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VITAL WEEKLY
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number 668
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week 10
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Vital Weekly, the webcast: we offering a
weekly webcast, freely to download. This can be regarded as the
audio-supplement to Vital Weekly. Presented as a radioprogramm
with excerpts of just some of the CDs (no vinyl or MP3) reviewed.
It will remain on the site for a limited period (most likely 2-4
weeks). Download the file to your MP3 player and enjoy!
complete tracklist here: http://www.vitalweekly.net/podcast.html
before submitting material please read this
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Submitting material means you read this and approve of this.
* noted are in this week's podcast
SCANNER - ROCKETS, UNTO THE EDGES OF EDGES
(CD by Bine Music) *
NANA APRIL JUN - THE ONTOLOGY OF NOISE (CD by Touch) *
INSIDEOUT - A PSYCHE AND ITS GEOGRAPHY (CD by Sonic Arts Network)
AUN - MOTORSLEEP (CD by Alien8 Recordings) *
TORNGAT - LA PETITE NICOLE (CD by Alien8 Recordings) *
PARALLEL WORLDS - SHADE (CD by Din) *
ROBERT MILLIS - 120 (CD by Etude Records) *
MIKHAIL - MORPHICA (3CD by Sub Rosa) *
SOURCE: MUSIC OF THE AVANT-GARDE (3CD by Pogus)
OGOGO - REDUX (CD by III Records) *
L'OCELLE MARE (LP by Minority Records)
CHASING EUDAIMONIA - CIRCLES/WAVES (10" by Phisteria) *
BETH JEANS HOUGHTON - GOLDEN/NIGHT SWIMMER (7" by Static
Caravan)
LOCRIAN - PLAGUE JOURNAL/APOCRYPHAL CITY, PORTENTS FALLEN (7"
by Bloodlust!)
CYCLOTIMIA - MUSIC FOR STOCKMARKETS (CD by Zhelezobeton) *
AIDAN BAKER & THE INFANT CYCLE - RURAL SPRAWL (CDR by Zhelezobeton)
*
NOISES OF RUSSIA - EXPERIMENTAL STRUCTURE - LIVE AT ESG 21, ST.
PETERSBURG 06.10.2008 (CDR by Zhelezobeton) *
JACQUELINE - SITU (CDR by Hashish)
HELMETICRONONAUT / ANIMAL MACHINE - HIJO DE PUTA (CDr by KIF Recording)
HELMETICRNONONAUT - PATTERNS OF DUMB (CD by Ethedrone Muzac)
UNTITLED 731 - UNTITLED 731 (CDR self released)
KAPOTTE MUZIEK - EGG (CDR by Lunhare) *
CELER - CURSORY ASPERSES (CDR by Slow Flow Records) *
STEVE RODEN - STARS OF ICE (CDR by Inbetween Noise) *
PLATFORM - CATEGORIES OF DUST (CDR by Minimal Resource Manipulation)
*
TTAKUNA - TEMPO DE DAR. EMONALDIA (CDR by Hamaika) *
THE BUREAU OF NONSTANDARDS (CDR by One Zero)
JUAREZ REVONTUTLET (CD by Sabbatical Records)
GREEN BERET PART 1 & PART 2 (CD by Sabbatical Records)
ABSOLUTEN CALFEUTRAIL & BLAKE BAYER CONFLICT RESOLUTION SEMINAR
(CD by Sabbatical Records)
JOSETXO GRIETA - DISTANCIA #2387 (CDR by Hamaika)
IRUKANDJI - THE SUICIDE JUMP (CDR by Silken Tofu)
TZII - INDIVIDUALISIM (3 inch CDR by Silken Tofu)
STILLSTAND - BIONIK (CDR by Tib Prod) *
RECONSTRUCT IV: MAURIZIO BIANCHI REMIXED VOL. 1 (CDR by Tib Prod)
UR - FOUR CALLS FOR LOCUSTS (CDR by Mask Of The Slave Records)
*
UR & CRAIG HILTON - I WILL BE THE LIGHT (CDR by Afe Records)
*
JOHN HUDAK - MISS DOVE, MR.DOVE (CDR by Afe Records) *
TIZIANO MILANI - IM INNERSTEN (CDR by Afe Records) *
ANDREA MARUTTI & TOMMASO COSCO - TURRA (3"CDR by Afe
Records) *
NALS GORING (CDR by OSR) *
NALS GORING & NALS GORMAN - HEAT WILSON (CDR by OSR)
NALS GORING (cassette by OSR)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - LASTING (cassette by Pineapple tapes)
THE INSANE BOX (4LP by Vinyl On Demand)
NOTTAROSSA/REDNIGHT (2CD by Small Voices)
SCANNER - ROCKETS, UNTO THE EDGES OF EDGES
(CD by Bine Music)
In my previous reviews of Scanner 12"s on Bine Music I expressed
my interest in a CD of his for this label. But somehow 'Rockets,
Unto The Edges Of Edges' is not what I expected. The 12"s
were cool, minimal slabs of techno music with a twist of elektro,
but on this CD Robin Rimbaud moves into a different area again.
The CD opens with 'Sans Soleil', which sets the tone for the rest.
Micheal Gira plucking the guitar and, for the very first time,
Rimbaud on vocals. Clicks below the surface. No techno, no elektro,
highly atmospheric in approach. A very nice track. 'Pietas Ilulia'
has a more forceful rhythm, sampled strings, Fripp like bowed
guitar and is a bit too sweet for me. Strangely enough it is followed
by a piece with soprano Patricia Rozario, which has a modern classical
approach, but it didn't do much for me, but in the piece followed
by it, the voice is continued in a likewise sweet piece, which
works nicely around with cliche's. The fifth and sixth track are
the longest on CD but also the weakest with its dark sampled drums,
like early Greater Than One. It didn't do much for me. 'The Last
European' has sampled voices and pulsating rhythm in a more joyful
mood, and is much more interesting, as well as is the closing
piece of this CD. The score? Half the tracks I thought was pretty
good, the other half I didn't like very much. Too sombre, too
dark or too sweet. Indeed not quite the album I expected. Half
a good album is not an entirely a great score. (FdW)
Address: http://www.binemusic.de
NANA APRIL JUN - THE ONTOLOGY OF NOISE (CD
by Touch)
'The Ontology Of Noise' researches the dark associations of post-black
metal', which made me think this album is not for me. But its
on Touch, so I better give it a spin. Christofer Lamgren, who
is the person behind Nana April Jun ('one of his personae'), is
a visual artist, composer and art magazine YKKY editor/curator.
There is no traditional instruments used here, no arrangements
of layers, but a single stream of sound per track. Much like a
guitar, Touch says, but then without a guitar. See! That's more
like it. Five tracks of these single streams of a sound, with
minor but vital changes inside each and every one of them. They
are quite fascinating pieces of 'noise' music - not of noise music
as we know it. No wall of sound, distortion or feedback, but simple
humming of motorized sounds, 'events' somewhere in the field.
It puts the notion of 'noise' upside down again, and that's what
makes this quite an enjoyable CD. Not because what is pressed
on the CD is that great, or never been heard before, au contraire,
but because it makes the listener re-think his notion about noise,
what it is and what it can be. As such Touch has succeeded again
to surprise us with this entirely new noise artist. (FdW)
Address: http://www.touchmusic.org.uk
INSIDEOUT - A PSYCHE AND ITS GEOGRAPHY (CD
by Sonic Arts Network)
The history of Sonic Arts Network goes back to 1979 when it was
established in order to "enable people to engage with the
art of sound in ground breaking, exciting and innovative ways."
This is materialized for example in editing specially designed
concept CDs. You may remember the CD David Moss compiled for this
label with vocal artists. This time the CD centers around the
work by Andrew Kötting, one of Britain's most celebrated
artists and experimental film makers. The CD is meant as a soundtrack.
"Self-contained dramas that coagulate into the shifting and
amorphous structure of Kötting's psyche-ever present in his
own work". Ansuman Biswas opens this CD with a penetrating
ambient sketch of sounds. To be continued by a charming simple
song by Jem Finer and Jeremy Banx. There are more nice songs on
this collection like "Cold Blows the Wind", a nice ballad
by the Band of Holy Joy, or "Drunk and running around the
Town" by John Irvine in an uptempo popsong. "Song for
Eden" is a blues, not often heard anymore these days, by
John Roseveare and Andrew Kötting himself. Besides we find
many ambientpieces, soundscaping and other audiopaintings, like
"Extracts from City Theme 01" and " ...02"
by Dryden Goodwin. So it is a very mixed bag, but with many interesting
ingredients. 22 tracks by very different, all english and for
the most unknown artists complied by Kötting himself. The
CD comes with an nice booklet with notes concerning each track
plus other literary contributions completing this self-portrait.
(DM)
Address: http://www.sonicartsnetwork.org/
AUN - MOTORSLEEP (CD by Alien8 Recordings)
TORNGAT - LA PETITE NICOLE (CD by Alien8 Recordings)
So far the works of Aun have been released by Canada's Oral label,
but they moved to another great Canadian label, Alien8 Recordings
for the release of their new work 'Mortorsleep'. Aun is Martin
Dumais, and his first (?) CD 'Mule' didn't do much for me (Vital
Weekly 570), but the entirely cosmic affair recorded with Germany's
Allseits project was quite nice. It was named 'Irrlicht', perhaps
in reference to the work of Klaus Schulze, and the music breathed
the whole cosmic Germanic synth music of the seventies. It seems
to me that Dumais solo continues this line of music with 'Motorsleep'
which he recorded using guitar, violin and electronics. I could
have easily mistaken this for a bunch of analogue synthesizers.
Many of the eight pieces flow into eachother and have this continuos
stream-idea attached to it. Isolationist music, kinda like early
Thomas Köner, which also seems an influence on him, Dumais
creates some top heavy ambient cosmic music. No arpeggio's around
here, but long, endless sustaining sounds, with sounds captured
in a chain of sound effects. As chilling as warm. More abstract
than 'Irrlicht', this is music that should appeal to lovers of
the old German sound, attached to the latter day experimentalists
of Maeror Tri/Troum, Köner and to some extent Asmus Tietchens.
Or, to be hip, Emeralds raw take on the genre. Nice one.
Back in Vital Weekly 592 we reviewed Torngat's 'You Could Be',
the odd release of a band with a drummer, a keyboard player and
a french hornist. Not an easy record, which I had some trouble
with. Here they return with, as Alien8 says, an album that represents
their live sound more, with an emphasis on the organ. It indeed
sounds more 'live' than before, and with more variation than before.
Torngat sound more like a band here, in one track sporting the
organ and in another the horn. With just seven tracks, a bit longer
than before, this is quite a nice album, but now I wish the sound
quality was better. It sounds like recorded in their rehearsal
space using a stereo microphone, and not as a studio recording.
I have no idea if that was their idea to sound it like that, but
me thinks things could have been better in that department. (FdW)
Address: http://www.alien8recordings.com
PARALLEL WORLDS - SHADE (CD by Din)
At the heart of the music of Bakis Sirros is a system of modular
synthesizer, the Doepfer to be precise. Apparently he is an expert
at using this kind of synthesizers, doing workshops and moderating
an user group. Sirros works under the alias of Parallel Worlds
since about six works, and has collaborated with people like Ingo
Zobel, Zeitgeist and Alio Die. Music from IDM to ambient, which,
judging by his own solo work is also something he is interested
in. 'Shade' is his fifth CD, although my first encounter with
his music. The label makes the long term references, from Tangerine
Dream and Klaus Schulze to Biosphere, Autechre and then back to
Robert Rich. The whole wide world of forty years of electronica
drops by here, and Sirros is aware of that. The ten pieces on
his CD are quite nice, with deep ambient moves and floating techno-like
rhythms. Chill out music, ambient house or whatever it was a decade
or so ago. As such Sirros offers nothing new. I am hardly qualified
to judge technological things, such as programming and playing
modular synths, but it seems to me that Sirros does a fine job.
Just pleasant, non demanding music. (FdW)
Address: http://www.DiN.org.uk
ROBERT MILLIS - 120 (CD by Etude Records)
Throughout the years I didn't keep up with the Climax Golden Twins.
What I heard, I liked, but what I didn't hear, I perhaps didn't
miss. Robert Millis is a member of Climax Golden Twins, as well
as a member of the 'avant-scum-noise-rock' vand AFCGT and field
recordist for Sublime Frequencies. '120' is a rare solo release
(his second actually), originally released in a limited edition
CDR, but now on Mike Hansen's Etude Records as a real CD. Somewhere
in '2 (All Balled Up)', there is a railway sound, and chirping
birds, followed by a lengthy passage of ambient sounds. Elsewhere
he uses his beloved 78rpm records of spoken word and music. Everytime
I heard this, I had to think of the KLF's 'Chill Out'. The same
'easy' approach of combining sounds and textures to create nice
moody and atmospheric music. The various passages are a bit lengthier
than with 'Chill Out', but it has that same great quality. Ah,
and devoid of any rhythm here. That is a distinct difference.
Its hard to say what is all at use here, instrument wise, but
besides old vinyl and shortwaves, it seems to me mostly computer
processing, along the lines of say Stephan Mathieu. Microsound
hand in hand with turntablism of a gentle kind. A fine work here.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.etuderecords.com
MIKHAIL - MORPHICA (3CD by Sub Rosa)
Everything about this package is complex. Three CDs, a whole bunch
of collaborators on all sides (musicians, designers, writers),
and all to do what exactly? I understand this is some sort of
extension of Mikhail's 'Orphica' record from 2007, which I didn't
hear, but why it spans three CDs, which could have more or less
fitted on one CD is a bit unclear. One CD is called 'electronics',
one is 'voices' and the last one is 'strings', but there is all
kinds of overlaps. On 'electronics' we also hear voices, for instance.
But it seems from the small print that 'electronics' have people
from the world of electronic music doing remixes, on 'voices'
this is done by vocalists and choirs and strings (actually with
fifteen minutes the shortest of the three) with strings. Ok, so
its a complex remix package. We have DJ Spooky, Alamire (choir),
Telekaster, Rob(u)rang, and many more. It lacks that I don't know
the original album that was at the basis of this. I can say however
that this remix is a nice album, and that Mikhail must be like
a male Björk, who gets his work remixed like Björk.
Interesting techno like music, sometimes melodic, sometimes dramatic.
Nothing outstanding. The voices CD was more surprising, with voices
imitating the various instrumental parts, which leads to great
results, partly sounding like early music and partly like an orchestra
of Jaap Blonk inspired voices. Its throughout a nice remix compilation,
but as far as I am concerned they could have been shuffled and
put on one CD. (FdW)
Address: http://www.mikhailmusic.com
SOURCE: MUSIC OF THE AVANT-GARDE (3CD by
Pogus)
Elsewhere I may be all nostalgic about some re-issues, connected
to the first time they were released, and I wish I could add this
one to that list, but they were released in a time when even I
was a small boy. "Source: Music Of The Avant-Garde"
was a magazine which included scores, articles, interviews, essays
and music, placed on a 10" record. First released in 1967
and then semiannually until 1973, although the records were released
until 1971. Some of these pieces on these records have turned
to be true classics of our time. Here we have the first version
of 'I Am Sitting In A Room' by Alvin Lucier, 'The Wolfman' by
Robert Ashley and 'Wave Train' by David Behrman. Some other composers
here are still the big shots of today, like Allan Bryant, Alvin
Curran and Annea Lockwood, and some I must, perhaps shamefully,
admit I never heard of, like Larry Austin (the founder of the
magazine), Arthur Woodbary, Mark Riener, Lowell Cross (who has
a great drone like piece), Stanley Lunetta (with a great noise
based of electronics) and Arrigo Lora-Totino, who has a piece
that uses just voices. Most pieces clock in at fifteen minutes,
the length of a 10" side. All of the pieces deal with electronics
in some way, along with real instruments. One could say that its
a pity that the magazine, the printed words, aren't available,
say as PDF's on the disc (or a website), but this is a lovely
three CD set of some great music. Always nice to hear Lucier's
piece again, even in this shorter version than on the CD by Lovely
music, some interesting discoveries such as Larry Austin himself,
Lunetta and Cross. A most needed re-issue. (FdW)
Address: http://www.pogus.com
OGOGO - REDUX (CD by III Records)
About a year ago, in Vital Weekly 609, I reviewed a solo CD by
Igor Ogogo, now there is a new CD, 'Redux', but despite that it
has expanded into a duo. Ogogo is now Rodney Oakes on Midi trombone
and Igor Grigoriev on guitar. 'The major trendsetter of contemporary
Avant-Garde music, Ogogo has spoken itself in the lingua france
of avant-garde, experimental, classical, collage, ambiant [sic],
atonal, surreal, electronic, hypnotic spacey sound and sociopath
recordings with easiness and eagerness', I read on the press information.
Perhaps I missed a point about trendsetting, or perhaps I am on
a different plane. Ogogo improvise music on their midi trombone
and guitar, and surely they have had a lot of fun of doing so.
Creating music is fun, believe me. But not everything that is
created has to be shared. Igor Ogogo speaks of 'always wanting
to create an atonal record', and he has succeeded I guess to quite
an extent. It is as atonal, as well as quite unlistenable. Fifty
minutes of trombone rehearsals, guitars and effects. Maybe it
is trendsetting, maybe its classical (that's what Itunes says
when I popped this in the computer), or perhaps it is indeed a
'distinctive blend of musical styles', but more likely I'm not
a different plane, but on a different planet. Like before: I pass
on/out. (FdW)
Address: http://iiirecords.com
L'OCELLE MARE (LP by Minority Records)
Hurrah for Minority Records. I never heard of L'Ocelle Mare, the
baby project of Thomas Bonvalet, of Cheval de Frise (also never
heard of), but hurrah for Minority to release it on a limited
piece of vinyl, with a nice printed cover. Bonvalet plays guitar
here too, and he spent a week in 'deserted French places' in 2006
to play his guitar in a very improvised manner. Using shakers,
slides, the neck of the guitar, in sixteen relatively short pieces.
At one point we hear some insects in the background, which adds
to the intimate character of the music. Bonvalet lets his guitar
sign, weep, sweep, burst and crack but it always sounds like an
acoustic guitar. He's not interested in letting his guitar sound
like anything else but a guitar, but plays short, skilled pieces
of improvised music on the six string thingy. An intimate album
by all accounts. A small delight, much against the waves of anything
- improvised music, classical music, field recording etc. - a
minority record for the minority of fans enjoying this kind of
music. Refined. (FdW)
Address: http://www.minorityrecords.com
CHASING EUDAIMONIA - CIRCLES/WAVES (10"
by Phisteria)
The name Chasing Eudaimonia is a new one to me. They are from
Copenhagen, and that's about all I know about them. The CDR version
has no link to a band website. It says that the music is alike
Jesu, Bardo Pond and Earth. Two pieces, one per side, of ten minutes.
I hear guitars, bass, female (?) vocal humming a wordless lyric.
Sad music. A bit depressive but actually also quite nice. Both
tracks are alike: slowly evolving, with guitars tinkling, the
bass howls below. If I was to choose one track of these two, I'd
say I prefer the b-side, because the vocals are pushed a bit more
to the background, leaving a bit more room for the instruments.
Minimalist post guitar rock, without drums. Its been a while since
I last heard that, but Chasing Eudaimonia do a nice attempt in
recovering that. (FdW)
Address: http://www.phisteria.com
BETH JEANS HOUGHTON - GOLDEN/NIGHT SWIMMER
(7" by Static Caravan)
LOCRIAN - PLAGUE JOURNAL/APOCRYPHAL CITY, PORTENTS FALLEN (7"
by Bloodlust!)
The 7" by Houghton raises an important question for me: do
I like folk music? Not an easy question to answer. My immediate
response would be 'no, I don't', but perhaps that would go as
far as playing folk music all day. I heard these two pieces on
the classic format and I must admit I like this 21st century Joni
Mitchell quite a lot. Quiet, but with a strong voice, and a shimmering,
electronic interlude of 'Golden' - along with guitars and drums.
Yes, I do like folk music I guess. I could imagine liking an entire
CD by Houghton, played on rainy sunday afternoons.
Of an entirely different nature on the same size is the US noise
drone outfit Locrian. Jliat didn't dig their first release, but
I enjoyed at least half their second LP. Wether this is music
that fits the 7" format well is to be seen, since Locrian
plays music that needs time to develop. At 33 RPM however they
keep both tracks within the limits of time and within the limits
of a song, which is actually quite nice. 'Plague Journal' is more
a song of noise, whereas 'Apocryphal City, Portents Fallen' has
a cold, stale wind from the synths, along with semi-distorted
guitar tinkling - quite a small menace this piece, whereas the
other side is nice too, but perhaps a bit too common in approach.
But both are surely a step forward. (FdW)
Address: http://www.staticcaravan.org
Address: http://bloodlust.blogspot.com
CYCLOTIMIA - MUSIC FOR STOCKMARKETS (CD
by Zhelezobeton)
AIDAN BAKER & THE INFANT CYCLE - RURAL SPRAWL (CDR by Zhelezobeton)
NOISES OF RUSSIA - EXPERIMENTAL STRUCTURE - LIVE AT ESG 21, ST.
PETERSBURG 06.10.2008 (CDR by Zhelezobeton)
'Music For Stockmarkets' is 'most probably the only project in
the world which has chosen the creation of a soundtrack to 'globalisation'
and the life of the 'consumer society' as their concept', Zhelezobeton
tells us, which might be entirely true. Cyclotimia is from Moscow
and has quite a number of releases already, which I don't think
I know. Cyclotimia uses old vintage Soviet synthesizers to play
no less than thirty-two tracks on this album, divided in three
main pieces, 'Wallstreet Requiem', 'Trivial Pleasures' and 'Financial
Glossary'. Its hard to pin this down to a specific style (why
should I?), but in general lots of things from the world of electronic
music drop by: click n cuts, techno, ambient, pop even, but everything
is too short to keep the interest. Most pieces are quite miminal
and revolve around one or two themes inside a track, which makes
this altogether a bit of tiring listening thing. In a small dose
quite nice actually.
Its been quiet around Aidan Baker, at least in these pages, but
last week saw a review of Arc, and here is a new release. It contains
two tracks previously released by Blade Records in 2002, and two
new tracks, and all four recorded with Jim DeJong, also known
as The Infant Cycle. Guitar, bass, tapes, rhythms, feedback generators,
tapes, playouts, thumb piano, divided amongst the two who set
out to put the four seasons to music. Its not easy to hear that
in this music, which is throughout based in rhythmical cycles.
Wether they find their home in repeating loops, or in slow percussive
sounds, they form the strong fundament of the music. However Baker
and DeJong know how to keep the material interesting, and not
just have a bunch of loops running around all the time. On top
of their loopings, they wave an ambient based pattern of sound
on their guitars. A swirling piece of ambient music, which is
exactly up the alley of both artists. Very nice, without big surprises.
A live recording made by Noises Of Russia offers only half the
thing presented on october 6th 2008 at the Experimental Sound
Gallery in St. Petersburg. Missing is the butoh dance of Grigory
Glazunov and the video projection of VJ Alco. But the music is
there, played by Gosha Solnzev (a.k.a. 1g0g - "van gogh"),
the leader of the band, along with the help of Nikolay Kalmykov
(analogue electronic noise), M.M. (also known as Kryptogen Rundfunk,
labelboss of Zhelezobeton, playing guitar here), Igor Potsukailo
(also known as Bardoseneticcube on metal percussion) and Evgeney
Savenko (also known as Lunar Abyss Deus Organum on voice. 1g0g
plays samples, field recordings and laptop. The music was all
improvised, which is something that is shown in the music I think.
That makes this a strange affair I think, but also a nice one.
On one hand we have the ritualistik music, mainly through the
use of voice, mumbling like a priest, thus overflowing the music
with connotations of music I don't like. But the instrumental
part is actually quite nice, with a mixture of ambient, psychdelic
guitar and microsound, the latter mainly in the field recordings
part of the music. Perhaps a bit long to be fully entertaining
on CDR, and surely it worked better in a concert situation. It
could have used a bit more editing I think, but nice enough. (FdW)
Address: http://zhb.radionoise.ru
JACQUELINE - SITU (CDR by Hashish)
"jacqueline situ hashish ha4" gives 8 hits in Google,
the only one of which providing any information being discogs
- where there is 1 of this limited edition (50) for sale. The
three tracks are of extreme harsh white noise, the third having
@ the intro some watery type sounds before sporadic bursts of
white noise take over once again. The packaging is minimal providing
no information and a print of a very old photograph of what looks
like a young man. Dicogs gives its origin as Greece and that the
entry was submitted by manfred who is "George Kanavos Location:
athens, Greece Profile: 29,ambient/drone/experimental/noise fan.
Married, one boy, aek athens supporter. Love cats and lautreamont.
Currently into 2 projects: wand and princess and jacqueline."
The former a drone/ambient project (see VW 658) very unlike the
severity of Situ, but perhaps still hinted at in the opening of
track 3, which might pose a problematic, though this release perhaps
relatively marks first steps, the monolithic nature of the walls
of white noise have yet to be fragmented. HN if anything is about
effacement, effacement of music, structure, teleology, being,
time and ultimately itself, a process which when complete can
be nothing other than perfect, but which here perhaps still lies
a little ahead. (jliat)
Address not given but try: http://www.myspace.com/wandandprincess
HELMETICRONONAUT / ANIMAL MACHINE - HIJO
DE PUTA (CDr by KIF Recording)
Again as with 'situ' this collaboration, and perhaps because of
this, still at times has recognizable identities, its very much
a work where at times one is aware of the process, of collaboration,
of technique or of a relinquishing of technique, to the extent
it could be a live performance. The "anecdotal" passages
are insufficient to detract from the themes of annihilation of
structure unless - and I find it unlikely, and I hope it is unlikely,
that it might mark some kind of decent from the mountain, though
the rhythmic of track 2 seems somehow out of place, and at times
the intensity is somehow lost, perhaps in order to dangerously
engender some form, a form of amusement even. The 8 tracks could
benefit from some editing, as in editing out of the irrelevancies
of "how its done"- no doubt a defense lies in the series
title Productive Vs Destructive, but a demonstration lacks something
of the totality of a performance, as in the clinical lack of eroticism
in a "good sex guide". (jliat)
Address: http://welcome.to/kifrecording
HELMETICRNONONAUT - PATTERNS OF DUMB (CD
by Ethedrone Muzac)
Some things are generally true and contradictory, other peoples
dreams are dull, whilst your (my) own full of surreal insight,
which is puzzling as when you relate the one where you're back
at school, (again) you find it strange that listeners seem to
glaze over or else want to tell you about their dream, which as
far as you can see is of no interest at all. Likewise if you get
to playing with a shortwave radio its fascinating to tune into
and out of strange stations or those equally strange signals and
noise, you can spend hours playing with the tuning dial, how odd
then that anyone else in the room finds your improvisations incredibly
frustrating or just plain silly, and when they try, well they
simply have no idea how to make such radio transmissions sound
as piquant as you can. That - in not a nutshell is I think is
the problem here. Resisting to quote the title, or the track titles
which are no doubt very amusing - to the author, this is endless
twiddles with feedback and electronics which never gets anywhere,
other than being genuinely annoying, but only as annoying as a
blue bottle in the room without the fear or threat of a wasp.
"Thirteen-track mandate from the Norwegian King of Feedback."
P.S. if you go to the site (below) it plays a track whilst scrolling
this- "language of light - (excerpt) inside the Head of a
Butterfly Dreaming of being a Giant Moth Destroying Tokyo"
(excerpt) I kid you not. And "the narwhal invasion: if we
were constellations-"time #1" (jliat)
Address: http://www.ethedrone.com/
UNTITLED 731 - UNTITLED 731 (CDR self released)
There is fairly comprehensive and readable background to this
on myspace, together with 4 extracts, the second and subsequent
tracks throwing more light on this project. Briefly - in case
you don't wish to wander - James Low plays heavy metal guitar,
David Wheatley laptop electronics/noise. Influences include Steve
Reich, Alvin Lucier, Merzbow, Autechre, Black Sabbath, Slayer
& Frank Zappa. This is a first release of a relatively new
project. I nor they perhaps consider this to be noise, which places
it out of my direct interest and I would not wish to be overly
negative towards a project in what is its early days. I would
make two- if overly long points. First off you don't and cant
do "experimental electronics" on a lap top. Its dubious
to see how experimentalism fits in to the post-modern zeitgeist
anyhow, certainly its present in early Reich, but things are/were
more complex intellectually and lifting the terms or a technique
without recourse to this simply will not work. OK its possible
to grab a piece of minimal art and give it a lick of paint and
hide behind terms such as post-modern, eclectic, or best of all
ironic, and that might be a relevant case, but not here. The artist
may play dumb, superbly in the case of Warhol - but it's a façade.
It's a simple fact that the influence of an artist like Reich
unless thoroughly explored and understood to a certain level is
overwhelming- or missed. As example its trendy for some idiot
"artists" at dinner parties to cite Heidegger as an
influence - without the slightest batting of the eyelids. Its
enough to simply remark that he was a good Nazi to shut them up.
I'm sounding like a snob, - but I'm not saying I know any better
other than I for one am in agreement with Heidegger himself in
admitting to his incompressibility, and acknowledge his influences-
though not directly. My second point is similar, - here a philosophical
system is replaced by a - perhaps THE - fetish of popular Phallogocentric
culture - to pick up an electric guitar and tune it, put it through
effects into a Marshall stack and play whammy chords is to locate
oneself in one of the most culturally psychological unconscious
power structures that exist. OK so its fine for the thick kid,
or now thick parents - but that is what this phenomenon has become
- a huge commercial capitalist industry manipulating a global-unconsciousness,
played as torture in guantanamo, played by moms and dads on Band
in a Box world tour, air guitar jokers and wankers the world over.
Any attempt at deconstructing this requires the sort of psychological
heroics of Keiji Haino- etc al. in which the phalo-fetish is turned
in on itself as disembowelment/ emasculation. We can wave all
this away by simply saying that "the music of Untitled 731
is post-ideological". well really - my my. 'Il n'y a pas
de hors-texte' (jliat)
Addres: http://www.myspace.com/untitled731
KAPOTTE MUZIEK - EGG (CDR by Lunhare)
A staggering 31 tracks from previously tape based releases by
KM. With plenty of variety, typified by the term electronica,
the use of both electronics and sampled found sounds from various
sources. Maybe its my state of mind at the moment, but these short
pieces of "experimental" electronics from the mid 1980s
exhibit a (now) sad optimism, a gentle, subtle and precocious
wonder at opportunities which some how never fully developed,
perhaps killed by the democratizing viciousness and hedonistic
egoism of the myspace generation, they shine like gentle small
flowers amid what is now a far more harsh environment where such
work could somehow no longer exist. A compilation such as this
has to be in part an historic document, one that I can associate
with, unlike the current obsession with Nintendo Wiis and Band
in a Box, they represent perhaps the last delicate flowers of
what was once something called music? 73 minutes of delicate flowers
or insect creatures but they cant compete with the day of ipod
torrents and terabyte drives holding sufficient sounds such that
one can not live long enough to hear, if the avant garde was once
thought crazy now the common place is insane. (Jliat)
Address: http://www.lunhare.net
CELER - CURSORY ASPERSES (CDR by Slow Flow
Records)
From the by now active forces of Celer, the duo
of Will Thomas Long and Danielle Baquet-Long, comes another release.
One that lasts an hour, and that has one track 'Cursory Asperses
(in 8 Parts)', but all eight parts get a title. Why not index
the release at those eight tracks in a continuos mode? Perhaps
there is logic there somewhere. This new piece(s) is based 'around
the single concept of slow movement', which is indeed very much
true. Perhaps its so slow that I didn't detect eight different
pieces on this release, or maybe that was never the idea. Built
from field recordings, such as an isolated streams in the woods
and such as the laundry hanging on cords in the backyard, Celer
crafts once again a piece of music that is high and mighty based
in the world of drone music, deep and atmospheric. Its hard to
see the difference with their previous works or, in a larger perspective,
the world of drone music as such. 'Cursory Asperses' is a very
fine work altogether, but one without many surprises. (FdW)
Address: http://slowflowrec.web.fc2.com/index.html
STEVE RODEN - STARS OF ICE (CDR by Inbetween
Noise)
Its a bit late/early for christmas music, but Roden uses a Chinese
Christmas carol (perhaps its Chinese Christmas time these days?)
from an old 7", a 78 rpm of the 'Songs From The First Grade
Reader', and various objects and instruments, while using the
poem, 'with numerous words erased', as the lyrics. That may seem
an odd twist for Roden, perhaps a song like piece, but it's no
such thing. The words, 'the singing' is heavily processed inside
a field of crackles and hiss. There is a lovely repeating loop,
like a lock groove, around this thirty-two minute piece, in which
'singing' pops up and goes away, like a carrousel, while in the
second half the same thing happens with some stringed instrument.
A lovely little piece that fits the cold season. A typical yet
great Steve Roden piece. Ambient, meditative, contemplative. Microsound
in optima forma. (FdW)
Address: http://www.inbetweennoise.com
PLATFORM - CATEGORIES OF DUST (CDR by Minimal
Resource Manipulation)
Matt Atkins' Platform project turns out to be a busy bee, with
a number of releases in a relatively short time span. Not everything
was great, but his 'Categories Of Dust' belongs certainly to his
more interesting works. One piece, twenty-one minutes, of recordings
made around the house with a very sensitive microphone, which
were then 'processed, re-processed and layered'. Platform enters
here the world of microsound and does that with some style. Crackles,
deep drone basis and hiss work fine in this piece, which may have
a bit too much reverb here and there, but throughout this piece
works along the lines of all the other micro-nists, such as Roel
Meelkop and Marc Behrens. Not yet entirely their class, but this
is his best effort so far. Sounds flow into eachother and have,
certainly towards the end, a nice ambient texture to it. Let's
hope this new road will be his main one for the future and that
he expands further on it. (FdW)
Address: http://www.minimalresourcemanipulation.co.uk
TTAKUNA - TEMPO DE DAR. EMONALDIA (CDR by
Hamaika)
Somehow I lumped Loty Negarti as a noise boy in a my telephone
book, but perhaps I am mistaken. Here he plays voice, ballon,
aspirins, piano, artiach motor plate, mobile phone and metallic
cap, while Oier I.A. plays batteries, cyclist small bottle, aspirins,
photo camera, radio cassette, speakers, poliexpan box and plastic
shopping bag. That could be a guarantee for lots of noise, but
its very much the contrary thing here. One has to put the volume
all the way up to hear something at all. The cover contains the
'score' of this, all in Basque of course, but it gives an idea
about the consistency of how this is performed. Very soft with
carefully placed sounds and at some point a text read. The sounds
are far away, which doesn't help concentrating on listening to
this. Its a bit far away, its a bit too soft and careful. Or perhaps
this is just not the time of day to hear this, or perhaps I should
be using headphones - which I hardly ever do - to enjoy this.
It would have been best however to experience this as a concert,
I think. Then it would have been hard to escape this and truly
enjoy it. Now it's not bad, but not the full potential has been
used. (FdW)
Address: http://www.gatza.org/hamaika.html
THE BUREAU OF NONSTANDARDS (CDR by One Zero)
Behind The Bureau Of Nonstandards is a duo of Kevin Smith on circuit
bending and Maurice Rickard on laptop processing whatever Smith
bends on his circuits. Rather than playing noise, they go for
'layered ambience and surprisingly expressive soundscapes', which
is of course always good - stay away from the noise, boys. What
is also nice is that the fifteen tracks are short, and are excerpts
of various concerts around Pittsburgh were they are from. By choosing
the best fragments of concerts they prevent us from having to
listen to struggles or false starts. Or perhaps they plan them
as tracks, I don't know. That makes this quite an enjoyable release
of improvised music, which is also pretty varied. There are elements
in which we hear a broken drum computer, small melodies on keyboard
that melted just recently, or mixed up voice material. The tracks
are kept short and to the point, which altogether makes a very
nice release. (FdW)
Address: http://onezeromusic.com/index.php/a7
JUAREZ REVONTUTLET (CD by Sabbatical Records)
GREEN BERET PART 1 & PART 2 (CD by Sabbatical Records)
ABSOLUTEN CALFEUTRAIL & BLAKE BAYER CONFLICT RESOLUTION SEMINAR
(CD by Sabbatical Records)
Before I attempt to review these three releases on Sabbatical
(I need one) as what might be an irrelevant and rather stupid
observation, looking at their blog and in particular the now obligatory
you tube clips of electronic improv I note something that might
differentiate wheat from chaff. Why is it that some performers
seek to rock, sway and almost dance whilst twiddling knobs when
others remain totally static and immobile? And drawing a mental
list of the immobilities, they go Cage, Tudor, Merzbow, Bailey
even, and he plays guitar!. et al. - are the other kids (the head
nodding swayers) just wishing they were in a rock band? Anyway
back to the task in hand, "Juarez is the solo project of
Jessica Pinney.." comes with a picture and painting of goats,
and despite the P.R. blurb only has "layering of rich vocal
lines" on the last track, the first being mostly very quiet
ambiance punctuated by blasts of noise, the others still ambient
sounds if perhaps slightly louder, and all tracks end with about
10 seconds of silence? Green Beret is a collaboration. which again
produces fairly quiet ambient electronics. The final offering
again is electro improv which consists in parts of short bursts
of noise - though not particularly harsh, and sections of what
could be machinery, a lathe or food mixer. You would certainly
find all three pieces difficult to rock to, but sadly anything
else. The idea of conflict resolution has perhaps permeated all
three releases, but as we all know children without conflict or
disturbance we wont hear a thing.. (Jliat)
Address: http://www.sbbtcl.com
JOSETXO GRIETA - DISTANCIA #2387 (CDR by
Hamaika)
Josetxo makes a good opening impression, the sleeve is a folded
piece of black manila held together with staples and sporting
a photo of Josetxo held onto the sleeve by red insulation tape.
He - in the photo, looks drunk or half asleep, is holding a mike
in one hand and cigarette in the other. Apart from the CDr inside
there is a green slip of paper in Spanish, so from the outset
it presents a completely different image to the attempt at corporate
cool of the sabbatical releases. Superficially you could say the
single track shared much in common with the Sabbatical releases,
though unlike those this glories in its throw-away inconsequentialities.
So the section where the sound appears cut up could be down just
to the CDR skipping, the whole thing is thrown, taped and stuck
together in a make ship fashion which of course is deliberate.
"Me quedo con el placer de la musica el crearla con otras
personas y no necesitar hablar que sea la musica la que hable
por ti y el resultado te sorprenda positivamente. Y reniego absolutamente
del negocio musical nos mino" Thanks to Google gives "I
stay with the joy of music create it with the others and no need
to talk it is music that speaks for you and the result will surprise
positively. And absolutely denies us the retail music business.
" Something absolutely missing in the attempted corporate
image and lush PR of Sabbatical, a case of - with this type of
sound - not trying harder - but not trying at all. Bien hecho
mi hijo. (Jliat)
Address: http://www.gatza.org
IRUKANDJI - THE SUICIDE JUMP (CDR by Silken
Tofu)
TZII - INDIVIDUALISIM (3 inch CDR by Silken Tofu)
I'm not that familiar with all the versions of Van Halen's jump,
the first minute of Suicide Jump consists of some very typical
cheesy synth sweeps and strings before @ about 1 minute two or
so recognizable opening chords are subsequently obliterated by
20 minutes of harsh noise, which end with a fade and I forgive
in this case as it is all perfectly in keeping. You can hear extracts
of the HN @ Silken Tofu, unfortunately not the actual moment of
the annihilation of the heavy metal, akin to B52s carpet bombing
a candy floss. With the Tzii offering I suppose we are back into
industrial, there's a guy talking in perhaps german, then what
sounds like a badly made washing machine or perhaps hot air clothes
dryer to the more discerning listener to the sounds of white goods.
After about 6 minutes there begins sporadic crashing - perhaps
a service lift slamming open. Something is missing - either here
or in my critical facility, lets be noble and accept blame, I'm
also the cause of the credit crunch. However I must finally return
to the Irukanbji (before being nationalized by Gordon Brown),
who is one Michael Page, it is a superb piece of iconoclasm, and
rightly deserves attention if not a government bail-out. (Jliat)
Address: http://www.silkentofu.org/
STILLSTAND - BIONIK (CDR by Tib Prod)
RECONSTRUCT IV: MAURIZIO BIANCHI REMIXED VOL. 1 (CDR by Tib Prod)
Martin Steinebach is the man behind Monoid and Stillstand, smaller
definitions of electronic music. The pieces here presents here
as Stillstand were recorded between 2006 and 2008 and are best
classified as up beat ambient music. The rhythm carries the piece,
synthesizer howl and sing underneath. Sometimes a bit angular
and strange, and other times pleasantly humming. Ambient music
in the sense that you can stick this on, and have it playing,
perhaps even on repeat, while you do your homework. Quite pleasant,
not too demanding stuff going on. Nothing ordinary or strange,
just mildly experimental music.
To remix Maurizio Bianchi is, at least in some musical circles,
probably a wet dream coming true. On the Tib Prod website there
are these remix projects organized where the artist has some samples
available, and then everybody can download these samples, remix
them and Tib Prod will release it. They done so before with the
music of labelboss Jan-M Iversen, Cadmium Dunkel and Swamps Up
Nostrils and now with Maurizio Bianchi, which is I think is quite
a coup. I haven't heard the sound samples, but I know much of
his music to imagine such a remix project can be quite interesting.
It ranges from quite soft, almost new age music to early industrial
music - the preferred style around here, as well as with the people
doing remixes. Everybody, all dedicated fans I imagine, grasp
the idea of early Bianchi quite well: electric fields of sounds,
stretched, much delay, but no-one seems to be surpass the master
in what he did before. That perhaps proofs his quality in producing
some highly personal industrial music, and it perhaps also learns
a bit how this scene works. We have a great example, and we can
do something similar. Included are Liquid Sphere, Rioteer, Bas
van Huizen, Staplerfahrer, Jani Hellen, N Strahl N & Strahlenzentrum,
Jan-M Iversen, Plastic Boner Band and Vernaggelkramp. Nice release,
no weak brothers in arms here, and nothing special. (FdW)
Address: http://www.tibprod.com
UR - FOUR CALLS FOR LOCUSTS (CDR by Mask
Of The Slave Records)
UR & CRAIG HILTON - I WILL BE THE LIGHT (CDR by Afe Records)
Italy's Ur is a duo of Federico Esposito and Mauro Sciaccalugo,
and they have met through the 'hardcore' circuit. They improvise
on their instruments, which aren't listed as such anywhere, 'which
can't easily be described without referring to the well-known
and wildest experiments of Industrial music of the late 70s/early
80s.', as they put it themselves. And that's well put, as the
four tracks on this self-released CDR show this interest quite
well. Rumble on metal sheets, guitars with e-bows and motors played
through the pick-up element, lots of sound effects. However Ur
aren't a bunch of noise makers with their heads buried inside
the speaker cabinet listening to feedback and distortion. The
four pieces show an interest in more industrial ambiance, with
a keen ear for the overall composition they are playing. Intelligent
noise rumble this one. The noise I like.
A joint fascination for the work of Maurizio Bianchi brought them
in contact with Craig Hilton, who did a collaboration with Bianchi
(see Vital Weekly 644). Ur send Hilton four different takes of
music and asked him to work freely with that. The title comes
from Timothy Leary, about his ashes sent into space. Again, the
whole Bianchi link is not very difficult to hear in the three
pieces. Unlike Ur on their own, which have a more gritty, lo-fi
electronic sound, this is more of a digital processing kind. The
metallic sounds are filtered and re-processed into a new world
of its own. Floating like rusty space ships - to stay on the thematic
approach of the title, moving and humming. A bit like Organum's
early works, but then covered with electrically charged dust.
A very fine work too, more refined that the previous Ur release,
and the industrial music of the 21st century. Chilling. (FdW)
Address: http://www.geocities.com/mirgilus
Address: http://www.aferecords.com
JOHN HUDAK - MISS DOVE, MR.DOVE (CDR by
Afe Records)
TIZIANO MILANI - IM INNERSTEN (CDR by Afe Records)
ANDREA MARUTTI & TOMMASO COSCO - TURRA (3"CDR by Afe
Records)
Since many years I closely follow the work of John Hudak. In the
early days it came on cassette and then on CD and CDR. One thing
has remained a constant factor in his music and that his interest
to explore one theme per project. On cassette always two actually,
one per side, but these days its one piece per CD/CDR release.
On 'Miss Dove, Mr. Dove' he uses field recordings made in the
Czech Republic, recording doves at dawn, while traffic and people
on the street increases. These sounds are treated with some kind
of unnamed software and the entire piece lasts an hour. 'It is
intended to be played as background sound/music', it says on the
press release, and that's quite right. The music has changes,
but throughout they are quite minimal, with envelopes on specific
sounds being opened with great care. Music to be played while
doing something - reading being my preferred kind of activity.
Non-intentional music, the perfect back-drop. Like Satie intended
with his music for furniture. Ambient music as Eno intended, but
of a somewhat stranger kind. The bird like sounds are rhythmical,
cut-up and not endlessly flowing. Very nice.
The name Tiziano Milani is a new name for me, although he has
some releases on Setola Di Maiale and Chew-Z. He has a passion
for 'collected' sounds, by which, I assume, the label means he
does field recordings. He has built a reverberation room of which
the details are on the cover. I must admit I didn't understand
much of what he said about the music, but it seems to me that
this is constructed by melting all these sounds together. He likes
muffled sounds, far away, recorded through the walls. This results
in three long tracks which work as endless streams of sounds,
rather than a fixed composition of specific sounds. This makes
it hard to focus on the end result - the composition - but like
Hudak, it seems that its much more three pieces of undirected
ambient music. Whereas Hudak limits his sound source to one specific
recording, Milani works with a multitude of sounds, which move
about on end, but the end result is like Hudak: music to do your
newspaper reading, cleaning or just sit back and relax. Also nice,
certainly if you play these in a row.
You could decide to end with the disc by Afe labelboss Andrea
Marutti with someone I never heard of, Tommaso Cosco. He delivered
the field recordings for 'Turra', which are then processed by
Marutti. Marutti has an extensive discography at hand in all sorts
of music, but he is best known for his subtle dark drone music.
This particular piece is no stranger in that land, as he regards
it as his companion piece for his 'The Subliminal Relation Between
Planets', released by Nextera. Almost nineteen minutes of the
deepest and darkest rumble around. It carries the listener away,
but its over before you know it, and you land with a bump on earth
again. This could have been easily twice the length. (FdW)
Address: http://www.aferecords.com
NALS GORING (CDR by OSR)
NALS GORING & NALS GORMAN - HEAT WILSON (CDR by OSR)
NALS GORING (cassette by OSR)
Here's a bunch of stuff that gives me some headache. Not the music
as such, but the content of the packaging, which is just hard
to decipher. There is a CDR by one Nals Goring, with tons of little
tracks on it, which are all made by cutting up sounds and spoken
word of records and TV. Nothing much else is done with it, although
he might have added his own voice to the end result. Maybe not.
I couldn't decipher the scribble on the cover, which may, or may
not hold some clue. Plunderphonic? Perhaps. Or perhaps an excuse
to do just anything.
Together with another Nals, Nals Gorman (do they have an obsession
with former nazi idiots), there is another CDR on the same label,
with more or less the same approach, just less tracks, twenty
in total in some thirty five minutes. Sounds and noises are thrown
into a cheap sampler, or simple two-track audio software, and
there is some additional noises of things happening in the room,
picked by a cheap microphone.
More of that on a cassette, most likely by Nals Goring again,
but no information, but lots of track titles. Maybe this is more
played that plundered, but who am I to tell?. This is one of things
where I am thinking 'if you don't bother, why should I?'
Address: http://www.osr-tapes.info
VARIOUS ARTISTS - LASTING (cassette by Pineapple
tapes)
I was given this tape for review 2 weeks ago. Since then I have
played this quite a few times. Not because I wasn't sure what
to write about it, but because I really enjoyed so much of the
music. Now I'm not quite sure if there was a mutual theme agreed
upon when contributors were approached, but it is interesting
to hear that so much of the music is in the same mood. With Pineapple
tapes being run by Scott Foust and Karla Borecky of Idea Fire
Company, it comes as no surprise that we have contributions by
many artists associated with (or downright member of) the Idea
Fire Company. The general feel of this tape reflects IFC's latest
(and, in my humble opinion, best) album The Island of Taste, which
was released last year. If you haven't got a copy of that album
yet, you should buy one immediately as it is truly beautiful.
The 90 minutes that make up Lasting feature 16 tracks indicating
that most of the songs are of considerable length. The slightly
noisy opener by Foust! (guess who) is an exception as is Nijmegen
Hiss by Frans de Waard (which is anything but). There are several
tracks that could have well fitted on their The Island of Taste
album, even at times sounding like outtakes. There are beautiful
and fragile compositions based around the piano (as is so much
of the music on The Island of Taste), such as Structure by Borecky
herself, Ditmas Park Excerpt by BRRR (which is slightly ruined
by the abrupt fade at the end), A Night Sketch by Vikki Jackman
(where also Andrew Liles and Daisuke Suzuki are credited, but
I am uncertain what their contribution is, unless it is another
hopelessly abrupt and disturbing fade at the end) and of course
IFC themselves with The Sinking Ship. Then we have beautiful pieces
by Ian Middleton, Mat Krefting and an uncharacteristic synthesizer
piece by Andrew Chalk himself. Slightly odd ends here are Asmus
Tietchens, whose cold, mechanical piece S.17 A is at odds with
the warmth of the other material. The same goes a bit for Tim
Goss' Thunderrum based on sampling and drums and features lyrics.
Don't worry, it's not that there are de facto bad, far from it,
since the mood of the tape is so strong, they sound a bit out
of place. First prize for best band name goes to The Collection
Of The Late Howell Blend. Brilliant. With a great cover painting
by Karla Borecky (not sure if she sells paintings, but I would
be interested in that) Lasting is a tape well worth buying. The
audio quality is excellent with only a minor bit of tape (Nijmegen?)
hiss. Described by some as similar to the legendary "From
Brussels with Love" cassette, this might be overstretching
things a bit, but interestingly enough it does have the same mood
of that release. As such, this is a gorgeous tape offering some
great music. Very recommended indeed. (FK)
Address: http://www.anti-naturals.org/swill
THE INSANE BOX (4LP by Vinyl On Demand)
NOTTAROSSA/REDNIGHT (2CD by Small Voices)
Caution: This is not a review, its merely a bunch of memories.
In October 1985, after I published a small fanzine 'Archive',
which was a collection of discographies on various bands (a kind
of Discogs, but then on paper), I decided that the second issue
would be on a bunch of groups around the Insane Music Contact
label. It had to come with a cassette with some rare tracks. I
wrote them a letter, no doubt not the first, and I was invited
to Nivelles to come and talk and select a bunch of tracks. I was
21, and met a by couple, Alain Neffe and Nadine Bal, about half
my size, but lovely. They showed me their basement, the Insane
studio, filled with tons of great equipment (which should have
stopped me from ever wanting to make music again with my own two
cassette players, but that's a different story), and all the obscure
compilations where they had tracks. They explained me the difference
between the all the Insane bands. All bands had involvement from
Alain Neffe. I Scream was his first project from the early 70s,
playing around with a synthesizer. Then came Pseudo Code, my personal
favorite, a trio of Neffe and future Sub Rosa owners Guy Marc
Hinant and Frederic Walheer (who were also Kaa Antilope), followed
shortly after that by the music by mail project Human Flesh, the
pop band Subject (which Nadine thought was 'empty'), the poetry
of Cortex, and the duo of Neffe and Bal as Bene Gesserit. Did
I skip one? Perhaps I did. I stayed the whole weekend and was
delighted. I thought these people were very kind, their music
was great and made this small fanzine with discographies and a
great tape, with some lost classics. I looked at their collection
of tapes and records, eat my soup and the next day we went to
a flea market where they sold stuff. A great weekend. I don't
think my lost classics are on this 4LP boxset, which is perhaps
even better news. My beloved Pseudo Code are represented by an
entire LP of live recordings. Human Flesh with a bunch of unreleased
recordings, including a track sung in Dutch by Cor Gout, while
I Scream and Subject share an album. I remembered liking Subject
back in the day, but now is a bit disapointing. Perhaps because
we are spoiled by so many other great synth pop? I Scream sounds
on the other hand much better than I remembered, with their cosmic
approach. Bene Gesserit might still be the important name on the
label, still producing new music (like Human Flesh), but somehow
their synth/vocal/rhythm music is not well spend on me. Still
not spend on me. They also have the bonus 7", whereas it
would have been nice to have some shorter Cortex poems on the
7". Inside the booklet an extensive discography, which is
great, although perhaps not in the internet age something to print
anymore and a rather clumsy interview with Neffe. Needles to say
I think this is great stuff. I am going to dig out the cassette
I released, and perhaps I could express interest in a Pseudo Code
complete works boxset? I will save up some pennies for it.
A label like Vinyl On Demand, or in fact any other label, would
have trouble putting in a box is Italy's Trax label. Their releases
were not just cassettes or booklets, but also events, clothing,
and other ephemera. When the label stopped a nice catalogue was
released, which summed up these releases nicely, but true fans
- here's one, here's one - would miss out on the music. Trax was
best known for some extreme packaging. I remember seeing 'Tooth
& Nail' at Alain Neffe's house in 1985, with a sugar candy
representing the vagina dentata. Many of their compilations were
around themes, such as alternative anthems or in 'Nottarossa/Red
Night', the work of William Burroughs. I remember having this
tape and the extensive booklet with cut-up and pornographic collages
- hey, that's a great combination I thought back then, always
liking to buy music and not porn, but combined? This new package
on Small Voices (there is a website on the cover, but how does
it work - beats me. It re-directs to the sister label of A Silent
Place, but you can't access the Small Voices catalogue) doesn't
represent the original package at all. A fascimile version would
be great. But the scanned images on the second disc make up at
least something and the oversized print work is beyond the ordinary
at least. I was surprised that hearing this I recognized so much
of the old stuff. It once again proofs my point that in the 'old'
days you didn't have this overload of (free? what's free?) music
so you could only listen to what you have on end, and it makes
that after twenty-five or so years you still have an exact idea
how it sounded like. Amazing. Its an hour long collage of sound
and music people sent to the Trax headquarters, with fitted the
ideas of cut-up of Burroughs and Gysin. Small Voices promises
three more re-issues, forming the word 'TRAX'. 'R' is represented
by 'Red Night', 'A' will be 'Anthems' (can't wait for that, a
particular favorite on Trax), T for Traxman (graphic novel) and
X for Xtra, an album composed of music through mail. Much to look
forward to. Its nice that there is a Gianluca Becuzzi remake part
of the Red Night package. He mastered the original and reworked
it into a piece of music of his own. As said, but perhaps also
a bit superflous, and a bit of historical fraude, as it was not
part of the original package. But its the same disc that has all
the images so perhaps that didn't fit on the first disc and we
should regard this as a bit of extra. Great re-issues. (FdW)
Address: http://vinyl-on-demand.com
Address: http://www.smallvoices.it