GONCALO FALCAO – LOAD (miniCD by Ananana)
Falcao is a guitarist from Portugal’s strong improvisation scene, where he
has played with Telectu, Vidya Ensemble, and Rhys Chatham. He now presents
his first 21 minutes of solo improv guitar playing. The first piece (with
it’s 20 minutes eating the majority of the CD) starts out with some heavily
processed sampler noise, quickly shifting through all the banks that
contain sounds. 10 minutes in the guitar sounds become recognisable and are
then fed through a whole bunch of effects which end this piece in a noisy
but drony area. Quite a vivid piece of heavy guitar playing here.
The second piece ‘Poke’, plucking a bass is more fun than poking it, I
assume, and this sounds like an excerpt of a bigger work. I have no idea
why this was included. Nevertheless a nice shorty. In both ways. (FdW)
Address: <ananana@esoterica.pt>
BAND OF PAIN/STEPHEN MEIXNER (7″ by Outsider Records)
A collaboration between a one-man band and one from a band – Band Of Pain
and Stephen Meixner (of Contrastate fame) team up for a collaboration, each
having the control over one side of the rekkid.
On the ‘Sky Side’ Band Of Pain rework sounds by Stephen Meixner
The ‘Frog Side’ sees Stephen Meixner playing with Band Of Pain material –
drones of an unstable kind in association with voices in loop mode. Maybe a
bit too lo-fi home made for my liking.
The flip (‘Sky Side’) uses exactly the same ingredients, but Band Of Pain
manages to maintain the tension with this relatively simple set of sounds.
So what’s open for discussion is whether Stephen supplies the right sound
and the wrong mix and Band Of Pain the opposite? (FdW)
Address: Outsider – 10 Yarborough Road – Lincoln LN1 1HS – UK
RAPOON – THE FIRES OF THE BORDERLANDS (CD by Relapse)
The first Rapoon CD to appear outside the hyperium of Soleilmoon and
Staalplaat is many years, and on a label that we didn’t expect to do this
sort of thing. Relapse are otherwise known for their noise infused discs
using guitars or feedback. Now be warned: Rapoon just does precisely what
he is good at: the production of ultra dark ambient music. The ever-present
drones are there, and there is an increasing interest in using voices,
sometimes like a far away Gregorian chant, as on ‘Cires Divam’. There is an
almost divine atmosphere to be found here, divineness and isolation are the
two words that can capture Rapoon’s music best. And musicwise Robin Storey
stays closest to the original zoviet*france sound as heard on the Just An
Illusion CD. (FdW)
Address: <relapse@relapse.com>
ENGAGED #6 (CD by Engaged)
Engaged is a magazine that takes a new shape every issue. This time this is
a radio broadcast sold on CD (so that’s two shapes in one). There are four
sections that can be broadcast as a whole, or in the 4 seperate sections.
Each section is a bunch of audio submissions and various ‘interviews’.
Stations can call for a copy at the address below.
The first section has our beloved Whitehead, spoken word treatment by
Beverly Hood, some noisy bits from Noto (I am pretty sure these come from
his ‘CD on Noton/Rastermusic) and a bad piece by Siren Circus (opera voice).
Intercepted by short spoken words, some of these being interviews with the
artists. These are not a boring set of statements, but are subject to
being scalpelled and cut up . An interesting and vivid approach is the
result. And it can be easily compared with a radio programme – it is a
medium that goes quickly: if you don’t like a piece, it is over before you
realize it. Others in this programme: DJ Spooky (who chops up y’r fave
Beatles piece), Elisabeth James, Kazuko Hohki, John Williams and Jonathan
Brannen. (FdW)
Address: <rachel@engaged.demon.co.uk>
TIME MACHINES (CD by Eskaton)
Boring as I am, I never was really into Coil. They had some things, but
alas if I want to hear people singing I go out to buy a 1 guilder junk
vinyl of popmusic. I am always more pleased when people try daring stuff. I
was thrilled by that beautiful Coil vs. Elph CD that was outrageously
minimal music, and I am likewise thrilled by this. Huge, massive swirls of
droning sounds fill your environment in four long tracks. “Artifacts
generated by your listening environment are an intrinsic part of the
experience” – you bet! Play this at low volume the drones are barely
audible, more something to feel. Played loud your insides start shaking
all over. So do the cups on the table. More noisy then your average Phill
Niblock, but with the same intensity. Listen on headphones and you are in a
time machine. All sense is lost. (FdW)
Address: through Worldserpent
TELEFORM – SAMPLER 3 (CD by TOUCH)
This label and it’s amazing catalogue requires (?) no introduction to those
who regularly scan this screensheet. So now that I’ve got that over with
I’ll just carry on with my imaginary review again. This is the third in a
series of compilations which do not always contain material which has been
(or has yet to be) included on other releases. This makes them items in
themselves and this particular one struck me as being the strangest yet.
Recordings of Temple Gamelans and demonstrations of African instruments are
sandwiched between short audio photographs and longer pieces by some of the
regular composers whose work appears on Touch and it’s various related
labels.The latter are, for me, the most interesting, ‘cos I’m not too keen
on Gamelans, me. (Maybe it has something to do with Paul Schutze slowing
them down all the time ?) There are two pieces from ‘the legendary’ Chris
Watson, who achieved some success with his previous full-length CD
‘Stepping Into The Dark’, a collection of field recordings from around the
planet. This time he considerably closed the distance between himself and
his unwitting subjects capturing hyperreal, very, very close recordings of
selected natural environments and most especially the creatures that
inhabit them. I did review ‘Stepping Into The Dark’ when it came out and
was perhaps a little too dismissive and cynical about it. Despite this,
however, I use it continually on radio and at gigs, especially the beastly
track with the rooks. Then there’s the spooky piece ‘Knives In Hens’ by the
very Biosperical Geir Jenssen, as we don’t normally hear him. Was this
recorded from transducers implanted into an extraterrestrial, I wonder ?
Rehberg & Bauer (the Twins of Digihurt), Farmers Manual, Bruce Gilbert and
Philip Jeck all provide sound structures which many used to think harsh,
but which now, thanks to the efforts of labels like Touch, Mego and Sahko,
have become almost easy listening. Disinformation aka Joe Banks has created
a simulation of a live gallery event which proved to difficult to record on
location…there’s a new sound object coming out very soon (on vinyl, I
fink) on the late label ASH. This inclusion really rocks !
And the whole thing ends with a piece by Scala (a group which includes
Darren Seymour – Seefeel, and Mark Van Hoen – Locust, both who I think can
– and do – make far better music elsewhere), a band I simply cannot get to
grips with.
Release date of this compilation is 23 February. Get it. Got it ? (MP)
Address: <touch@touch.demon.co.uk>
ARNE NORDHEIM – ELECTRIC (CD on RUNE GRAMMAFON)
Here’s a very worthwhile re-release which first came out
in 1974. Arne has something of a reputation is Norweigian electroacoustic
music, and most of these pieces remained untainted by the passage of time,
sounding amazingly fresh and almost thoroughly MODERN !. There’s loads of
exotic text in the booklet with plenty of real classical name droppings,
like Bruckner, Mahler and…oh, that’s about it then. As you can guess, I
didn’t pay much attention to the notes, but there again I’m not writing
about his life, rather my impression of the music.
First track, ‘Solitaire’, is exquisite. It was composed in 1968, but you’d
never guess it. Massive waves of sound build up into bursting crestscendos.
Tiny bells tinkle like raindrops.
This is followed by the track ‘Pace’ which, like most of the pieces which
follow it, include voice as a sound source. Arne tends to do the electronic
equivalent of beating voices with a steel pole until they are radically
bent out of shape and manage to masquerade as something else. Once again
there are bells here. ‘Warsaw’ includes sound material found in the
archives of a radio station and is presented as the composer’s sound diary
of his personal experiences during a difiicult stay in Warsaw.
‘Colorazione’ is an ensemble piece, albeit with a difference…there’s a
delay time of about 15 seconds during which the live performance is
recorded, grunged and then fed back to the musicians to work with.
‘PolyPoly’ is the name of the last track, and it’s a 16’00 excerpt from a
composition based on six tape loops, each of different length which play
repeatedly, recombining each time in new sonic architectures. If left to
itself, it would take 102 years to start at the beginning again. A 7″ for
Methusalah, perhaps.
A very interesting reissue, not necessarily only for the die-hards, but
also for lovers of most Hard Chill. (MP)
Address: <rune@grappa.no>