bayne (piano), with Martin Siewert (guitar, electronics) as a guest performer. Hauf is a Berlin-based multi-instrumentalist, composer and performer. From regular visits to Chicago came a collaboration with pianist Dudley Bayne. In 2005 they released their first album, ‘Western Ave’ on Luminescense Records. For their second recording they went to Vienna and invited Siewert as a guest performer. For their improvisations they choose for a very specific source of inspiration: “US national parks and their representation in iconic posters from the 1930s and 1940s”. Ex-Efzeg player Hauf is presented on over 40 albums. Can’t tell you much about D.Bayne’s, except that he is member of Chicago Sound Map. Their improvisations were not very convincing in my ears. I missed a tightness and sharpness that makes me forget questions like ‘Why do they take that direction and not another one?’ Alas, several of these questions came to my mind while listening to these meandering and a bit pointless improvisations. (DM)
Address: http://www.monotyperecords.com
BRAIN CONNIFFE, SUZANNE WALSH AND DIARMUID MAC DIARMADA (LP by Lumberton Trading Company)
All goods things will come to an end. We can say that about the life of Jhonn Balance and Peter Christopherson, but also to an 12″ which is dedicated to this great musicians. The fourth edition of six 12’/MLP of the Polish label Lumberton Trading Company is in my opinion too short. Five compositions just pop up and go away, but the compositions ask for more time and are created a pleasant melancholic mood. Anyway? we had to deal with it. The mini LP is created by three musicians from Dublin – Ireland. Brian Conniffe, an experimental musician who works in the fields of dark psychedelic music. Suzanne Walsh is a visual artist and musician and she crosses both disciplines into her arts. Diarmuld Mac Diarmada is active since 1992 in the Dublin music scene and had played in a lot of bands. The album starts with epic drones and ongoing tones which support the dark singing voice of Suzanne Walsh. “A Shining Ache” is a strong melancholic composition created by sounds like a church organ, strings, cymbals and voice. It reminds me to the multi-layered drones of Troum and has reflections to classical and theatrical music. Side A ends with a short instrumental mix called Holy Ground. Indeed, have I said it before it is short and it would be lovely if there will be an extended version of Holy Ground. Drones, silence and an intense atmosphere change into fragile moments with a harp. “Behind the Sheets” is a beautiful lullaby, sometimes it is just a sweet song, sometimes it is like a hymn and sometimes it is a song in which the singer is looking for the right tones. It is just like a sleep, with several periods with deep sleep, relaxation and unclear moments. “Not the Night” is based on a sample from the Coil Reconstruction Kit. The song has a melancholic atmosphere and is played in the Coil tradition (whatever that may be). A nice combination of dark tones, natural instruments, repeating melodies and a sinister tone. This album is highly recommended to lovers of the music of Coil and it is one of my favorites of 2013. (JKH)
Address: http://lumberton-trading.com/
ASTRAL SOCIAL CLUB – METAL GURU/MOONAGE DAYDREAM (7″ by Must Die Records)
TJONG POW – MORE LIKE RANDOM OBJECTS OR ROCKS (CDR by Must Die Records)
JAGUAR MIN – EQUINE (CDR by Must Die Records)
Three quite different releases from Must Die Records, not only in format. Although the press release also says something about a 7″ and CDR, I am not sure if these belong together. I only received the 7″s (the CDR has the same two pieces, but then reworked and extended, plus two more pieces). Behind Astral Social Club we find Neil Campbell, formerly known as Vibracathedral Orchestra and part of many other projects. Campbell is also a man who seeks out new musical avenues, even when he carves out a niche for himself somewhere. With Astral Social Club for instance he has expanded his previous noise drone project with a fine sense of rhythm. I assume these comes from the use of tape-loops and drum machines, on top of which he adds drones, noise, field recordings and people banging on metal pipes, such as in ‘Metal Guru’, which is a nice and furious piece of music. In ‘Moonage Daydream’ it all keeps stuck in the same loop with not many changes. That piece was long enough for a 7″, but ‘Metal Guru’ was quite nice and another fine proof that this music should not be released on a 7″ at all. Whatever happened to 10″ records? That would be the perfect format for this kind of music.
On CDR we find Tjong Pow, of whom I never heard. It’s a duo from Berlin, being Laurens van der Wee on no-input mixer and Eliad Wagner on modular synthesizer. They play improvised music on these, but by means of multi tracking they can afterwards mix the results, which is right the way I like them. I surely like improvisation, but it’s of course very much ‘now’ and ‘here’. Transporting that on a carrier of sound – a CDR, a cassette but also as a download – takes it out of the ‘here’ and ‘now’ and makes it something somewhere else. Which is a different thing, really. It can be a document for those who attended such as concert, but if you didn’t attend, you may notice that bum note, that wrong move or something like. As a musician you can alter that piece of history and make it… better? I am not certain if these are the considerations made by Tjong Pow, or if they have a different kind of reason to do so. Despite their somewhat careful start in ‘Tantrum’ this is all pretty much noise based. Heavy slabs of feedback and cracks and peeps is what this music is made off, but it never bounces very hard to the wall. Tjong Pow know how to pull back, start again, and construct different build up and approaches to their sound. Play loud is my best suggestion, as you will become more clear of some of the more extreme dynamics in the music. I’m sure the next best to hearing this on CDR is to witness them play live.
Something altogether different is the ambient music of Jaguar Min, also known as Harrison Banfield, who improvises on his his guitar to create dreamy, droney ambient music. The strangest thing, perhaps, is the fact that this is very short release, fifteen minutes, and still having five pieces. So you know none of this is very long, which is perhaps a weird thing in the world of ambient music. To some fifteen minutes is more like an intro. The ambient of Jaguar Min is perhaps more cut down to pop length but without making it very popambient – in the Kompakt sense of the word. Jaguar Min’s music is a bit harsher, sharper then what you would expect and perhaps also a bit more home brew and lo-fi. Which is actually quite nice, I was thinking. By removing some of the smoothness of the more ‘traditional’ ambient, Jaguar Min has a nice sound of his own. The one thing I was thinking about is this. These fifteen minutes sounds very nice indeed, but I am not entirely sure if a whole album, say forty or so minutes would bring similar joy. I can imagine that some of these pieces would indeed need a bit of reworking, and some extension and move them out of the short time span and let them breathe more. (FdW)
Address: http://mustdierecords.co.uk
ERNESTO DIAZ-INFANTE & LISA CAMERON & LEE DOCKERY – AT THE KSE 6TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT (CDR by Kendra Steiner Editions)
This live recording consists of two parts. The first one has Diaz-Infante playing on the bajo sexo, a Mexican 12-string guitar. If you have heard music by this Californian non-conformist before, you know that he is not into virtuosity, but more into sound exploration. His improvisations come to live at an unpretentious, basic level, often in a lo-fi recording. The title of this solo piece ‘Emilio’ refers to an album of the same name for the same label where Diaz-Infante for the first time improvises on the bajo sexton. For the second improvisation he is joined by Lisa Cameron (lap steel, membrane, cut snares, cymbal contact mic) and Lee Dockery (electric upright bass, electronics) both from the Austin scene. They are engaged in creating rough textures and noisy ambiances. It is hard to pin down for me what this anarchistic free spirit Diaz-Infante exactly is aiming at. But always he succeeds to leave some impression with his charming improvisations. (DM)
Address: http://www.kendrasteinereditions.wordpress.com
M.B. & ICYDAWN – IGNEA OCCASUM SOLIS (CDR by S.M.Y.W. Prod)
DEISON & CANDOR CHASMA – ANTIMATTER CIRCLES (CD by S.M.Y.W. Prod)
UNCODIFIED – SOME THINGS COLLAPSING (CDR by S.M.Y.W. Prod)
S.M.Y.W. stands for Show Me Your Wounds, a label from Switzerland, ‘devoted to industrial, experimental, ritual, ambient, power electronics and drone music’ and, as a label, finds it’s inspiration in such labels as Old Europa Cafe, Nuit Et Brouillard and ‘most of all’ Slaughter Productions. Here we have three of their releases. We started with Maurizio Bianchi, the old master, in collaboration with someone named Icydawn, who plays synth, tapes, violin, voice and effects, while Bianchi himself takes credit for ‘burning electronics, icy drones and frozen pictures’. The liner notes are sunrise, the dawn period and such like. The music is divided over six lengthy pieces, from eight to ten minutes and is perhaps already the best showcase for the label. There is one hell of a noisy opening, say the ‘industrial’ component in this, but the other pieces takes us to the other places, such as experimental, ritual, ambient, drone music and, which I actually missed out upon, psychedelic music. The title piece, and ‘Frigida Nocte’, with it’s carefully played violin improvisations with lots and lots of effects, is such a case of psychedelica. More ritualistic is the approach of ‘Calida Lux’, and ‘Meridie Tepido’ is a more noisy affair, power electronics, if you will. These variations make this CD a very interesting one. It doesn’t stay too much in one place, but drifts into various areas of experiment and electronics. Very nice indeed.
On a real CD, but also a collaboration is the work by one Candor Chasma and Deison, of whom we reviewed previously various works. Candor Chasma is Simon Balestrazzi on electronics, prepared tsymbaly (it really says so) and tapes and Corrado Altieri on electronics and tapes, whereas Deison takes the role to play analog synth, field recordings and drones. Four long pieces (between ten and fifteen minutes) and right in the middle a short one of three. Those tapes mentioned may contain to quite some extend voice material, taped from radio waves or police scanners. And, having used the word scanners, it’s not difficult to see a link between this and the musical project called Scanner. There is, me thinks, quite some resemblance, between the very first works of Scanner and the music presented here. There is long, sustaining pieces of ambient music, with an experimental and sometimes industrial overtone (such as in ‘The Descent’ and ‘Alteration Of Sensory Perceptions’) and sometimes downright ambient, such as in ‘Opposite Presence’. Here it sounds like S.E.T.I. and I am not sure if I mean the one from Lagwoski or the other one. The music is here much more ‘together’ than the previous release, with perhaps less variation but it makes up a nice circle, harsh, medium ambient, the ‘pop song’ in the middle and then very ambient to end with a bit of noise. Like a cosmic trip in a rusty space ship, not easily floating through space, but what a ride it was.
Old, from 2012 (so what the hell is it doing here?), is Uncodified, the solo musical project of Candor Chasma’s Corrado Altieri, using analog synthesizers, electronics, tapes and Sony V-O-R. Of course it would be interesting to see what Deison minus Candor Chasma but with Uncodified will be like, and make we can distill what makes up what. We heard a couple of releases by Altieri before (see Vital Weekly 838 and 775) which we are bit too noisy for my taste, ‘Document’ especially, and here Altieri taps in the same well of inspiration. There is quite an amount of noise to be found here too. Those do not have my appreciation very much. It’s not bad, it’s not y’r usual harsh noise wall, but it’s perhaps also a bit too easy. However when his music is softer and seemingly more worked out, such as in ‘Subterranean 3 (part 2)’, he has my undivided attention. Also the first part of this piece was quite alright. Bits of the other three were also alright, but not really my cup of tea. I would suggest to explore the other direction a bit more and use noise more effectively and, perhaps, also a bit more sparsely. (FdW)
Address: http://www.smywprod.com/
GOOZE & SUE69 – HALLO! (CDR by Shit Noise Records)
NONOISE, TORTURE BORDER, GAY NOISE & HENRY C. RIAL – TORTURE AND NOISE PART 3 (CDR by Shit Noise Records)
Shit Noise Records is a very active DIY noise label from Germany and is run by Hartmut Frank. He compiles splits and compilation CDR’s and the artists can copy the CDR’s by themselves. Most of the artwork has been done by Art69Brut, which consists of Sue69 and Stirner. Anyway, most of the music of this label is noise orientated combined with themes like sexuality and violence. Almost 700 CD-R’s have been released. The track “Starved” of Gooze is inspired by classical music and sometimes elements of the classic can be heard which will be taken over by electronics. The composition is associative and elements of classical music are the inspiration to start a noisy follow-up. Sue69 starts with an atmospheric mood with voice, electronics and a lot of delay. A childish melody comes up played on a casio-organ or something like that. Abstract tones slowly overwhelm the subtle sounds and the speed of the sounds are going faster and faster. A maniacal mood develops more and more and borders can not be found. It is like a spinning wheel without any break. Noises are coming up and disappear. But the sound does not increase to a harsh wall, but a wall of sound with uptempo sounds which stops without any warning. Great experimental and creative noisy tracks.
Nonoise is HNW project of Hiberna-Bard and starts the compilation CDRR with three minimal noise tracks. It is just one or two layers of pure noise and that it is. Almost no diversity or changes in sound, just a drill into your head. Although at one moment an agitating voice flows into the noises, but for me it disturbs the drilling sounds. Gay Noise aka Tony Stirner has the same impact as Nonoise, but there is some more variety in noises and the developing of the sounds. Torture Border, a project of Hartmut Frank, combines electronic noises with a sample of a screaming woman. The track will be a good soundtrack for a horror B-movie. Henry C. Rial ends this sampler and is a beautiful wall of harsh noise. It starts with a drony sound, white noises are flooding in and more and more scraping sounds fight for their attention. (JKH)
Address: http://shitnoise.weebly.com/
MURDER LANGAGE AND YOU MUDER GOD (CDR compilation by Amalgamated Torso And Such)
ERIC LUNDE – AUDIO DEMONSTRATIONS OF THE OPYCAY 1.5/DIGITAL AUDIO DEGENERATION UNIT (CDR by Amalgamated Torso And Such)
MAP_HAZARD (CDR by Amalgamated Torso And Such)
Eric Lunde moves away from his Trait Media Works and starts a new operation called Amalgamated Torso And Such, ‘a facade for a small boutique production ‘company’, purveyors of short-run, intermittent, limited edition print and audio releases, live action and related documentation’ and against the grain with the release of ‘Murder Langage And You Muder God’ (as it says on the cover), which comes either in a chapbook, plain-brown bookstock bound of book-stock bound with 150 grit aluminum sandpaper. Doesn’t Lunde know, or care, that postal rates are sky-high these days, so every seems to be putting out the most light weight packages? I have here the sandpaper thing, very situationist of course, and inside is a xeroxed booklet with graphics and text. Very much late 80s, when the early desktop computer programs and laser printers were around, but it’s a lovely time machine. I have no idea what this is about, dyslectics killing god perhaps, but it’s compilation with with some of the older lot of ‘industrial’ music, such as Lunde himself, AMK, Grunt, Jeph Jerman, Kommisar Hjuler, Vertonen, but also Lunde’s recent discovery Karl J. Paloucek and Miguel A. Garcia as well as the more unknownMind Void, Tom Cassidy Jimmu Deroth and Bryce Beverlin II. Lots of voice material in these pieces, like a curious form of sound poetry, in a very, direct actionist approach, especially in Lunde’s own pieces or that of Kommisar Hjuler and Bryce II. It’s a compilation of noise for sure, but luckily not one of those endless noise compilations with similar approaches. Here the artists keep steadfast to their own ways and do what they do best.
As Eric Lunde he has a release that is recorded with some sort of electronic device (of his own making perhaps), called the ‘Opycay 5.13 Digital Audio Degeneration Unit. There are pictures included and it looks like suitcase and a few push buttons. The ‘tracklist’ indicates where these sources are from (Star Trek dialogue, Samuel Beckett quote, Vertonen, Jeph Jerman or a live action), but rest assured: none of that is easily be recognized here. If at all actually. Whatever it is that this machine does, it’s all leading to some heavy sound erosion. In a piece like ‘The World Is Its Own Accident’ uses this line, as spoken by Lunde, and we hear all the passages it is going through. Maybe this is the sort of device which you can use to do a new version of ‘I’m Sitting In A Room’, but then much more noisier, and maybe even quicker. It’s this piece which I like best, because the transformations are made audible, rather than in some of the other pieces, which are more endless transmissions played over and over again. It’s a very consistent release, one idea worked out over and over and over again. Maybe a bit too long with it’s seventy-four minutes.
And finally there is the obscure Map_Hazard, of which we have no information, but seeing the references to cartography, it might be save to say this is Eric Lunde in disguise, perhaps working together with someone else. Eight, sometimes lenghty, pieces of power ambient electronics. Me thinks that Lunde, ever the master of using lo-fi techniques to radically alter sound material, has here a cheap SK 1 sampler and some stomp boxes, in which he feeds some crummy lo-fi (more, more) sound and plays it back in loud, sometimes rhythmic fashion, maybe using a synth here and there. Concentrated bursts of sound, explosions of time triggered sound bombs. But it’s never really loud, really noisy. A piece like the fifth one even uses a wide array of delay techniques and might easily be regarded as a take on dub – in a sort of Pan Sonic way. Think early industrial music (Cabaret Voltaire in a more abstract form perhaps) and find yourself head banging to the final, twelve minute work out session. That’s the noise we like. Sometimes at least. (FdW)
Address: http://amalgamatedtorsoandsuch.wordpress.com
N.D.N.L – DID YOU GET HOME OKAY LAST NIGHT? (CDR by Hideous Replica)
ADAM ASNAN – VEIL AFTER VEIL (cassette by Hideous Replica)
Not a lot of information here, in fact nothing at all, except that N.D.N.L. uses computer and synthesizers, and that I like the cover for it. A bit of shortish release, only eighteen minutes and four pieces, between one and seven minutes. It’s not easy to describe what this is about, as it’s not really drone, ambient, noise, glitch or such like. Mainly low end bass bubbles. Speaker music in which a variety of loud speakers are used, tested maybe, to their qualities. The synth plays some deep end sounds and it sounds quite serious, in a sort of academic way. Except in the fourth piece we also have a voice. It’s the only piece with a title, ‘New Face In Hell’ (the others being ‘One’, ‘Two’ and ‘Three’) and which is perhaps the closest to some mid 80s industrial music. That’s perhaps due to the voice, slightly put through a vocoder, and the deep synth. Not very loud, but mean as hell. I was reminded of Hideous In Strength – but who remembers them? That piece sounded different than the other three, but I enjoyed all four of them. I wish however this would have been a bit longer, perhaps only to see what N.D.N.L. is really all about, or perhaps a two trick pony.
Back in Vital Weekly 895 I reviewed two solo releases by Louie Rice and Vasco Alves, who are, together with Adam Asnan the trio of electro-acoustic improvers VA AA LR, and following those two great solo releases, I wondered when Asnan would do one. Here it is. I heard a bunch of VA AA LR releases, which I enjoy more and more, but I have no idea what they do, exactly. They create music, most likely of an electro-acoustic nature, but it’s hard to say which means they use. Field recordings perhaps, electronics, speakers of some kind, contact microphones? Likewise it’s not easy to ‘judge’ about their solo music. Put all their solo cassettes together, and that makes up VA AA LR? Perhaps that’s a bit too naive, but in all of their work I believe to hear something that makes up what they do. Asnan here seems to be using field recordings and electronics and seems less interested in processing them. Maybe he does some form of playback of these sounds in natural spaces and re-records that? That might count for the some what crude nature of these two fifteen minute pieces of music. Crude but nice. Like Louie Rice’s solo release, I’d say this is action music. Not someone who sits behind a screen and creating his music, but moving around small speakers, transmitting odd field recordings and electronic sounds. Culled from a variety of recordings and thus presented as collage of sounds. Very nice stuff, completing a fine trio of solo releases by this active unit. (FdW)
Address: http://www.hideousreplica.co.uk/
FOSSILS – ABSTRACT AT HOME (cassette by MJC)
While some people, not me thank you, have a headache of January 1st, Daniel Farr and David Payne went to their workspace/studio/rehearsal space to record new music. That’s the spirit for a new year, I was thinking. No other information here, but as before (say Vital Weekly 899), I can say that their music gets more and more interesting. Once on the outer limits of noise rock, they are now using more and more hands on sound manipulation, such as tape loops, samplers of the more low resolution variety, and electronics, along with their improvised guitar doodling. I think we should see these cassettes as ‘work in progress’, although I’m not sure what the end result should be like. Maybe there is none? The work in progress attitude is fine, and it’s great to tap into this, as a listener on the outside, but it also carries a danger. All of this tape seems to be recorded in ‘one go’. Fossils started, maybe with a few fixed ideas before hand, and then executed this. This means that sometimes things are a bit long and could have been edited out. That can be part of the esthetic, of course, or the work in progress nature they also have, but I wouldn’t mind seeing Fossils take it to the next level: edit the best bits of these improvisations together into a great composition. (FdW)
Address: <middlejamesco@hotmail.com>
TROY SCHAFER – ACTION FOR SOLO VIOLIN (cassette by Dusty Grass Imprint)
This is the information regarding this release: “In an effort to remain true to the tonal values relative to the weight of an arm, tension of a bow, placement of a stick and gravity, I crafted a formal etude for critical listening and physical restraint. The score combines text and photos of my moving body with intuitive diagrams painted on transparencies. This 30 minute tape recording is a document of my 7th reading of that score as performed on violin.” That may imply it can also be performed on another instrument, and that it’s more of an action than music per se; movement(s) from the body creating the music or some such. Maybe it’s a pity, so I was thinking, that we don’t get to see the action as such, apart from the pictures on the cover? This is not really easy listening music. In some way you could think this is improvised music, on a violin, recorded without any amplification and consist of scraping carefully the snares with a bow, or with fingers, or both. In a way, so I was also thinking, this more like a Fluxus happening than a fixed composition or improvisation. I’m not too sure about this release. In a way its fascinating to hear, a heaven if you look for dry violin sounds of a very short nature, but beyond that I am not too sure I would easily play this again and again. (FdW)
Address: http://dustygrassimprint.bandcamp.com
NIHILISTINEN BARBAARISUUS – VAINAMOINEN (cassette by Infernal Kommando)
NIHILISTINEN BARBAARISUUS – SYNKKA TUULI (cassette by Infernal Kommando)
As nothing of this really meant anything to me, I decided to take a look at the website of Infernal Kommando, and saw a lot of gothic lettering, some that reminded me of metal records and for both of these tapes I read: “Väinämöinen EP Tape Version of this EP. Frost, Ambiant & Depressive Black Metal from Finland / USA” and “Synkkä Tuuli Tape Version of this Album. Frost, Ambiant & Depressive Black Metal from Finland / USA” – what exactly their link is, I don’t know; it also mentions NIHILISTINEN BARBAARISUUS for both of these tapes, perhaps that’s the link? I mean whatever it is. Hold on, hold press, Nihilistinen Barbaarisuus IS the band, and one is an ep by them, the other a LP. Just last week I read a short piece by Richo of Fourth Dimension that he doesn’t like any sort of metal, not even the ones that are sold as ‘experimental’. I am with him on this. Obviously some of the Vital Weekly audience has come here through some metal music connection, but metal, even when depressed, ‘ambiant’ and ‘frost’ is metal. Here we have two tracks (ten minutes perhaps) by Vainamoinen who sound like a metal band to me. No no no, devotees will tell me, this ultra fast slow depressed doom sludge, you know, as opposed to ultra slow fast depression doom metal, duh, another genre altogether. A sample of violins won’t help. I wonder what Infernal Kommando was thinking when they packed up this thing, wrote Vital Weekly on the mailer and stamped it. ‘Ah, now the experts of metal at Vital Weekly will give their well learned opinion’. How often do we review metal? Right. But there also the album, which was available as a CD through Horror Pain Gore Death Productions – what’s in a name these days? However, however, I must say that I enjoyed all the bits on ‘Synnka Tuuli’ that didn’t sound metal like. All those bits that were ambient, introspective, guitar tinkling and such like, which actually were more than I anticipated. Much of this sounded like well rehearsed cliche’s too, but at least not like a mindless stampede of drums, bass and guitars – thank god, no vocals. Otherwise I am a bit clueless here. (FdW)
Address: http://infernalkommando.blogspot.com