FURVUS – AES GRAVE (CD by Dark Vinyl)
SEAN ALI – MY TONGUE CRUMBLES AFTER (CD by Neither/Nor)
PAN-SCAN ENSEMBLE – AIR AND LIGHT AND TIME AND SPACE (CD by PNL Records)
PAAL NILSSEN-LOVE & FRODE GJERSTAD – NEARBY FARAWAY (CD by PNL Records)
AGNES HVIZDALEK – INDEX (CD by Nakama Records)
JEFF ÖZDEMIR & FRIENDS – VOLUME 2 (CD by Karaoke Kalk)
SYLVAIN CHAUVEAU – POST EVERYTHING (CD by Brocoli) *
JULIAN SARTORIUS – HIDDEN TRACKS: BASEL – GENEVE (12″ by Everest Records)
THE BEATLES/DOC WOR MIRRAN – CRY FOR A SHADOW (7″ by Empty Records)
BILL SEAMAN – ERASURES AND DISPLACEMENTS (DOUBLE CDR by Eilean Records) *
DREAMSTATE – DRONE DAY (CDR by eSpace) *
AM.EISE – WALLED OFF (CDR by Attenuation Circuit) *
MALANG NOISE BIMBANG (CDR compilation by Attenuation Circuit) *
RAVVPOVVER – WHISPER ROOM (cassette by 1pt8 Records) *
IVORY TRADE/LILAC (split cassette by 1pt8 Records) *
GDG – FOR JACQUES LACAN (cassette by 1pt8 Records) *
SAD CAMBODIA – FIRST METHEORETICAL BULLETIN (cassette by Sincope) *
LATE – BLOOD (cassette by Amek)
FURVUS – AES GRAVE (CD by Dark Vinyl)
Luigi Maria Mennella used his Furvus alter ego for the first time again since the 1999 album
Deflorescens Iam Robur. The sleeve notes emphasise that nothing on this record was either
sequenced, or programmed, nor were any of the vocal parts pitch-corrected, which is quite a
puritanical statement, but perhaps also a welcome change with all those sleek neo-classical and
folk studio productions about. However, it takes me a few minutes to find out that this also
means that the drumming far from tight on some of the tracks, but given the fact that the
good man recorded everything himself, I’d say it’s still quite a feat. It’s fairly obvious that
vocals are his forté and indeed don’t require any correction at all. I reckon the horn sections
and other ostensibly ‘acoustic’ instruments we hear on the tracks (but don’t see in the picture
inside the sleeve) come from keyboards. The verification of the latter is complicated by the fact
that album is drenched in a vast cathedral of reverb, which gives the whole thing a bit of an
Ossian presence, moreover, it boosts some of the dominant resonant frequencies on the vocals
and for instance the bagpipe-ish melody on Pos de Chanter m’es Pres Talenz, which I guess the
mastering should have taken care of, unless it is intended to be that intense. On Melopoeia
Pestilentiae, Caudata Domina Nostra there is some recurrent clipping on the spoken word part
that comes in near the end, which just takes a bit of the shine I feel. I do understand adhering
to purism, believe me i do, but personally I would just record the track again if necessary. Another
thing I noticed is that the mastering brick walled the whole thing, which just removes most
dynamics from the recordings. I really don’t understand why one would think that any kind of
hot-mastering could be beneficial to this kind of music.
Mon In The Moon suddenly turns the whole thing around with a interestingly progressive
dark folk song that is anything but straightforward and with regard to its structure perhaps a
bit reminiscent of the work of Comus. I really enjoyed this one, even though the percussion,
again, is a bit ropey and really just flopping about near the end. It’s evident that Mennella is a
very talented multi-instrumentalist, but maybe, just maybe, he should leave the skin battering
up to a proper drummer. Also bombastic closer upper De Rerum Natura clearly shows both
great compositional aptitude and the plain lack of commanding impetus of a tight drummer.
Overall the album is well composed and features some interesting moments of musical and
sonic tension. Apart from the folk song and the final track I didn’t feel a lot of it was very
memorable though, but that may also just take a while. What didn’t do it for me that much
was the amount of reverb on some of the tracks. If this was recorded in situ and the reverb is
just a feature of the space itself then I guess it can’t be helped (and I’d like to applaud the
vanquishing of most of the difficulties that come with recording natural reverberation). However,
all in all, it is sometimes a bit much, even for a proper goth like myself. And then, if this is just
reverb from a box, attenuation on some of the frequencies could have done wonders for several
of the tracks, that now seem to clip somewhere in the recording chain, which is a bit of a shame
for something that clearly required a lot of effort and energy to manifest. Anyway, if you’re into
neoclassical stuff, give it a go. (PJN)
––– Address: http://www.darkvinyl.de
SEAN ALI – MY TONGUE CRUMBLES AFTER (CD by Neither/Nor)
Ohio native Ali started as a guitarist, studied sitar and oud, and is engaged as a bassist in New
York-projects since a decade. Also he works as a spoken word-artist. He is founder of the
Mudbath Orchestra operating in the NY-area since 2011. ‘My Tongue Crumbles After’ is his first
solo statement and has him playing double bass. Also a few sound collages of field recordings
are used, as well as a few recordings of spoken word. In 34 minutes he invites us for eight tracks
of concentrated improvisations. In each piece Ali shows a different face. Pieces like ‘Fingerdeep’
stay most close to the sound of double bass as we know it. In other pieces, by use of extended
techniques, he moves away from the familiar sound spectrum of this instrument, although it is
always evident that we listening to a double bass. In ‘Queens Gothic’ he plays it in an almost
percussive way. In ‘Lime Works’ he produces distorted, edgy sounds. In the closing track
‘Hunger’, he produces long and dark drones. All tracks are of an outspoken character and are
thought over. Music that is extreme and a bit dark, presenting the double bass as a very
suitable and intriguing instrument for solo improvisation. A very worthwhile release. (DM)
––– Address: http://neithernorrecords.com/
PAN-SCAN ENSEMBLE – AIR AND LIGHT AND TIME AND SPACE (CD by PNL Records)
PAAL NILSSEN-LOVE & FRODE GJERSTAD – NEARBY FARAWAY (CD by PNL Records)
Two releases by the Norwegian PNL Records, a label started in 2007 by drummer Paal-Nilssen-
Love, who is on both releases. On board of the Pan-Scan Ensemble are: Lotte Anker (soprano,
alto and tenor saxophone), Anna Högberg (alto saxophone), Julie Kjær (alto saxophone, flute),
Thomas Johansson (trumpet), Goran Kajfes (trumpet), Emil Strandberg (trumpet), Sten Sandell
(piano), Ståle Liavik Solberg (drums and percussion) and Paal Nilssen-Love (drums and percussion).
A brass-dominated group, recorded live in concert on December 20th 2016 by Stig Gunnar Ringen
at Blow Out, Mir, Oslo, Norway. Both tracks on the album resulted from group-improvisation: ‘Air
and Light’ (12:28) and ‘Time and Space’(33:27) and are two heavy engaging improvisations that
are full of contrast and dynamics. The recording is crystal clear, so you don’t have to miss any of
the manoeuvres that are undertaken.
‘Nearby Faraway’ by Nilssen-Love and Gjerstad, marks the 25th birthday of their collaboration.
It all started in 1992 when Nilssen-Love joined Frode’s Circulasione Totale Orchestra and continued
in various settings as a duo, the Frode Gjerstad Trio and different quartet line-ups. The album is
dedicated to pianist and accordion player Elvin One Pedersen who died in 2012. Both Gjerstad
and Nilssen-Love played with him in several line-ups. On this duo effort Gjerstad plays alto and
bass sax, Bb and contrabass clarinet, and Nilssen-Love plays Asba drums. The cd opens with an
intimate improvisation, titled ‘Dreams’. In the following improvisations they go through various
moods and tempers. The players give room to another, and interact intensively and decisively.
They keep things raw and aggressive, but at the same time they show virtuosity, using a wide
range of patterns and possibilities. Results are not always surprising, but at moments their
music really is on the razor’s edge. Two excellent releases of improvised music that has body
and content. (DM)
––– Address: https://pnlrecords.bandcamp.com/
AGNES HVIZDALEK – INDEX (CD by Nakama Records)
This is a solo work for voice by Agnes Hvizdalek, an improvising musician originating from Vienna’s
musical scene. Since 2008 she lives and works in Oslo, where she is part of the Nakama-collective.
With ‘Index’ she releases her solo-debut, a first recording after years of exploring and experimenting
with the human voice. Listening to “Index” it is immediately evident that Hvizdalek is into abstract
vocal art. The CD consists of one 47-minute piece(!), recorded at the bottom of a 60-foot chimney
of an old factory in São Paulo called Casa das Caldeiras during a stay in 2016, which turned out to
be a very one of a kind location for sure, ideal one for Hvizdalek to undertake her sonic research.
The extended work is built from different chapters that have Hvizdalek using different techniques,
etc. There are only some environmental sounds in the background as a companion during this trip.
The vocal sounds are unprocessed. Some sound clearly human, others however are weird,
unidentified auditive objects, where it is hard to imagine they come from the human voice. Yes,
we are dealing with a very abstract and radical work. It is a like a trip in the jungle, filled with noises
and sounds from exotic animals. On the other hand it is just a sequence of strange sounds.
Structure and composition don’t play an important role in this challenging work. (DM)
––– Address: http://www.nakamarecords.no/
JEFF ÖZDEMIR & FRIENDS – VOLUME 2 (CD by Karaoke Kalk)
Let me take the liberty to quote my previous review of Jeff Özdemir and Friends, from Vital Weekly
974, as much of this goes for the second volume as well: “Ah, two things I am not particular fond
about, which is compilations and remixes, although perhaps this is not either really. It’s basically
songs by Jeff Özdemir, from Berlin where he runs the ’33rpm Store’ and who is a multi-
instrumentalist, composer and producer. On this album he plays his songs with friends from Berlin,
and perhaps there is some pure remixes in here. It’s not easy to tell. So, let’s treat it as an album
by Özdemir, made by him and a whole bunch of friends. I never heard his music before. There are
many misconceptions about Vital Weekly and what we do like and don’t, and one of that is that
we don’t like pop music. We, well I, do. A lot actually. But, having said that, it’s not something I
know a lot about. I do like a lot of the releases on Static Caravan, and also music released Karaoke
Kalk gets my thumb up, even when I most of the times am a blind as to what it is that I’m
reviewing. Özdemir and his friends play quite smooth pop music, a bit funky, a bit dramatic, a bit
world music inspired, disco and jazz. Lyrics are in English and German. When it comes to remixes
there’s the usual techno and house music. I wasn’t blow away by some of the more jazzy pieces,
of the smooth variety, which I really don’t like, but otherwise this highly varied bunch of music
worked really well. Close to eighty minutes of music, which sounds like tuning into an alternative
radio channel playing some great alternative music.”
I know some nice PR person at Karaoke Kalk would love to kill me for essentially doing a lame
job, quoting an older review in full length, for what is of course another important album for Jeff
Özdemir and the label. However everything I wrote (and I added one word in there, which was
missed last time) back then is valid for this album. It’s pop like, jazz like, smooth, singer-
songwriter, sometimes (but just sometimes a bit more experimental, for instance when working
with F.S. Blumm), but all of it is just too far away for Vital Weekly. It’s great music but we are not
the right people to judge it properly. (FdW)
––– Address: http://karaokekalk.de
SYLVAIN CHAUVEAU – POST EVERYTHING (CD by Brocoli)
And following Ozdemir’s record I went on with Sylvain Chauveau (well, a couple of days later) and
of course I reviewed his work before (too), and with a varying degree of interest. I like his
instrumental music best (such as ‘Un Autre Decembre’, see Vital Weekly 1001), but primarily he
uses his voice with some very minimal electronic to accompany him. Playing this new release I
realized that I perhaps haven’t heard a lot of this vocal music of his. And it is perhaps something
that is not really for me anyway, I was also thinking. Whenever I am in the car with someone who
has the radio on, modern, normal pop music radio that is, I notice that so many voices are alike
these days. Great singers, soulful, very skilled, with that next-to-a-tear heartfelt intonation of real
pain and actual sorrow, and usually with music I don’t like very much; electronics that imitate real
instruments. That last thing is something that Chauveau doesn’t do. His music is very sparse, and
it makes that one hears his voice even better, and boy he has a great voice, but it is very much
also something that is just is not my cup of tea at all. Perhaps I find all of this too dramatic, too
normal, too regular, too… I am not sure. Maybe I find all of this too much pop music, be it
alternative, but clearly aiming for a larger audience. I can imagine this being something very
popular and well liked, but it is too far outside the scope of Vital Weekly. (FdW)
––– Address: http://www.brocoli.org
JULIAN SARTORIUS – HIDDEN TRACKS: BASEL – GENEVE (12″ by Everest Records)
Apparently this is available as “12” vinyl (limited to 300 copies), Map and Digital”, of which I got
the latter two. The name of percussion player Julian Sartorius popped up a few times in Vital
Weekly, mainly as part of various improvising groups with releases on Veto Records. I am sure it’s
a boring stereotype, but Sartorius as a Swiss born native he of course loves those mountains
(note the irony, I hope) and in October 2016 he walked for ten days from Basel to Genève and
in his backpack he had a pair of drum sticks. Oh, an a map of course, the same as now also comes
as a release; on the other side we find pictures of the trail and some of the material used, because
en route he bangs on fences, tree trunks, empty silos, sticks and whatever he could drum on and
everything was duly recorded and used to compose the pieces on this record. This is not a
registration of sounds that he taped, but a collage of various recordings layered together to
make a collection of eleven fine audio compositions. The fact that it is recorded outdoors shines
through in some of these pieces, when we hear a plane or birds passing. I am not sure if these
pieces are used as they are, but then stuck together, or if Sartorius allows himself to loop his
own stuff, and/or other tricks that the studio has. The first I am not sure about, the second
might not be the case, I think. The obligatory cow bells shine through here, at one point, but I
guess that’s hardly a surprise; otherwise this is a very fine release of odd rhythmic textures,
played on probably even weirder objects and which, stuck together, make up a an excellent
percussive record. Much of this sounds very dry, as Sartorius doesn’t seem to be using a lot of
sound effects other than those that come in natural way, but space is part of this shining
through the way it is recorded. Great stuff, that is to be found on the cross road of improvised
music and musique concrete. (FdW)
––– Address: https://jsartorius.bandcamp.com/
THE BEATLES/DOC WOR MIRRAN – CRY FOR A SHADOW (7″ by Empty Records)
Of course I could go all-comical here and say something as ‘nice young band from Liverpool with a
promising song, covered by the musical chameleons Doc Wör Mirran’, or be all serious. In the whole
swing modus of The Beatles versus Rolling Stones (a non-discussion for a late night boozing party
of musical nerds) I am pro The Beatles (and can I say I never heard a full length record by the
Stones in my life; I do know some of their songs, I think) and if there is a quiz I could score some
points, but to say that ‘Cry For A Shadow’ is something that I could whistle; no. In fact I never
heard of it until this 7″ arrived. I looked up the information about this (before actually hearing)
and this was recorded in 1961 when the fab (sans Ringo, with Best) were backing a recording
session with Tony Sheridan. This instrumental was penned by Lennon and Harrison (their only
work together) and together with ‘Flying’ the only instrumental song (well, maybe ‘Revolution 9’
counts as instrumental as well) and it was inspired by The Shadows. It was first released in 1964
when the Beatles became famous and is part of ‘Anthology 1’, which I actually have, but hardly
play (unlike the two other volumes in that series), so the whole existence of this song kind of
escaped me. And hearing it now, sure, why would you remember it, other perhaps than that this
a song by The Beatles. A piece of instrumental music that is very much inspired by The Shadows
indeed, with a nice twang, solo’s and breaks but also perhaps light weight.
Doc Wör Mirran recorded three covers of The Beatles in the late nineties for a Beatles tribute
on Moloko+, which never happened and which they spend some time dragging around and in 2010
Musical Tragedies, as the label from Doc Wör Mirran is sometimes called, got the right to release a
licence of the song and then decided to do a shape record, but that turned to be too expensive.
Now it is a normal 7″ with the Doc’s version on the other side (and should you wanna know, Doc
Wör Mirran also recorded ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ and ‘Free As A Bird’) and it follows the original
quite closely, with a drum machine, but add a bit more distortion to the solo’s, so the whole thing
has surely a lot more bite than the original. A funny little bugger this one. Limited to 300 copies
so it surely gives Beatle maniacs some run to the shops. (FDW)
––– Address: http://www.empty.de/
BILL SEAMAN – ERASURES AND DISPLACEMENTS (DOUBLE CDR by Eilean Records)
On the previous occasion that I heard the name Bill Seaman (also the first time), I noticed that his
role was some neglected on the front cover. It was his doing that shaped K. Leimer’s CD ‘The Pale
Catalog’ (see Vital Weekly 994), but with a smaller mention than Leimer. This is perhaps a kind of
revenge for him, by doing a double release? Sometime ago I was discussing classic records that
were on 2LP set in the old days, and I am not the biggest fan ‘The White Album’, let alone ‘Freak
Out’, so for me ‘Out Of The Blue’ is the really strong one I could think of at the time (now I am
sure there are others). I am not sure why Seaman opted for a double CDR release here; with a total
length of 86 minutes. Why not a good solid hour worth of music on one disc?
Seaman’s primary instrument is the piano here, which he plays in a rather improvised, going
into Ableton Live where these recordings are met by libraries of sound that people hand in. Some
of these sounds are quite abstract, like the vinyl residue of a heavily worn out record, and others
are more easily to be recognized. He tells us some of his pieces use 30 to 50 tracks, from which
he sculpts the final result. That seems a lot, based on what I am hearing. The piano is in all four-
teen of these pieces the most prominent feature, along with hiss, crackles, a desolate trumpet,
and much reverb to suggest even more space. It is not difficult to see the connection between
the works of Leimer and fellow label mate Marc Barreca and Seaman. This is all textbook ambient
music; melancholic, atmospheric, spacious. This is music to use for a fine moment or two (or 86
minutes) of meditation, to sit back and relax. And as such you wouldn’t perhaps notice that
perhaps some of these pieces are quite similar when it comes to sound treatments and
compositions. There is a fine level of abstraction in all of these pieces, which makes this is all a
bit stranger; Seaman keeps out of the new age world with some of the more heavily treated
instruments, battered old vinyl or field recordings. It is not something you haven’t heard before,
but Seaman does a really great job here. (FdW)
––– Address: https://www.eilean-records.com
DREAMSTATE – DRONE DAY (CDR by eSpace)
Every day something is celebrated, as I write this on Flagday (USA), Freedom Day (Malawi) and
national ‘play outside day’ (The Netherlands). Or, to stay in the world of music, there is a record
store day, cassette day and CDR day. I never heard of ‘National Drone Day’, which was held for
the first time on May 10th 2014 in Toronto, Canada and dreamSTATE (as they prefer to spell it)
played two pieces, five parts in each, during an ‘AM’ session and a ‘FM’ session. Imagine the ‘hard’
work of Vital Weekly, listening to music all day (or, as a friend said, ‘listening to music all day? I
am glad I have a job!’), chewing on what to write and how nice it is to sit back and listen and
enjoy? Mainly because sometimes writing reviews is easy. You sit back, read a book, drink a coffee
and all along you are in approval what you hear. This is great music. Fine, so a review is easy. You
can throw in the ‘it’s not something you haven’t heard before’ routine (but frankly one could
easily say that for a lot of the music reviewed here anyway), mumble something about ‘ambient/
atmospheric/cosmic/head space’, add the word ‘trip’ or ‘journey’ and you are there; almost. And
I could probably leave it there, as it’s clear enough what this is all about, right? Maybe, but it is
important to add that Dreamstate nicked more than a few tricks from the old cosmic synth book,
think especially Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze, with those cascading waves of synthesizers,
a touch of arpeggio, but also it sees them incorporating field recordings. The overall atmospheric
mood is dark here, which is as to mark out the difference with new age music, but the rhythm of
‘AM-4’ was already a dead give away that this is something else. Tribalistic rhythm, the synthesizers
sounding like insects while longer waves emulate dark clouds over the rain forest, or the more
clubby rhythm machines of ‘PM-4’ (there seems to be a pattern here!), which is their most
Tangerine moment. This release I played three times in a row; I wanted to finish that book I was
reading and for a while I was fed with some of the more difficult music. (FdW)
––– Address: http://www.dreamstate.to/
AM.EISE – WALLED OFF (CDR by Attenuation Circuit)
MALANG NOISE BIMBANG (CDR compilation by Attenuation Circuit)
If you stick ‘am’ and ‘eise’ together you get ameise, which is the German word for ‘ants’. I have
no clue who is behind this project, but I assume it’s an one man project, armed with a bunch of
sound effects (delay, reverb, distortion), some electronics, a contact microphone attached to
metal objects, maybe some field recordings and a microphone. The whole thing is also released
by Ralmic Records, which seems a new name for me. Am.eise seems to take his cues from the
world of good ol’ industrial music, which means it isn’t that loud at all the time, but to call this
anything like ‘relaxing’ is also not really possible. There is something quite depressing about this
music, which it’s sighing down a microphone, dark rumble of sound effects on that microphone,
water dripping with a lot of reverb. There are ten tracks here and it’s close to an hour, which on
a nice sunny afternoon is all a bit much to take in. I perhaps would love to have some mild and
relaxing (perhaps that Ozedmir CD I review elsewhere, providing some sunshine), but having said
I think what Am.eise does is not bad at all. It seems to me that he knows what he is doing,
technology wise and some of the pieces are perhaps a bit long, I thought, but if you love some
fine Nordic noise in the best tradition of Cold Meat Industry then let this depress you on end and
enjoy it.
Did I just write something about noise and warm weather? I then must be sure glad I wasn’t
at ‘Houtenhand’ (which means wooden hand) in Malang on the Indonesian island Java, in September
last year when they hosted at gig there at “Toko Houtenhand (Houtenhand Lt.3), and this gig is
introduce the new Toko Houtenhand that was renovated”. Four acts here, I assume all of these
from Indonesia, Bergegas Mati, Uhyeah, KNUP and Heilog. The theme was “Noisychedelic” for this
night and Uhyeah focuses mainly on the noise aspect of the word with a long feedback howl, using
microphone, voice and feedback. Along similar noise lines is Bergegas Mati (of whom Attenuation
Circuit says ‘harsh-noise/dark/spoken-word’, but I missed out on the spoken word part) and Knup!
The latter being all the more psychedelic using a lot of sound effects on an organ drone. The odd
bit comes from Heilog, being all the more ambient with a jam on electronics, sound effects (mucho
delay here) and on top of that a bass playing a solo throughout.
––– Address: https://emerge.bandcamp.com/
RAVVPOVVER – WHISPER ROOM (cassette by 1pt8 Records)
IVORY TRADE/LILAC (split cassette by 1pt8 Records)
GDG – FOR JACQUES LACAN (cassette by 1pt8 Records)
From some time ago I remember this label as being part of something microsound/microwave
and/or just minimal of whatever kind. There have been a couple of CD releases a decade or so
back, and after some hiatus there are now three new releases, all on cassette. For no particular
reason I started with Ravvpovver; none of the names sounded familiar so I picked that one, and
it turns our that behind Ravvpovver there is a trio, with Aidan Baker (guitar), Jacob Thiesen
(drums) and Neil Wiernik (bass), which is actually quite a surprise as I found out half way through
the cassette. When playing this I imagined this to be just one guy with some drum machine, a
load of electronics and a four-track machine to slow things down. It all sounded quite electronic,
but I guess it’s not. The long outro of the ‘Passofer’ on the first side sounds like a deep, dark
drone affair, but before that of much of this is a slow stomping rhythm, hence me thinking
someone slowed this down on a four track machine. ‘Pawrover’ on the other side lasts twenty-
one minute (as opposed to twenty-six on the other side) is a more rock based tune, but here
too the krautrock inspiration runs wild. Lots of spacey guitars, drums roll about and all of that
in a very minimal vein. This is the kind of music one should dive into, head deep down; don’t
think or rationalize, just space out. The second side is more traditionally rock inspired and the
first has that curious slowed down electronic sound to it, but both pieces are surely lovely
krautrock affairs; one being traditional 70s inspired, the other one updated to ‘now’. This is a
lovely head-trip.
The second release is a split release by Ivory Trade from Belgium and Lilac, which is the
‘project behind the label’. No other information came forward, which is a pity. Based on hearing
Ivory Trade (who had releases before on Weight Of Ages, Audio Visual Atmosphere, Levertraan,
Caprice & Necessity, Kirlian Recordings, Archivio Diafònico and Autumn Archive; all since 2015),
I’d say this is someone who uses a bit of cassette technology, small synthesizers, field recordings
and electronics, to create sound collages of quite an organic dense matter, dwelling on the noise
side of things and yet it never gets super loud. The ambient element of the music is never lost in
here, even when all of this is a bit cruder than usual. But I must say, it’s the kind of ambient noise
that I like very much. Labelwoner Brian tells me his work as Lilac is noisier than some of his other
work (which I must say I don’t know), but everything is relative in this world. I expected some loud
noise, but got some fine electronic music that is indeed a bit louder and ‘End Of Tape’ the noisiest
bit here, and yet it was full of dynamics, bouncing back and forth between relative silence and mild
noise; except that one piece which is all crude and distorted, but this being on tape, it is also not
really all distortion and headache.
The third one then has again something else, the alto saxophone of David Gross, already
recorded ten years ago in Austin, Texas. Gross says about this: “tension, pressure, the mechanics
of the instrument. 100% extended technique”, so be prepared for some hardcore improvisation.
There are eight titles here on this cassette (and if you get the download there is also a print ready
PDF in there with a CD cover, if you like to burn it onto a CDR; great!) name drop various radical
improvisers, such as Ken Vandermark, Mike Pence, Greg Kelley and Ornette Coleman) and being
someone who is not blown away (pun intended) of more traditional saxophone music, I must say
that a release like this is a true delight. In some of these pieces one recognizes the saxophone, but
sometimes not at all, which is of course something I enjoy very much. You could wonder what the
saxophone has to do with all of this, or even wonder if this is music at all (a point we hardly ever
ask ourselves when reviewing music, quite rightly so). The eight pieces are quite radical poetical
statements. One way or another I am thinking of this as sound poetry, with quite a big role for
the mouth to produce sounds, usually in close proximity of the saxophone. This is most of the
time very quiet music, and one that requires your full attention, but then it unfolds its beauty. (FdW)
––– Address: https://1pt8.bandcamp.com
SAD CAMBODIA – FIRST METHEORETICAL BULLETIN (cassette by Sincope)
Here we have a newly formed duo, Stefano, also known as My Dear Killer and Massimo Onza,
sometimes operating as Wound (see also Vital Weekly 860; he’s also the label boss, here, I
think); the latter uses synths, loops and effects, while Stephano Stephanowic, as he is called
in the information, plays guitars and tape loops. It is of course not strange to see these
instruments paired up together to play music but in the two thirteen-minute plus pieces on
offer here I am not all too sure that marriage works very well. On one hand there is somewhat
angular, distorted synthesizer sounds brought to the table by Onza, which can be described as
‘mildly noisy’ and on the other hand there is tinkling of chords by Stephanowic, going a bit more
ambient in that approach. It is an odd marriage, which on ‘Metheoretical Bulletin I. Theory’ doesn’t
work very well. On ‘Metheoretical Bulletin II. Field Report #1’ it works much better, with those time
stretched sounds forming a backdrop of drones and the guitar in loop modus on top. It is partly
intense, partly spooky and yet at the same time also somehow quite meditative; in all its weirdness
that is. On this side Sad Cambodia knows how to attract attention and sounds work together;
something that doesn’t happen on the other side where it sounds like randomly chosen sounds
working together, and at such rather unsuccessfully. (FdW)
––– Address: http://sincoperec.altervista.org/
LATE – BLOOD (cassette by Amek)
Amek calls this an EP, but at seven pieces (of which one is a remix), some thirty or so minutes,
this is hardly an EP, I would think. Behind Late is Emil Mitov from Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria and
also the hometown of Amek. A man of beat music, Late, using many low end bass beats, a bit
broken up and not always that danceable (except for the Roboknob remix), but overlaid with some
great dark atmospheric drones. If there is a club where music like this is placed, I imagined this to
be dark, with a low ceiling, occasionally flashing strobe lights, filled with smoke and people dancing
like they are on drugs (they probably are). Slow and punchy bass, beats sometimes thrown in like
a drum & bass set, but without staying there for very long, the music continuing in the same slow
drive. Maybe the fact that this is on tape means it is all somewhat compressed, adding a sort of
strange warmth to the music, but one can only imagine what this sounds like on a proper
installation. Mind and body blowing I should think. This would definitely be something for a slab
of vinyl and gather some more recognition. (FdW)
––– Address: http://amekcollective.blogspot.com/