============
VITAL WEEKLY
============
number 402
------------
week 51
------------
PAUL WIRKUS - INTELETTO D'AMORE (CD by Quecksilber)
DELPHIUM - NOWHERE LEFT TO FALL (CDR by Hibou Records)
FROM_TO (CD compilation by A Bruit Secret)
KONRAD BAYER - DREAMS OF LEAVING (CD by Genesungswerk)
YELLOW UMBRELLA STUDIO - INDEFINITE MAN/THE LAST MODE (7"
by Genesungswerk)
[SIC] - ...AND RABBITS NAMED FRIDAY (CD by Royk Records/Squirrelgirl
Productions)
TIGRICS - DRADLAP (CD by Neon Music Hungary)
SUMUGAN SIVANESAN/DURAN VAZQUEZ - PRODUCT (CD by Cronica)
AUTODIGEST - A COMPRESSED HISTORY OF EVERYTHING EVER RECORDED,
VOL. 1 (CD by Cronica)
VITAMINS FOR YOU - I'M SORRY FOR EVER AND FOR ALWAYS (CD by Intr_Version)
ILSA GOLD - REGRETTEN? RIEN! (2CD by Mego)
CHIB - MOCO (miniCD by Fat Cat)
SORA - RE.SORT (CD by Plop)
RAND AND HOLLAND - TOMORROW WILL BE LIKE TODAY (CD by Staubgold)
THE KAT COSM - KNIGHTBOAT (CD by Staubgold)
SLUTA LETA - SEMI PETERSON (CD by Mego)
XAVIER CHARLES - LA NEIGE ATTEN LA NEIGE (miniCD by A Bruit Secret)
CORDOUAN - LOVE (CDR by Mechanized Mind)
MARK WASTELL & GRAHAM HALLIWELL - FAKTURA (CDR by Absurd)
NOISEA - ALMOST LIVE (CDR by 1000+1 Tilt)
1000+1 Tilt #8 (CD by 1000+1 Tilt)
PAUL WIRKUS - INTELETTO D'AMORE (CD by Quecksilber)
The fact that Paul Wirkus started out as a jazz drummer and that
he played in Polish bands like Karcer and Mapa is not really important,
if you hear this recent, his third solo CD. In the new millenium
Paul Wirkus operates as a 'minimal electronic composer'. But the
music on this CD is not the result of computer work, but rather
a bunch of mini disc players and sound effects, with the sometimes
hissy sound, but great loop function. Paul uses small loops of
sound, which are mixed together in eight very nice miniature tracks
- by which I don't mean that they are very short, but very tight
in structure and minimal in composition. One could think that
this leads to boring, monotonous music, but that's not the case.
Each of the eight pieces has a distinct, own character and each
is covered with a certain 'warm' sound, in which microscopic rhythms
are soldered together with small melodies and in 'Blask' even
the use of vocals, which treated in a similar way as the other
'instrumental' parts of the music. Warm and intimate music, that
fits the tradition of microsound, lowercase and clicks and cuts
in a nice way. It's one of the better examples of this kind. (FdW)
Address: http://www.quecksilber-music.com
DELPHIUM - NOWHERE LEFT TO FALL (CDR by
Hibou Records)
Since a couple of years Delphium is active on the front of forceful
electronic rhythmical music - loud and aggressive but also dubby
and ambient at times. For this new, the fifth release, Delphium
does things a bit differentely. Instead of having a couple of
seperate tracks, there is one lenghty track, sixty four minutes
in total, but it's divided in twenty five subsections - each with
their own title - which are hard to tell apart. It seems to me
that Delphium, aka Jonathan Forde from the UK, is in a more monotonous
mood than before. Emphasis lies here for a great deal on the use
of metallic percussion, which are fed through a bunch of synths
and sound processors, occassionally filled up with pounding bass
and/or a rhythm machine. This is Delphium in a more loud and aggressive
mood and less in an ambient and/or dubby mood. At times a bit
hasty put together, me thinks, but especially in the fewer softer
moments quite a nice release. Massive blast... (FdW)
Address: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/hibou-records
FROM_TO (CD compilation by A Bruit Secret)
Now here is an interesting work: eight French improvisers meet
eight Japanese improvisers, but the meeting is entirely made via
the postal system. This release is the fruit of no less then five
labels! A lot of the sixteen players here are new to me: I only
recognized the names Utah Kawasaki and Ami Yoshida. But most of
these people play on laptops, electronics of 'self-input mixing
boards', so there is a guaranteed number of experimental works
to be found here. From the cracklings of the opening duet between
Utah Kawasaki and Jean-Philippe Gross to the closing piece by
Kazushige Kinoshita and Fabrice Eglin, there is a lot of microsounding
experiments to be noted. The silent approach set forth by the
Japanese players (these here, but also others) is taken over by
the French ones: silence and hardly audible sounds play a role
in many of these pieces. The trumpet of Masafumi Ezaki is hard
to recognize in his piece with Hugo Roussel, which sinks away
in the extensive use of cracks. Each of the eight pieces is well
done, with the pieces by Kawasaki/Gross and Ami Yoshida and Alfredo
Costa Monteiro as the outstanding ones. (FdW)
Address: http://www.abruitsecret.com
KONRAD BAYER - DREAMS OF LEAVING (CD by
Genesungswerk)
YELLOW UMBRELLA STUDIO - INDEFINITE MAN/THE LAST MODE (7"
by Genesungswerk)
Two new releases on one of my more favorite German labels. Young
Konrad Bayer had a track before on the label sampler 'Ich Glaube
Ich Hoere Genesungswerk', and here offers his first full length
release. Bayer is a boy armed with a laptop, feeding field recordings
and samples of classical music to the machine, leaves it boiling
for some time and serves twelve tracks of winter music. It's cold
outside, but inside Bayer's music is like a warm fire. In each
of the twelve tracks, Bayer displays a love for ambient, a very
tiny bit of techno music and just a little bit more of clicks
and cuts. Occassionally a small melody leaks through the rain
of software synthesizers, like in 'Aspertam', which even has a
sampled guitar or the christmas like tune 'It Was When'. This
is not the sort of music that goes for the trophee of 'musical
innovation 2003', but nevertheless a nice winter's journey in
music.
On a different format, the Yello Umbrella Studio release their
work. They are a duo from Sweden, consisting of Robert Bergqvist
(acoustic and synthetic drums and percussion) and Jan Vertsberg
(composing, engineering, instruments and voice-sounds), who have
been around since 1997 and who released their debut in 2000 on
Frank Mark Arts. 'Indefinite Man' starts out with a repeated fragment,
but soon the xylophone takes over and then a rhythmmachine that
is like speeding up train. On 'The Last Mode' they also use vocals
and we have the same up-tempo speedy rhythm here, where the vocals
remind me vaguely of Alan Vega but the instrumental part of Groenland
Orchestra on cocaine. Nice and happy popmusic - but with a strange
twist all around. (FdW)
Address: http://www.genesungswerk.de
[SIC] - ...AND RABBITS NAMED FRIDAY (CD
by Royk Records/Squirrelgirl Productions)
Space age love songs, indeed! This is analogue heaven so to speak
- an aural chamber that is immediately seductive and a little
bit corny. [Sic] is Montreal's Jen Morris who crafts a dissonant
miniature landscape from tinny percussive beats. There are moments
of perhaps Snoop Dogg meets Ladytron without any annoying vocals
- icy steel cold blend of upright harmony and micro-electronic
sounds. Shlink-plonk, ba-ba-ba-boom. Morris builds an alien
language-scape that vacates itself from the needless day-to-day
chitter chatter. This is chock-full of weird atonality with a
warmer funky side. As a rabbit test, here, anything is seemingly
possible in her concoction of tracks like the gray matter "Royk"
and "Highway Gully" with its merry synth twang. Closing
with the hysterically titled "Ouch, My Innards" you
might be expecting a slapstick song and dance - but this might
be part of a reinterpretation of some real pain. The drone is
above sea level, the winds are steady, there is almost a chant-like
quality to the way this piece propels itself. It's a beautiful,
whispy and startling conclusion. (TJN)
Address: http://www.squirrelgirl.net
TIGRICS - DRADLAP (CD by Neon Music Hungary)
Hungarian label Neon makes a pass at the world of finer electronics
with its release by Tigrics (aka Robert Bereznyei) formerly of
the band Rianas. And "Dradlap" is certainly a branch
off the tree for him. The upbeat din of "High Accuracies"
is a dark ambient lullaby of sorts, with just the right amount
of breath and crunchy statica. Like releases from E*Rock and Xela
and other recent offerings Tigrics keeps things pretty bubbly.
He shapes with a childlike anticipation, making this a fresh listen.
I am sure that being from the Budapest area may make the emergence
of his infectious sound a bit more time consuming to reach a general
public still feeding off the Chemical Brothers, though this is
the intimate sounds that most late night hipsters would crave
after a long night of hard partying. A perfect blend of frosty
beats and creative loops. The cryptically fringe ""Why
Release Records? (Fülke MX)" asks the pertinent question
for the MP3 generation whose sound collection is ultimately deleteable
after a single listen. Music is free - music should be free -
the debate goes on and on. Hi fidelity aside - I'd say the question
will be on the chopping block for some time to come. Just hope
it doesn't discourage acts from Hungary, Poland and other unexpected
gemstone countries from continuing to feed our ears - look at
what happened to Iceland. The genuinely wet sounding "Gdynia
(Baltic Sea in December)" is quiet and somber, a bit of a
faded drone. Overall this is a refreshing look at the future of
sounds of the future. (TJN)
Address: http://www.neonmusic.hu
SUMUGAN SIVANESAN/DURAN VAZQUEZ - PRODUCT
(CD by Cronica)
AUTODIGEST - A COMPRESSED HISTORY OF EVERYTHING EVER RECORDED,
VOL. 1 (CD by Cronica)
Two new releases on the Portugese outlet for microsounding music.
The first is what is called in the world of vinyl a split release,
but there is not an appropiate term for it yet for the CD version.
One person is first, the other second. So it goes. First here
is one Sumugan Sivanesan from Sydney, Australia. Before turning
his laptop on, he played in various rock bands. His soundinput
is field recordings, feedback and his output are eight tracks
of quite regular, a bit noisy most of the time, due the more extensive
use of feedback related sounds then through his use of field recordings.
Regular microsound here, I'd say. A bit off balance in a fine
play of loud versus soft, but quite interesting throughout. Duran
Vazquez sounds Portugese enough to me, and he has seven tracks
to offer. He is a self-thaught musician who picked up working
in music some six years ago. I believe this is first release.
It seems to me that Vazquez uses field recordings to some extent
- at least more so than his partner in crime on this CD - which
he processes inside the computer. It's an overall ambient sound
of a more disturbing nature. Like Sivanesan, this is not bad either,
but also a bit without any real surprise.
The title of the Autodigest CD really sets me off: wouldn't it
be great to have all music ever recorded on one CD? "Autodigest
is a simulation of processes of cultural implosion. As such, it
has no birth date nor does it have particular geographical references".
So who is it? We are not told. Some of the tracks sound a bit
as expected: speed up sound, trying to get as much music in just
a few seconds. Music is there, but it's highly filtered and sounds
like a far away cry of what was once music. But there are also
tracks which sound entirely different: low hum, almost contemplative,
maybe also without any bearing to music, but seemingely also not
derived from music. Which makes this into quite a strange CD.
At times of course the music is quite noise oriented, but that
is hardly any surprise, with all the sped up musics, but it's
quite a captivating release. It's impossible to see this without
the title in mind and this makes it into a conceptual almost poetic
release. (FdW)
Address: http://www.cronicaelectronica.org
VITAMINS FOR YOU - I'M SORRY FOR EVER AND
FOR ALWAYS (CD by Intr_Version)
Slowly Intr-Version grows from a strict techno label into a more
pop/guitar oriented direction. Vitamins For You is a Canadian
outfit - "from the prairies" - who offers a strong poppy
debut album, with an overall melancholic sound. Twelve tracks
in total of electronica mixed with guitars, field recordings,
drums and vocals. These vocals remind me of some of Thom Yorke's
vocals on Radiohead's 'Kid A' - the more experimental ones of
course. To compare it with something else, I'd be thinking of
The Books: the same fuzzy sound, samples being thrown in, cooking
up a warm bed of sound and lyrics. Downtempo and contemplative,
this is certainly strong mood music, certainly if your mood is
on the downside too. Essential wintertime music. (FdW)
Address: http://www.intr-version.com
ILSA GOLD - REGRETTEN? RIEN! (2CD by Mego)
Would I mind review some old school techno, I was asked? No of
course I don't mind, certainly when it comes from the house of
Mego. This double pack tells us the story of Ilsa Gold. A duo
of Christopher Just and Peter Votava (aka DJ Pure). In a short
time they were the lovers of big time raves with their own unique
sound: harcore techno (at times based on gabber) with those wacky
samples thrown that sound like sped up vocals adding a strong
wacky sense of humor to the bowl. Their appearances at raves were
hilarious: they put a DAT machine on stage and spent the time
playing back their hits with the aid of a yoghurt machine. Not
of course that anyone liked this, certainly not the ravers. In
1996 Christopher and Peter parted ways and now in 2003 a double
CD, in an gold DVD box sums up their history. This sort of gabber
like music is something I would indeed not spin quite often, but
served in such a large dose of 140 minutes, I must say I quite
enjoyed the rawness of the music. Much unlike most other techno
music that is in the overground, this is fresh, raw and distinctely
underground. Quotation run via the Four Non Blonds (here 'For
Blond Nuns) to 'Alles Naar De Klote' in the remix of the Non Blondes
track and 'James Brown Is Dead', but with a piss-take on Jorg
Haider. If you missed out this particular piece of history, so
can get the remains thereof now. How nice. (FdW)
Address: http://www.mego.at
CHIB - MOCO (miniCD by Fat Cat)
SORA - RE.SORT (CD by Plop)
Behind Chib is one Yukiko Chiba, a woman from Tokyo, who first
came to Fat Cat on the 'No Watches, No Maps' compilation. This
release, a mini CD, just under thirty minutes, is her debut. She
goes out with a microphone, to restaurants, friends, parks etc
and records sounds, which are in return sampled and treated in
a studio (me thinks: at home on a computer). Eight tracks of loops,
an odd pulse here and there, bleeps and tones, but most of the
time it's hard to recognize any sound. There is a distant piano,
a guitar, voices, but in general it's too wrapped inside consumer
friendly electronica. Each track stays on a friendly side, which
is nice, but also maybe a bit too friendly. An outburst here and
there, however small, would maybe be a desirable thing. In general
a nice and sweet set of music here, but it could have a little
bit of extra.
Pretty much along similar lines is a release by Sora, this time
a guy from Tokyo, Takeshi Kurosawa. He learned to play the piano
but turned digital in the nineties. Back then it was 'intellegent
techno' and had some tracks on General Productions. As Sora he
has his first full length CD out. A bit more glitchy in approach
this Sora, but with vague hints to sampled bossa nova and jazz
records but his samples also include field recordings and cut-ups.
A pretty warm digital approach in the ten tracks offered. Like
Chib this is sweet music, but this one is a little bit more edgy,
a little bit more sharp, but even at forty some minutes a bit
long. This at the length of Chib's CD would have been perfect.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.fat-cat.co.uk
Address: http://www.inpartmaint.com/plop
RAND AND HOLLAND - TOMORROW WILL BE LIKE
TODAY (CD by Staubgold)
THE KAT COSM - KNIGHTBOAT (CD by Staubgold)
More and more Staubgold presents popmusic, leaving the experimental
releases to their newly found Quecksilber label. Recentely the
Sun CD struck me as a big surprise, and from the same circles
we are now offered Rand And Holland. This seems to be the vehicle
of Brett Thompson who works, just like Sun and Scott Horscroft
(who released a CD on Quecksilber earlier this year), in the Bigjesusburger
studios in Sydney. Just like the Brunnen 8" last week, this
is singer songwriter stuff, of course on a totally different production
level (big and better), but with the same warm intimate vocals,
but with guitars, bass and drums. The instrumentation is kept
sparse, thus placing the emphasis on the vocals. The press blurb
says that this recalls the moods of Mercury Rev, Yo La Tengo and
Smog, but hey, I left popmusic after the Beatles split up, so
I wouldn't know. Sometimes hauntingely beautiful, like in 'Run
Faye Run', with it's minimal bass line, sparse guitar and reverby
vocals. Melancholical is the key-word here. Maybe never so my
thing, this sort of guitar music, but every once in a while a
CD like this, is quite alright.
Along slightly similar lines is Kat Cosm, a Berlin duo of Jana
Plewa and Sebastian Skalei. Like Rand And Holland they have a
slightly folky sound, but are also at the same time more electronic.
Added are two remixes of Leafcutter John, TenEcke (Calla) and
Mondomarc, but they are incorporated in the rest of the tracks
and fit just perfectely. The songs are sketched out on piano and
guitar and then worked out on the computer. Spacious and open
music, a tad bit melancholical, held back and warm. Their influences
run into the entire catalogue of popmusic of the last thirty years,
taken the best bits and rework that into a strict personal music.
Great popmusic. (FdW)
Address: http://www.staubgold.com
SLUTA LETA - SEMI PETERSON (CD by Mego)
Originally Sluta Leta were a Swedish trio who released 12"s
on Mego, Uptight, Cheap and Chocolate Industries, but over the
course of years the three members left and now three other people
are Sluta Leta: Andi Pieper, Ramon Bauer and Gerhard Potuznik.
So we might say an Austrian take-over. And these three produced
the first full length album. I must admit I didn't know the previous
12"s that well, but the album is a true pleasure to hear.
Short but powerful rock inspired sampled pieces, with vocals,
lush keyboards lines, sampled guitars. A bit broken beat, but
with an overall more rock then techno sound. Groovy stuff indeed
here. The album is named after Sem Peterson, 'the smartest swedish
racing driver, the so called "King Of Drift". King of
drift... that might be appropiate for this CD too. There is a
great drift on this CD - it's a fine race in music going on here.
Hats off. (FdW)
Address: http://www.mego.at
XAVIER CHARLES - LA NEIGE ATTEN LA NEIGE
(miniCD by A Bruit Secret)
Apperentely Xavier Charles is well-known on the French improvisation
scene, having played duets with Axel Dorner, John Butcher, Otomo
Yoshihide, Martin Tetreault, KK Roll and more and he is also the
founder of the Densites Festival. Here is it at work as a composer,
in a strange piece of vibrating surfaces. "Various objects
that have been chosen for their resonance capacity are arranged,
added to or subtracted from the vibrations of the loudspeakers"
- I am not sure how that looks but I now know how it sounds: if
anyone out there still remembers Chop Shop, it's that kind of
sound. Thickly layered sound of rumbling objects, processed static
and minimal in approach. Rich in execution I might add. It's a
fine work, right in length, chopped up into various pieces, each
with a distinct own style and own approach. If anyone would like
coin a new term, I'd say 'Intelligent Industrial Music' would
be most appropiate. (FdW)
Address: http://www.abruitsecret.com
CORDOUAN - LOVE (CDR by Mechanized Mind)
One Axel from Sweden is behind Cordouan and his previous releases
were to be found as MP3 releases on Subsource and Garmonbozia
Records, which I haven't heard of course. This recording is dedicated
to his brother Par (1972-2003), so one can safely assume this
is mood music of a more melancholic nature. Five tracks in total,
just over thirty two minutes of ambient music with a strong (and
healthy) dose of guitar playing. Chords in key-minor here of course,
with swollen synth lines in 'As If It All Stops And All I Can
Focus On Is You'. Guitar like post rock lines, are most apperent
in the first piece 'MMN-ALS', and here the influence of Tarentel
is quite clear (well, the older Tarentel, I suppose), and in the
other piece it's more ambient on an electronic nature. Suitable
for any grey day. (FdW)
Address: http://music.mechanizedmind.com
MARK WASTELL & GRAHAM HALLIWELL - FAKTURA
(CDR by Absurd)
Wastell might be a little bit known from his various releases
with improvisation masters Taku Sugimoto, Toshimaru Nakamura and
Tetuzi Akiyama (see Vital Weekly 358), but here he teams up with
one Graham Halliwell. He plays 'feedback saxophone', and Wastell
is responsible for 'amplified textures'. Together they play four
tracks of highly controlled music, in which feedback plays a certain
role, but it's all under control: there is no sudden outburst
of noise. Beneath we hear the scraping of various amplified textures
(I reckon' these be carpets, cloths and other hard to amplify
objects), which only become audible if you turn up the volume
(in which case you also amplify the feedback more). A nicely put
forward microscopic atmosphere hoovers in these pieces. Controlled
and good. (FdW)
Address: <absurd@otenet.gr>
NOISEA - ALMOST LIVE (CDR by 1000+1 Tilt)
1000+1 Tilt #8 (CD by 1000+1 Tilt)
Two new releases on the 1000+1 Tilt label. The first is by a band
called Noisea, which is quite a funny name of course. Originally
the music was intended for a live show, but it was 'shit'. Then
they went back home and recorded a proper version in their studio.
Three tracks of pulsating rhythmical but also industrial music.
There are influences from the very old school (Throbbing Gristle
and Cabaret Voltaire), especially when they use taped media voices
and the new school of minimal techno, such as Goem or Pan Sonic.
Noisea is less about noise, and more about very minimal techno
related pulse music. Quite alright stuff.
On the same label also a compilation with a bunch of new names,
at least for me, but also some I came across in the underground
world of home made electronics before, like Nex, Clayfigure (nice
piece here of guitars and environmental sounds, machines and conveyerbelts),
Arc and Cities In Desolation. Especially at the beginning of this
lenghty compilation techno influences are apperent But in general
this compilation contains more noisy and experimental works from
around the world, by such people T-Drik, Nex, Tool Of The Man,
Drog-A-Tek, Echo Chamber and these are some of the better pieces
here. Almost 78 minutes in length, so fully packed. (FdW)
Address: http://www.geocities.com/tiltrecordings