number 1113
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week 1 ---------------------
Vital Weekly, the webcast: we offering a weekly webcast,
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RUTGER ZUYDERVELT- ASTRONEER VOLUME 2 (CD by Machinefabriek) * JEROME NOETINGER - DR (CD by Piednu) * YUMA TAKESHITA & TOSHIMARU NAKAMURA - OCCURENCE, DIFFERENTIATION (CD by Kyou Records) * KAZUKO NARITA - CHANT D’AMOUR SANS PAROLES (CD by Kyou Records) * KAZUYA ISHIGAMI - A-Z-B-MEN (CD by Kyou Records) * THE ERB/BAKER/ROSALY TRIO – PARROTS PARADISE (CD by Veto/Exchange) JOHN CHANTLER & STEVE NOBLE & SEYMOUR WRIGHT – FRONT/ABOVE (CD by 1703 Skivbogalet) ADRIAN LIM-KLUMPES – YIELD (PRELUDES & FUGUES FOR PIANO) (CD by Off Record) DENIS FRAJERMAN – RIVIČRES DE LA NUIT (CD by Douzičme Lune) DRONE-MIND//MIND-DRONE VOLUME 6 (LP by Drone Records) JEAN-MARC FOUSSAT & GEORGIOS KARAMANOLAKIS - SUBSTUNCE SANS SCRUPULE (LP by Noise-Below) TROUM - HORO-SKOPEION (CDR by Noise-Below) * LIEUTENANT CARAMEL - 2 INEDITS DE LIEUTENANT CARAMEL (download by Noise-below) * KAI NIGGEMANN - HEART MURMER (10” by Kalakuta Soul Records) ANIMALS & GIRAFFES – JULY (CDR by Edgetone Records) ESTAMOS ENSEMBLE – SUUBE TUBE (CDR by Edgetone) ESCUPEMETRALLA - POISON OF DEAD SUN IN YOUR BRAIN SLOWLY FADING (CDR by Novak) * ALVEAR COURTIS JONES - A TÁVLAT, HA HÁTULRÓL (CDR by Glistening Examples) * DANIELA ORVIN - UNTITLED (2014-2016) (cassette by Gravity Rainbow Tapes) NOISEPOETNOBODY – FISSURE (K7 by Eh!) RUTGER ZUYDERVELT- ASTRONEER VOLUME 2 (CD by Machinefabriek) Over the years music by Machinefabriek popped up 64 times in our podcast, the name of the person behind it, Rutger Zuydervelt, 9 times. I am sure I also reviewed some of his work on vinyl. That is in little over ten years quite an accomplishment (not the reviewing but the production of so much music). One would think that Zuydervelt is at times on a repeat mission, as it is surely not always possible to keep changing tunes all the time. On a few occasions he did something radically different, and one such release was with what turned out to be the first volume of ‘Astroneer’, the soundtrack to a computer name of the same name (see Vital Weekly 1062). As I said back then I never ever played a computer game in my life, or will I ever devote any time to them (unless of course someone asks me to deliver some soundtrack). I don’t have to play computer games either, when reviewing this CD. I am sure if I would ‘know’ more about the game, I would understand the music better, but as with music for dance and film soundtracks, I am sure that by releasing the music independently from the game/dance/film someone think it is worthwhile to hear independently. The first volume of ‘Astroneer’ was, as said, quite a surprise, and so is the second volume. This time around Zuydervelt offers eighteen pieces of music, usually around two to three minutes and as before all of this is very musical, poppy even. It moves away from the long form abstract, ambient music that Zuydervelt is known for, either as Machinefabriek or under his own name, music made with crackling sine waves, sampled bass guitar and music boxes. On ‘Astroneer Volume 2’, he plays guitar notes, has synthesizer melodies and rhythm machines, playing sparse melodies, melancholic tunes, joyful songs and cosmic ditties. All of these pieces are short and to the point. Sometimes I wished a piece would be longer and not as sketch like as they are now, but I guess one can’t have it all. It is all wonderful and lovely sketchy pieces of music here, and something totally (well, almost) different from the man’s usual output. (FdW) ––– Address: http://www.machinefabriek.nu JEROME NOETINGER - DR (CD by Piednu) By the time you read this Jerome Noetinger is no longer the boss/face/director of Metamkine, the French mail-order for all sorts of unusual music, music along the lines of what we write about, in case you might be wondering where to purchase any (http://www.metamkine.com/ and no we don’t get paid for this ad). After many years of making parcels Noetinger and his pals decided it was time for a new face (say hello to Franck Laplaine) and now Noetinger can work more on his music. His work has been reviewed before in these pages, but always, so it seemed in collaboration with others as I learn from the information that this is first solo CD. Noetinger’s main instrument is the Revox B77 reel-to- reel recorder, which he uses to record and manipulate sounds on the spot. Those sounds might be from radios, objects, piano frame or the trusted Korg MS20. I saw him a couple of times playing this in concert, also solo in fact and he is a true master with that machine. I only have very limited knowledge of machines like this, but there was something with the play back head/record head that you could do that made it possible to keep on adding sounds to the tape and build your sound collages from a single sound into an orchestra of sounds. This is, in a nutshell, what Noetinger does, creating loops of sound and by manually controlling the speed of the machine sounds go faster or slower when repeated. Also a strong division between the right and left channel is an important feature in this music. Also he probably does something to the tape itself, but I have no idea what that is. With the variety of sounds on the input side, as well as the various ways for a treatment or two, coupled with thirty years of experience, Noetinger has a sheer endless amount of possibilities at his hand and the eleven pieces sound great. From noisy and chaotic to introspective, cutting abruptly between these ends. There is quietness and space when needed, bursting with activity when not expected. Now that mister Noetinger has more time on his hands it is to be hoped there will be more excellent solo releases like this, besides more solo and collaborative concerts. (FdW) ––– Address: http://www.piednu.fr YUMA TAKESHITA & TOSHIMARU NAKAMURA - OCCURENCE, DIFFERENTIATION (CD by Kyou Records) KAZUKO NARITA - CHANT D’AMOUR SANS PAROLES (CD by Kyou Records) KAZUYA ISHIGAMI - A-Z-B-MEN (CD by Kyou Records) Back on track, our man in Japan Kazuya Ishigami, who besides doing music himself again, also releases works by like-minded artists, mostly Japanese it seems. On his Kyou Records he launched a ‘neo electroacoustic ambient series’, of which the first three were reviewed in Vital Weekly 1094. Here is the next lot of three. Back then I found the statement of intent somewhat cryptic: "from the works of the artists, there are a free attitude to the sound which is not caught by the tradition of the past, consciousness to the continuity of the history, sticking to contemporary delicate and precise timbre, exciting. It is possible to listen to many common points such as experimentality" I recognized the name of Toshimaru Nakamura, but that was not the reason to start with this one; in fact there was no reason at all. Nakamura is a well-known player of the ’no-input mixer’ and is mostly active in the world of improvised music, and he has duos with Jason Kahn (as Repeat) and with Sachiko M, but also with many others (Keith Rowe, Lucio Capece, Axel Dörner etc). Throughout his work is pretty radical. Yuma Takeshota I never heard and I only know he started playing experimental and improvised music in 2001 and after moving to Tokyo he created his own instruments by modifying an electronic-bass guitar with “different sound modules and machines”. I assume that both do whatever it is these normally do. I also assume these pieces are played live and perhaps there have been some overdubs or editing in the post-process, but maybe it is as is. Like with the first three releases in this series the music is pretty radical here and ‘ambient’ isn’t the word that springs to mind easily. All of these pieces are quite noisy and loud. It bursts and cracks quite a bit, and it is some forty-five minutes of pretty radical music. There is some excellent radical energy and anarchy in this music, providing you dig a bit of chaos. If you don’t than this is simply not your thing, just as if noise isn’t your thing either than this too is best avoided. I enjoyed this one to a certain extent, but at the same time I think my preferred intake of it all in a smaller dose, not consuming these five heavy slabs at once. After this orgy of noisy it is good to hear something completely different and that is music of Kazuko Narita. In the 80s she followed classes at the Paris National Music Conservatory and was introduced into the ideas of Pierre Schaeffer and musique concrete. She spliced her own tape compositions but later on she had no longer access to studios and composed acoustic music only. With the arrival of the laptop she started to work on electro-acoustic compositions again. She now composes both acoustic and electronic pieces, but I assume that on ‘Chant D’amour Sans Paroles’ (love songs without words). There are five pieces here, the oldest from 2000, one from 2001 and 2003 and the most recent from 2013. There is however no information as to how these pieces were made, but I would think that Kazuko Narita uses quite a bit of field recordings in her work, in combination with processing string instruments; maybe, so I was thinking, she is recycling her own work? In her pieces she uses a somewhat strict linear compositional method. She keeps building various layers of processed sound together, sometimes removing a layer, but rarely she uses a strict collage cut-up method. Also her work is not really about applying lots of digital techniques that are common in the world of serious electro-acoustic music. It is more along the lines of non-academic (yet serious, mind you) composers like Asmus Tietchens or Organum; especially in her use of long string sounds I was reminded of the latter, with a similar scraping sound. When acoustic sounds prevailed I was reminded of Iancu Dumitrescu. Now this was indeed a work of both (neo) electro-acoustic music in combination with ambient. This time around label boss Kazuya Ishigami has a release of his own in this series. Before he worked as Daruin and was part of Billy? The question mark is part of the name, in case you were wondering (or didn’t read an earlier review of his work, as I seem to keep telling this). A couple of years he seemed to have disappeared but now he’s back. I particularly liked his previous release, ‘Canceller X’ (see Vital Weekly 1081), which I thought was an interesting combination of musique concrete and ambient, if not a bit long. This new release is seventy-two minutes, which beforehand I would also call a long release. Ishigami takes his interest in ambient and drone a bit further with two pieces that last thirty minutes and one that is ten minutes and which could all be labelled as ‘drone and ambient’. However it is not pressing a chord on a keyboard and fed it through some sound effects for seventy-two minutes. There is quite a bit more to this than that simple approach. There is the inclusion of processed (or maybe not?) field recordings, shimmering electronics, minimalist building of pieces over a long time, with some great tension, such as in ‘B-Men - Mar2017mix’, which is pretty straightforward or with the other long piece, ‘A-Men - Mar2017mix’, using repeating elements as part of the whole piece but not always at the same time. All three pieces are very good, imaginative and yet also along the lines you would expect in the world of ambient and drones. Good and solid music. (FdW) ––– Address: kyourecords@gmail.com THE ERB/BAKER/ROSALY TRIO – PARROTS PARADISE (CD by Veto/Exchange) ‘Parrots Paradise’ is the 15th release in the Veto-Records/Exchange series, documenting the musical meetings between Erb from Lucerne and Chicago-based musicians and as always with beautiful artwork by Sonnenzimmer. This new one documents half of a session dating from May 2nd 2014, live at the experimental Sound Studio in Chicago. The other half was released earlier this year by Hatology, titled ‘Don’t buy him a parrot...’ We meet Christoph Erb on tenor sax and bass clarinet, Jim Baker playing analogue synthesizer and Frank Rosaly drums. The cd consists of two long improvisations ‘Paradise One’ and ‘Paradise Two’. These improvisations are of a more experimental nature, then the improvisations released by Hatology, mainly because Baker plays analogue synths here instead of piano. The first one takes about 30 minutes, the second one 13 minutes. Both improvisations have Baker in a prominent role. Especially the second improvisation has a nice performance by Baker. Their combination and use of acoustic and electronic instruments works very well and feels very ‘natural’. Above all this is a very communicative group improvisation, by three experienced musicians who have no lack of ideas. The concentrated high pressure sounds by Erb, the virtuoso gestures and patterns played by Rosaly, the penetrating sounds created by Baker make a perfect brew of manoeuvrable improvisations. (DM) ––– Address: http://www.veto-records.ch/ JOHN CHANTLER & STEVE NOBLE & SEYMOUR WRIGHT – FRONT/ABOVE (CD by 1703 Skivbogalet) Steve Noble a leading drummer from the London improv scene, who played with Rip Rig & Panic and Bow Gamelan Ensemble in the 80s, and worked later intensively with pianist Alex Maguire. Saxophonist and artist Seymour Wright is also London-based and recorded with Keith Rowe, Eddie Prevost, Evan Parker, to mention a few. The name of John Chantler is new to me. He comes from Brisbane, Australia but lives in Stockholm nowadays. He seems best known for his solo synthesizer recordings and work with pipe organs. He worked with Fennesz, Janek Schaefer, Taku Sugimoto, etc. In 2015 he released the solo-album ‘Still Light, Outside’, which was the first release for his label 1703 Skivbolaget, now followed by ‘Front/Above’. A live set, recorded at Cafe OTO in London on may 7th, 2017. In one word a terrific set, with some mind-blowing moments. Drums and alto sax make a good match. Chantler (synthesizer) succeeds in joining in effectively with often-sparse electronic sounds, taking the improvisations to an abstract level. Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between the electronic sounds and the percussive sounds. Apparently Chantler didn’t choose for sounds that make an obvious contrast with the acoustic sounds. The three really operate as one very focused unit. They concentrated their ideas in six short sound-oriented improvisations, all lasting between three and six minutes, except for ‘Above 1’ that takes 12 minutes and all very condensed textures that play with timbre and dynamics. A very convincing debut recording. (DM) ––– Address: https://johnchantler.bandcamp.com/ ADRIAN LIM-KLUMPES – YIELD (PRELUDES & FUGUES FOR PIANO) (CD by Off Record) Adrian Lim-Klumpes is a new name for me. He started as a classically trained pianist and continued with studying jazz at the Conservatorium of Music in Sydney. He kicked of with ‘Be still’, a solo album released in 2006 for the Leaf label. Followed by his participation in the electronic jazz trio Triosk, the 3ofmilions-project, etc. Since 2010 he is member of Tangents, an improvising quintet with Shoeb Ahmad, Evan Dorrian, Peter Hollo and Ollie Bown. Tangents will have a third album out next year. Mainly however he operates as a solo pianist with an interest in electro-acoustic aspects and preparations. ‘Yield’ is his second solo album. Lim-Klumpes plays on a Steinway piano in one 6-hour session with a multitude of microphones and recording techniques. “I enjoyed using an expanded piano timbre palette, including preparations, overdubs and extended resonances. A week later I spent 3 days mixing and editing through external audio hardware. I like the conflict I can bring to bear in blending the natural acoustics of piano playing and the manipulation of these soundwaves made possible in studio editing”, Lim-Klumpes explains. With the sensibilities he learned from playing jazz and improvised music, and his technical studio skills, he returns to his first source of inspiration, J.S.Bach, in the days he was educated as a classical pianist. The album shows Lim-Klumpes developed his very own style and sound over the years. A remarkable voice with a clear musical vision! The music is of a minimalist and lyrical nature. He added relevant treatments to the acoustic recordings, what makes his music a real sonic adventure opening up new dimensions. And meanwhile the music remains intimate and personal. An impressive release by the Belgian Off label and one of my highlights for this old year! (DM) ––– Address: http://off-recordlabel.blogspot.com DENIS FRAJERMAN – RIVIČRES DE LA NUIT (CD by Douzičme Lune) Musical activities started for Frajerman with the French experimental band Palo Alto. He recorded a dozen albums between 1989 and 2011 with this band that I only know by name. In 1999 he released his first solo album ‘Les Suites Volodine’ (Noise Musem/Naďve, 1999), a work inspired on the writings of Antoine Volodine. Also Frajerman is above all a poet, who happens to be a musician as well. So many of his projects intertwine music and poetry in one-way or another. This is also the case for his new album ‘Rivičres de la nuit’. It is the first release by Douzičme Lune, a label that will release more stuff by Frajerman in the near future. Although the poetry is found most of all in the music itself, as this album is mainly instrumental. Frajerman himself plays guitars and small percussion and is assisted by about 13 musicians (vocals, violin, percussion, saxes, cello, flute, etc.). Surprising is the appearance of Rhys Chatham in one track on trumpet. But this concerns a recording from 1997. The music is of a very melancholic nature, as well as melodic and lyrical. He combines aspects of jazz, folk, and chamber music. In atmosphere and aesthetic there is a link with the Hector Zazou albums in the Made to Measure Series for Crammed Disc. This especially counts for the opening track ‘The Lifts’. The compositions are nice and colourful instrumented and arranged. ‘Noverem’ has beautiful vocals by Géraldine Ros. All music is composed, arranged, recorded and mixed by Frajerman himself, and well performed by his crew. Nice nostalgic and imaginative music. (DM) ––– Address: https://denisfrajermanlabeldouzimelune.bandcamp.com/ DRONE-MIND//MIND-DRONE VOLUME 6 (LP by Drone Records) It seems ages ago now that Drone Records released 7” records, all 100 of them, followed by their ‘Drone-Mind//Mind-Drone’ compilations of which this is already the sixth volume of music that is, perhaps obviously, all about drones, for the minds and the worlds. Like with their 7” releases the label seems to find musicians that at least in my book are new and unknown, usually with one exception. This time the exception is For Kings And Queens, Jens Kindermann’s musical project. Side A start with Nam-Khar (a name I believe to have seen before, just don’t seem to place it), a German collective, influenced by Tibetan philosophy, using analogue electronics in combination with ‘original instruments from the Far East’, by which they mean most percussion. Their music sounds pretty dated, both in terms of their use of analogue synths and ritualisk percussion, but at the same time I also thought that retro trip was most enjoyable. There is hardly any break in stylist approach with Markian Volkov, which follows next, also with two songs. They are a “completely anonymous project from Italy”, and according to Drone Records all about “hypno-percussive, tribalesque and droning ritual industrial”, and to me sounded ‘Italian’, if anyone has an idea what that means. Take a dash of Sigillum S and Ain Soph and mix them with the UK school of industrial music you get this out- dated yet lovely sound. It is simply not to the kind of thing I play a lot these days, but reminded me of them old days of cassette releases with Tibetan books of death references and Crowley pictures. Do what thou wilt and play an old tune, wasn’t that what he said? Flipping over For Kings And Queens is the only project here that has one long piece, which is something that is much more ‘now’. The music I would think is digitally made, with perhaps sine waves being processed and which line up with what could be the sound of voices; hard to say if these are male of female. Whereas the music on the other side deals with ‘many’, here it is all rather ‘sparse’; sparse yet beautiful as much as it is also spooky and haunting; an excellent piece of music. Kevin Durr is from the USA, Alaska to be precise, who works extensively with field recordings and vocal whispers. The latter from the world of ASMR, ‘Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response’ “a term used for an experience characterised by a static-like or tingling sensation on the skin that typically begins on the scalp and moves down the back of the neck and upper spine”. I once saw a presentation of videos made in this particular way that deal with ASMR, which had a diametrically opposed result with me. I found it all highly annoying and irritating. It is the 21st century empty living masquerading as spirituality; look it up on Youtube and ‘experience’ it yourself. I guess not a lot of people would agree with me, and that’s fine. The music by Durr, some ten minutes of water dripping and mumbling, was all right, as long as I wasn’t thinking about the ASMR connection. (FdW) ––– Address: http://www.dronerecords.de JEAN-MARC FOUSSAT & GEORGIOS KARAMANOLAKIS - SUBSTUNCE SANS SCRUPULE (LP by Noise-Below) TROUM - HORO-SKOPEION (CDR by Noise-Below) LIEUTENANT CARAMEL - 2 INEDITS DE LIEUTENANT CARAMEL (download by Noise-below) Dolf Mulder, our free-jazz/improvised music reviewer, did much of the reviews of previous music by Jean-Marc Foussat in these pages and I was thinking that this too is pretty much the work of improvisation, yet it is probably too noisy for our man. Foussat is born in 1955 and since the mid-70s he has been playing guitar and synthesizer in progrock bands and these days handles various EMS synthesizers, Ableton Live, toys, vocals and BOSS SE50. Here he does so with Georgios Karamanolakis from Greece, who also works with a group with Greek name, as well as with the “underground urban intervention team OMIO”, as well as running his own label (also a Greek name for which I am not sure if the copied letters will work, so I don’t try). He performed together with Astro in 2011, and here also plays the EMS synthi AKS, Roland space echo, vocals, max steel toy vocoder and the Yamaha Vector Synthesizer. On the insert it says “recorded and mixed live in Paris, FR - Athens, GR in 2017” and the forty some minutes this LP lasts is quite a blast, but not one without any points of rest or contemplation. It cracks and it bursts but it doesn’t collide under its weight. It is quite some dynamic music, both in terms of loud and quiet (the latter a bit less), but also in terms of energy approach towards the music. Sure there is quite some harsh tones, brittle noise here but also there is room for some chanting (on the second side), or more carefully placed clicks and cuts. Maybe this is free jazz cooked with a hot stew of noise with some sweeteners thrown in? There is something fascinating odd about all of this, and I am not sure what it is, but I would think it is all wonderfully psychedelic. Noise but colourful. Packed in a hessian bag, which is frankly something I haven’t seen since Zoviet*France’s ‘Hessian’ record and De Fabriek’s ‘Made In Spain’, there is a welcome to this world message by Troum. The label boss of Noise-below has friends who have babies and he has friends doing music. For many years he treats these newly born kids in some way with a musical present, for instance when baptizing comes around (which I believe is something you simply can’t escape in Greece), or, in this case, with the first birthday of a boy named Dedalus. Sometimes it is a concert and sometimes it is a CDR release; the latter obviously being the case here and Troum recorded a thirteen minute piece of music, which I believe is unique to this releases, so fans beware and get this limited release while they last. It seems at the start a somewhat slowed down voice process that is going on here, and half way through the spacious, no cavernous reverb, brings in that typical Troum guitar sound, droning away in the same reverb. Perhaps the oddest thing about this release is the ending being quite soft, but taking up four minutes. It is a rather surprising coda to quite a typical piece of Troum music. An excellent release and I am not sure why there are just 119 copies, but surely there is good obscure reason for it. And while I was looking for the additional information on the Noise-below site I noticed free music by Lieutenant Caramel for download, two previous unreleased songs, about ten minutes in total. Which on a quiet night at Christmas is most welcome (but this isn’t an open invitation to send me tons of free music; quiet nights only happen around Christmas). I believe it was part of some mail art project, and it would have made a lovely 7”, but again forces of marketing and rik publik rather not wanting to buy vinyl of something they don’t know, made this into a free download. Lieutenant Caramel came from the mid 80’s French musicians re-discovering their roots of musique concrete and some of them went on to their own version, sometimes with out the academic background. I am never sure who has a degree and who hasn’t, but in good punk rock fashion I don’t care either. In both of these pieces Lieutenant Caramel has a similar punk attitude to the use of reel-to-reel tapes, not unlike Noetinger elsewhere, cutting up sound of objects falling on floors, looping them and inserting bits of silence. In ‘Reveillon Dans L' Espace’ this is a bit sparse and poetic, whereas in ‘Le Tramway Est Entré Dans Ma Tête!’ they go out on a more all out approach of dripping water, metal objects and what else, which all results in a very vibrant mix of sounds. Yes, this would have been a gorgeous 7”, me thinks! (FdW) ––– Address: https://noise-below.bandcamp.com/ KAI NIGGEMANN - HEART MURMER (10” by Kalakuta Soul Records) This is first time that German synth player Kai Niggemann has a release with his solo music. Before I heard him on a bunch of compilations (Vital Weekly 1003 and 1056) and a split cassette with Nils Quak (Vital Weekly 1062). Niggemann has one instrument, the Buchla 200e Electric Music Box, and records all his music live without overdubs. I am told this is one of the ‘rarest and most sought after electronic music instruments’. Besides playing solo synth music, Niggemann is also a member of The Dorf (a 30-piece kraut-noise-jazz group), the duo The Last books (with Achim Zepezauer) and with Mia Zabelka he records as Redshift Orchestra, besides a bunch more projects. On his solo release he has seven pieces, which more or less flow right into each other. Like with the split cassette I heard from him, Niggemann’s music is not really confined into one place or space. His music is not just about playing Tangerine Dream again (actually far from it), noisy, techno or academic, yet somehow I would think that it is a bit of all of this. It bounces neatly all over the musical spectrum, perhaps a bit more serious electronic music from before than cosmic triggering, but it never reaches for something that is too serious. I can imagine a more adventurous DJ, and I am sure they exist and still spin records, would know how to deal with this inside a set of weird electronic music. The record comes in a nice silkscreened cover and a cardboard Buchla synth, which you can cut ’n paste yourself. That tops off a wonderful project filled with that well-known German sense of absurdness. (FdW) ––– Address: kalakutasoul@gmail.com ANIMALS & GIRAFFES – JULY (CDR by Edgetone Records) ESTAMOS ENSEMBLE – SUUBE TUBE (CDR by Edgetone) Animals & Giraffes is Phillip Greenlief (reeds) and Claudia la Rocco (text, voice). Greenlief is on the international jazz and improv scene since the 80s, so I won’t list the numerous ensembles and projects he was part of. La Rocco is a poet and critic with a love for interdisciplinary collaborations, including at the moment projects with the choreographers Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Riener, the performance company. Greenlief and La Rocco work with a dozen improvisers who play saxophones, electronics, percussion, (prepared) piano, guitar, gongs, voice. Saxophonist and composer Greenlief who always wanted to work with a writer initiate the collaboration. The project is a research into how text and sound improvisation can interact. But how does this interaction take place? The interaction goes in one direction only I guess. The text is fixed. So I suppose the improvisers respond in real time on the reading...? Sometimes it feels as if the improviser only underlines the reading, but at other moments it is like a second voice. Estamos (= we are) Ensemble is an ensemble of American and Mexican musicians, initiated by Thollem McDonas: Carmina Escobar (voice, electronics), Alexander Bruck (viola), Julián Martínez Vázquez (violin), Milo Tamez (drums, percussion), Theresa Wong (cello, voice), Vinny Golia (woodwinds), Marcus Webb E. (guitar, oud), Marko Novachcoff (woodwinds) and Thollem McDonas himself on piano. The project was started in 2009 aiming at a better appreciation and communication of artists on both sides of the border. In 2011 the ensemble debuted on Edgetone with a double cdr: ‘Jimpani Kustakwa Ka Jankwariteecher’. Playing compositions especially written for the ensemble by Ana Lara, Pauline Oliveros, Nels Cline, Jorge Torres, a.o. In 2013 ‘People’s Historia’ followed by the Estamos Trio. And now a new release by the complete ensemble is available, performing three works. Recorded however in 2009 in Mexico City. No composers are listed. I guess it is collective improvisations: ‘Wishing for Tommo (Winter)’, ‘Tamano (spring)’ and ‘Yubano (Fall)’. All improvisations have their interesting and fascinating sections. Like ‘Tamano’ where a section focused on a traditional theme is a followed by a section of very abstract vocals. At other stages of their journey the music is more about scanning possibilities then on focusing on one. I enjoyed the violin playing by Vaquez, a player who is at home in the context of traditional, classical and improvised music. (DM) ––– Address: http://edgetonerecords.com/ ESCUPEMETRALLA - POISON OF DEAD SUN IN YOUR BRAIN SLOWLY FADING (CDR by Novak) Now here’s a name I remember from the late 80s, early 90s, just as I was about to fade out and phase out my initial interest in cassette only releases. The one I remember was ‘Vida Y Color’ from 1991, but strictly for personal reasons, but I was delighted back then. If you’d ask me yesterday what Escupemetralla sounded I would have to admit I wouldn’t know anymore. I now learned a few things, such as that Escupemetralla is a duo of Muhammad and Muhammad, and they have been inactive from 1998 to 2016 and their influences range from Aphex Twin, via Ballard, Burroughs, lots of Spanish industrial music to Vivenza and Zoviet*France (to keep their alphabetical order). This particular new album is their third one since starting again. The press information says that some of the music on this release was recorded between 1988 and 1994, and some between 2030 and 2045, and the cover mentions no apple products used in the creation of the music; a bit like Queen and ‘no synthesizers’ I guess. While the opening piece reminded me of Esplendor Geometrico industrial rhythms, the music is throughout more than just that. The group calls it ‘war ambient’, I’d say ‘industrial ambient’; it’s too quiet to be industrial and too loud to be ambient. This is the music that is best suited in a nightmare like situation; or as a backdrop to a sepia toned movie about the decay of capitalism or the results of a nuclear fall-out. Eight pieces and in total sixty-six minutes, which means that throughout they are quite long. At times, perhaps, maybe a bit too long I was thinking. the first four pieces are the ‘transcendent side’, the last four the ‘political side’; as if this was a piece of vinyl with two sides, but as for the music there is not really much difference. While listening to the music I was looking at their list of groups that influenced them and it was not difficult hear these as influences in the music, but never it was a straight copy. With all their influences they cook up their version of ambient industrial music and do a pretty decent job. It sounds like something that could have been made these days, or twenty-five years ago (I can’t make any claims for the future) and it’s good to see them back at the musical game. (FdW) ––– Address: http://www.novak.es ALVEAR COURTIS JONES - A TÁVLAT, HA HÁTULRÓL (CDR by Glistening Examples) “A távlat, ha hátulról began as a transandine acoustic drone collaboration, limited to tones and/or the acoustic and physical properties from classical guitars”; while I was thinking that ‘transandine’ was some musical term I never heard of before, it simply means, ‘across the Andes’. Alan Courtis is from Argentina and Cristian Alvear from Chile, while Alan F Jones is from the USA. It’s the two men from South America who recorded this thirty-nine minute piece, and I assume by sitting together, and with a bunch of rules at hand, “such as procedurally generating sine tones, projected into and through the bodies of the guitars. By exciting the guitar strings with tones that match specific frequencies, partials revealed themselves”, and the result is shipped to America for assembling this work, by Alan F Jones. This is quite a radical work I should say and very minimalist, sine-wave like tones colliding together but seeing (actually hearing) this is a ‘live’ recording, some sounds slip into the recording of the two players changing something on the guitar, for instance moving the e-bow around or the amplifier (well, or picking up a cup of coffee). It is quite an intense piece of music, especially when you decide to turn up the volume a bit and let it move through your space. I think that bit of extra volume is something that the music needs; it simply seems to be working the space as well as the listener grabbing for more attention. If you decide to turn down the volume the music is obviously a lot less detailed and reduced to an irritating little buzz, reminding of an insect. So turn up the volume a bit more than you would usually do, ignore everything else around, and let nothing distract you but instead be totally immersed by this music. This some great duelling guitars! (FdW) ––– Address: https://glisteningexamples.bandcamp.com DANIELA ORVIN - UNTITLED (2014-2016) (cassette by Gravity Rainbow Tapes) Born In Berlin, growing up near Munnich and Herzeliya in Israel, Daniele Orvin also studied in London and Tel Aviv. These days she is back in Berlin and her primary instrument is the piano, but also voice plays an important role. Gravity Rainbow Tapes owners Thomas Radam and Benjamin Duester picked the works on this release and it comes in a carton box with inserts. At twenty-some minutes this is relatively a short tape. Orvin plays the piano in all of these, but in the first, ‘Unmasked’ this is not to be heard. In the last ‘Without Many Words’ she sings in Hebrew and is a very conventional song of piano and voice, like a melancholically pop song, and as such not really well-spend on me I guess. In the other four pieces her piano playing is quite ambient, complete with some field recordings and electronic treatments that surely remind us of the way Brian Eno would do such things, but Orvin stays very much on the safe side. Erik Satie perhaps, inspired it but it also sounds a bit too much like a cliché of melancholic piano music. Orvin’s music isn’t bad, actually far from it, and in these dark days between Christmas and New Year, short days, long, cold nights, I’m sure it’s the all the more fitting music for some contemplation of the old year but if I was to look at this is in a more critical state of mind, I would say this is probably no really my kind of thing. Too smooth, I guess. (FdW) ––– Address: https://gravitysrainbowtapes.bandcamp.com NOISEPOETNOBODY – FISSURE (K7 by Eh!) ‘Fissure’ is a duo effort by Noisepoetnobody (springs, strings, boards, e-bow, looper) and Eveline Müller (bowls, bows, blades, metal objects). Released by Eh!, a label that is connected with Public Eyesore. Eveline Müller is percussionist, mainly playing self-built instruments. She once started as a member of the Swiss new wave group Hertz, followed by collaborations with the Pale Nudes, Imij, Bill Horist. Nowadays her own project The Klang Quintet is her most important activity, concentrating on electric and electronic soundscapes. Noisepoetnobody is Casey Jones, an experimental musician from the Seattle-scene since many years. He concentrates on electronic music using a wide range of instruments, tools and objects. For their collaboration they recorded two extended improvisations both recorded on November 3rd 2016 in Seattle. They are best called percussive soundscapes, improvisations that deal with the colours of sounds, timbre, etc. The abstract improvisations are open, almost ambient like textures of a very experimental nature. They take time to develop their ideas in an interactive process. No high-energy wall of sound. In their case the music moves slowly forward, giving space and time to the sounds they extract from their instruments and equipment. Unpretentious, but focused and self-conscious. A worthwhile and engaging session. (DM) ––– Address: http://www.publiceyesore.com/ |