WAY OUT – NEW MUSIC FROM PORTUGAL VOL. 1 (CD by Ananana)
Portugal is not exactely known for their lively experimental music scene,
but it isn’t a wasteland either. Osso Exotica, Rafael Toral or Manuel Mota
are names that popped up in this bulletin before. Most of these people have
CD’s out, or are helped by a sympathetic label Ananana. This label gave the
assignment to on Rui Eduardo Paes, a music journalist, to compile a CD
which is a ‘stock of the ‘art music’ situation in Portugal. A lot of these
people use a rather conevntional set of instruments – lots of guitars here,
but also flute, violin percussion, but this doesn’t result in any sort of
conventional music. There is a lot of electronics and samplers added and
many of this falls roughly in the category of improvised music, from the
tedious one (like Genoveva Faisca) to the noisy ones, as by Rafael Toral. A
bit out of place seems the trip hoppy rhythm piece by Joao Paulo Feliciano.
My favourite piece is by Nuno Rebelo for mutant portugese guitar (whatever
that is): improvised piece of music for sure, but well structured and an
intense built up. Other names include No Noise Reduction, Carlos Bechegas,
Albrecht Loop, Emanuel Dimas Pimenta, Vitriol and more.
On the negative side is that the booklet doesn’t include any information
about these people, their other releases or biographical information. But
I’m sure sending an e-mail to the address below is enough to find out more
about them. (FdW)
Address: <ananana@esoterica.pt>
BEEQUEEN – THE SURROUGH GATE (10″ on Antzen)
Ten inches from the Queens of Humbuzz, Frans de Waard and Freek Kinkelaar.
Three tracks spread over two sides of this beautifully packaged record.’The
Salmon Season’ enters languid and slinky, a soft sweet drone slashed
slightly by contact microphone scritchy scritchy malarky, major dump of
zero-one gravel.’The Hungry Voice’ is a documentary recording of a
latenightvisit by the plumber. In the background a dark refrigerated fright
(sic) train takes a long time passing. Toothbrushes rattle in the
glass.Title track fills side 2… crunchy dreamvoices rise out of the
cooling ashes of a beachfire. Surf on the crests of the dronesea rides the
tide, shifting sands. In the distance a processor squeals, batwing-s- weep,
cutting air, insectors grinds sharp fins. Misguided reptilean feet approach
down the wooden corridors of memory. A tentative invasion.
The best by these boys for a while now (MP)
Address: <s.alt@regensburg.netsurf.de>
SHREBBL A GOGO – UNTITLED (Cassette by Ruediger Erb / Inox Kapell)
This is a strange tape, and it’s not easy to find words for the music. A
mixture of cheap drumbox-rhythms which somehow sound laid-back-like,
combined with (also) rather cheap synths who really sound like synths, and
other elements (like birds-singing) ! SHREBBL A GOGO is a new project by
INOX (which real name is Stefan Heinze) of INOX KAPELL and Ruediger Erb,
another guy from Wiesbaden in Germany. If you know INOX KAPELL already you
may imagine that this sounds rather funny, but it has a certain strangeness
inside that does NOT evoke negative emotions. Something that you could
maybe hear in a Science Fiction film for kids! Well, this is not the music
I usually listen to, and I can’t say that it’s really my cup of tea, but
it’s refreshing to have a listen to something real DIFFERENT from time to
time. I think it makes me crazy if I do it for too long. Besides that, the
tracks have strange titles like “SUMPFWOBBLER” or “PILLENDREHER”, guess
what I mean? [BAR]
Address: Inox Kapell, Wielandstrasse 4, 65187 Wiesbaden, Fax: 49-611-807277
KIRCHENKAMPF – PROBE (one-sided 7″ by Cohort Records)
This is a lim. to 300 copies 7″ release, one side is colored with a
handmade symbol in white paint. As far as I know, it’s the first 7″ for
Kirchenkampf, a project that is deeply concerned about religious contents
and creates electronic experimental soundscapes, which usually have a
rather ambient touch. After some tapes and one CD which sounded too much
like old ‘synth’ music from the 70es for me, I like this 7″ most, a very
dynamic recording of electronic sounds which come and go from one side to
another, and thus creating a very wide, opened atmosphere. The label also
did a one-sided 7″ by YEN POX, which looks and sounds very good! [BAR]
Address: Cohort Records, John Gore, 1302 Cincinnati Street, Lafayette, IN
47904-2544 – USA
REHBERG & BAUER – UNTITLED (10″ by Korm Plastics)
Another record with stuff by the boys from Megoland which is certain to
encourage the uninitiated to check their equipment for a variety of
reasons, mostly suspected malfunction.(Also, is the needle of the
gramophone actually on the surface of the record hopefully turning around
on the turntable at the right speed. And is it turned on?) Loads of what I
guess is digital poo pressed onto some polyunsaturated, DMT-free petroleum
byproducts. Immediate sounds. Clickety-clack. Plenty of scrunchy scrunch
and screech here. The mistakes machines will confess to if bullied enough.
An eccentric Doppler staggers around the room, muttering at the furnishings
and rattling his cane.
What it is, I’ve no idea… alien conversations captured in code, still
undeciphered? Odd audioscape for the age of the bit? Separation of soun?
Thoughts of an aeroplane? True Glitch from the Twins Of Digihurt?
The beauty of this on vinyl is that the medium will merge with the message.
Really shagged out copies will be worth loads more than their pristine
clones in a day or two. So, realign yourself frequently by playing this
often. An outstanding interruption in anyone’s (listening) day. Put it on.
Crank it up. Fuck yer speakers. (MP)
MIKA VAINIO – ONKO (CD by Touch)
Mika, famous for his Panasonic excursions and solo work as O/, has finally
brought out some stuff under his own name. Listen along as he primes, then
fine tunes his pneumatic devices, limbers up with a burst of groundhum
before reclining against a sonic wall of hissing grit. Sounds of
information reduced to their smallest common denominators. Frosty machine
language. The reveries of circuitry. Bit-reduction. Wings of bass. And
then, after three tracks which intensely and deftly tweak the spaces
between the Hertz, there’s track 4, a soft rising of sap, the fragility and
transcience of shadows, respiration of a cell.
Onko means ‘It is’.
And it is. Is (MP)
Address: <touch@touch.demon.co.uk>
VARIOUS ARTISTS – DECAY (CD – the last ! – on ASH International)
Decay is (possibly ?) the final part of the triptych which began with the
outstanding ‘Chiky(u)u’, a collection from Japanese contributors. This was
followed by ‘Scatter’, an American anthology and now ‘Decay’ which was
assembled from works by European composers. Entomologist, ant-expert
and Spaniard Franky Lopez starts this CD…a captured orchestra struggles
out from under the hard-wired crickets only to be washed back by a wave of
noise. Put Put’s unabashed hi-octane jets of air stress the gaskets, slice
like invisible knives. There’s extreme oddness as voice punctuates pulse in
Graham Lewis’ ‘I Saved M.I.T.(Yes I Did)’. A clutch of compositions from
newcomers Hecker – a conversation between a turntable, an old fridge and
radio – AER – outside now, birds, a glorious storm, a dropout – and Anton
Nikkila. Shirt Trax put the hurts on their agonized machines, forcing them
to do wrong things. Then guitarist Fennesz (see latest on Mego) heats up
his axe till it blisters…still there’s room for delay. And finally Noto
(also availible on Raster Music) who bops to sine.
And now, sadly, time to confirm that this is the final release on Ash (
Wot?! No fourth part to the trilogy, then ?) . I, for one, have had a load
of listening pleasure whilst learning a lot about shaping sound from
severalmany of the releases on this peerless label. Hopefully the vast
space it’s absence
will create will be filled by something equally challenging; something
which continues to lead the few in their pursuit of the original. (MP)
Address: <ash@touch.demon.co.uk>
VARIOUS ARTISTS – VAGE GELUIDEN (10″ on Meeuw Muzak)
A compilation. Some impressions:
SIDE 1 – Indigestion -Starting up the clarinet brain with an electronic
thingy – Save the whales? -Where’s the menu? -The resonant frequencies of
froth – Slow-motion cappucino, dropping the sugar – Shake, rattle…
where’s the roll? – (Got any butter?) -A good beginning is (inversely
proportional to) a good end – The tube.The crackle.The pavilion turntable
band – Easy. (Smeared. Then slammed.)
SIDE 2-Stamp out 50Hz hummingbirds -Gimme Dat Harp Boy ! -The resonant
frequencies produced by mixing concrete with a ruler -50Hz hummingbirds are
stamped out -Bad whip ! Bad, bad whip! -(Klankkrieg,not the band but the
sound of… Das Tod Der Tod) -Blipbird. Newday. Risingshine.
– Spooky runes -Spoontunes – Evelyn, the dog, viewed the modified piano
from the fringe. (MP)
Address: <laridae@xs4all.nl>
DAVID MAHLER – THE VOICE OF THE POET (CD by Artifact)
With his name I have the odd deja vu as with the first hearing the name
Henri Chopin – “a relative of some kind maybe”. Mahler uses the tape
recorder to a wide extent – a pair of scissors and the magnetic tape is all
he wants. The first piece is “a demonstration of tape techniques for
students” – showing the gradual phas shifting technqiue by Steve Reich.
Let’s call this a cover version of ‘Come Out’ or ‘It’s Gonna Rain’. In ‘The
King Of Angels’, he uses the voice of Elvis into some sort sampling
demonstration. The whole thing gets more interesting in ‘Rising Ground’
were relatively simple sound objects are used to create a piece that swells
and dwells and effectively use the left/right channel. Followed by the most
disapointing piece: an interview with Ingram Marshall being processed –
large parts are easy to follow. I just failed to understand this piece. The
short fifth piece can be forgotten to: a short churchlike piece with spoken
word – again useless, for it’s short to attract real attention. The final
piece is the most interesting. ‘Wind Peace’ is for Harold Budd and is like
this old ambient master a great set of ambientesque sounds – droning with
bell sounds. As you can imagine I have mixed feelings about this CD –
luckily the best pieces are the longer ones. (FdW)
Address: <http//www.artifact.com>
F.X. RANDOMIZ – GOFLEX (CD by A Musik)
Some people need a city to cherish – and everything from that city becomes
good. Its mere marketing you naive friend. Vienna, Seattle or this case
Cologne. It’s usually a bunch of friends working together at one point,
with each new project giving a new twist to the idea. F.X. Randomiz is no
different. His electronic music is harmless, to wacky to be called
popmusic, to random beat to be dance music, but to light to be heavy
experimental. The melodies in ‘Dirtum’ do catch up. The naviety of the
music reminds me of early 80s Der Plan. Take the vocoder voices that open
‘Ranidam’ and you know were I’m pointing at. Obviously this is made with
late nineties electronics, top notch state of the art machines
VARIOUS ARTIST – Back To Mono (7″ on MO NO PARTICULAR RECORDS)
Beatful, beautiful arttakes for the Vage Geluiden project stew together in
a haunting (too short!), bleary, triumphant, druginsect, druginsect 2 – The
Return of the Tok-Tok Beetles kind of a way on one side of this 7″. On ‘t
other – yer man Meeuw, plays C.M.von Hauswolff. (Whohe?-Ed). Back to
scratch. (Goes faster if you play it at 45rpm instead of 33). Nice end to
the record. (Or is it just an unlocked groove?). (MP)
No Address on the record
POWER OF JISM – YOUR SON DIED LAUGHING (CD by Supreme Tools Supplies)
This might be the odd ball review to be found in these pages, but this is a
celebration issue, so why not. Power Of Jism, two guys with a guitar, a
bass and vocals, and a rhythmmachine under control. They like to
exagarette. Super heavy distorted guitar music, a hugh wall of noise,
feedback and drums. Obviously not the sort of music I play every day, but
this has something energetic about it and makes my day start good (hey it’s
only 10 o’clock in the morning). The voices are not for me, nor the
depressed lyrics but just play it obniouxly loud and you get my drift.
Support your local guitar underground. (FdW)
Address: <jhjac@worldaccess.nl>
RLW – CAPUT KAPUTT (7″ by Korm Plastics)
Twice dead, as the structures Dutch sound mashers Kapotte Muziek make get
remashed (again!). Original live recordings of a German performance by this
tardy collective are redesignated a place in space by Ralf Wehowsky. The
first in a series of reworked recordings of Kapotte Muziek’s extensive
output by specific composers. ‘Not a free-for-all !’, promises a prominent
band member. (In fact, quite spiffy, with a touch of pace and a dash of
sauce.) A precis. A notatallbad encapsulation. Tighter. Sharper teeth.
Bitter bite. (MP)
THOMAS BRINKMANN – STUDIO 1 VARIATIONEN (CD by Profan)
COMPILATION – PROFAN (CD by Profan)
Profan is the name of the label run by the active dance musician Mike Ink.
Himself producing an excellent CD for Mille Plateaux last year (as ‘Gas’),
he puts his earnings into releasing likewise minimal techno by others.
Thomas Brinkmann spins records on special turntable – one with two needles
on the arm. The sound bounces left and right. An interesting idea for sure
(however easily to be repeated by a stereo echo machine…) – but the 13
tracks with which this is filled is a bit too much. Sometimes the grooves
are nice, but at one point you really want something to happen (other the
the left/right bounce). Each track ticks away nicely at a relatively slow
beat, but not much happens. The greatness of some minimal techno doesn’t
lie in the reptition of one idea for a whole CD, but in extending the
mimalist groove per track and change that throughout a CD. Just a 12″ with
4 tracks would have been enough to get the idea across.
The compilation put out by Profan is of more interest – even though I
expect with this sort of thing that they use multiple band names to cover
up the fact that it is just 1 person. These 13 slabs are like wise minimal,
but each differs distinctely from the previous track. A lot of random beats
thrown in that eventually go into a groove – of some kind. At a loud volume
this worked best for me.
Address: distribution: Neuton. Fax + 49 69 82974450
ASMUS TIETCHENS – DAMMERATTACKE (LP BY Korm Plastics)
Getting there with Asmus Tietchens, Lord of Thrills.The time taken to get
to a place is, like the journey, more important than the arriving. (Ever
quizzed a snail?) Little drone (sort of microphone/speaker thingy by
Cunningham), expands (as you do), gets big, arrives and recedes. Sounds
like far away, sounds heard over a misty distance…a valley, water and
possible industries. Low aircraft, bellies laden with the fruits of labour
churn the fog, mixing the vaporous soup with choppy blades of motion. (The
plumbers back!) The heart of mill.
Side 2 – Space is bigger than before. Clusters of analogue synthetics lock
into sequences and bounce around. Random madness hovers close by, disguised
in a shroud of possible coherency. A swarm of information gathered close to
it’s queen. Spinning tops cut the crystal. Space pitches, then pitches down
a notch. Stars slide to a slowdown. The edge of sky. Into and out of a
relative, Silence.
(And then, all the toys in the attic start to move, apparently of their own
accord, towards the stairs leading down to the rest of the sleeping
house…)
(I hear the walls breathing when this record stops…) (MP)