SUKORA – TOWER (CD by Meme)
A highly puzzling affair. Meme announced it as ‘anti conceptual response to John Cage’s 4’33 and Trente Oiseaux’. That in itself is a mystery. Though Trente Oiseaux may use a considerable amount of silence on some of their releases, silence itself seems not to be the subject here. Many of the Trente Oiseaux releases are an electronic homage to Morton Feldmann, and stretched sounds. It takes a very concentrated listening to enjoy them, but beauty is apparent in those compositions. Deliberately I use the word ‘compositions’, as opposed, maybe, to John Cage’s ‘composition’, which is less a matter of composing, but deals with perceiving. The listener is invited to perceive sounds surrounding them, in a strict linear, non-composed way. Both seem to be a contradiction in my opinion. And then the ‘anti-conceptual’ part: the works on Trente Oiseaux don’t deal with concepts per se, and Cage’s work is just all concept (I’m strictly speaking about 4’33 now). Now listening to Sukora’s CD, I can’t think of anything but a concept. Six tracks, of which the last 5 take less than a minute, and the first one the full 67 minutes. There is no evolution (let alone revolution) to be found here, it seems to be a straight linear event. It’s a very silent CD, with a lot of hiss. Somewhere there is some rumble, like a cassette spinning, but emitting no sound. Given this title ‘Tower’, it only adds to the mystery. Are we ascending a tower, or descending? What’s going on?
This CD has for me the same impact as ‘Warzawa Restaurant’ by Francisco Lopez (on Trente Oiseaux!). Apparentely nothing happens, cranking up the volume, waiting for the big bang. But it’s not there (maybe unlike the Lopez CD). Again unlike the Trente Oiseaux catalogue, this doesn’t seem to dwell on transposing the sounds (which, to paraphrase Steve Reich in discussing tape delay, is like cheap drug: anything transposed on the computer downwards sound nice!) – it’s seems all real time.
A strange CD… I can’t say I recommend this very much, even though it’s gives you a full hour to contemplate on music and music production. But do you need a CD for that? This one or anyone? I am playing this with my window open, and sitting on the couch, it’s blends nicely with the environment, and that might be it’s purpose.
Address: <meme-@msh.biglobe.ne.jp>
KEVIN DRUMM & TAKU SUGIMOTO – DUO (CD by Meme)
No big concept here (and who dare say ‘luckily’?), but two guitarists who enjoy and explore improvisation on two guitars. Recorded live in Chicago in April this year (from the nine cuts, 2 are solo pieces). Sometime ago I read in an interview with a known improviser that he liked the actual playing of improvised music more than listening to it afterwards, and I certainly gave that some thought. Because, why are there so many of these solo/duo/trio/beyond improvisation CD’s? Of course they capture the unqiue event back in April for those who didn’t make it on time. But maybe this is what is at at stake here: each event is an unique event, and therefore there can’t be enough of these CD’s (however there is also economics involved). The nine cuts are relatively short and place a great deal of care on silence versus sound, space and time are kept in balance. There is an occasional droning sound, but they keep it in good spirit. This is one to have.
Address: <meme-@msh.biglobe.ne.jp>
HECKER – IT ISO161975 (CD by Mego)
I’ve got over my initial disapointment when I saw this CD lasted 20 minutes – what? A mini CD for the price of a full one. But after a study of the cover, there is a hidden track before number 1 (you rewind it manually by pressing rewind on your CD player – leave it in play mode and maybe are lucky enough to hear another nice piece). And that’s a long piece, some 14 minutes. I’ve read Mego’s press note, but got pretty bored with all the technical rambling about the hidden track. Too many computer appliances in there, which I guess is fun for the lovers, but utterly uninteresting for non-digi’s like me. Florian Hecker, for it’s him, comes up with 35 minutes of deep sounds, crashing samples within earreach, well… not always, and in the four real tracks he builds them up from slightly inaudible in Track 1 to rhythmically induced in the fourth one. The hidden track is actually the best – with much more shifts in tones going round, so it’s recommended to start life there. This is a worthy Mego release – digital fuckkup in rhythm mode like you would expect. (FdW)
Address: <info@mego.at>
p.s. I know on some CD players it will say 34 minutes from the start, but some, like my CDdiscman, don’t…
RADIAN (CD by Rhiz/Mego)
Again a short CD, and one that is hard to categorize (when one has to urge to do so of course). It starts out with crackling (radio on fire?), but soon drums and bass kick in. In each of the four tracks the electronic versus the non-electronic go on to play a joyful game. The music is slow (maybe I mean ‘tempo’), and the changes are likewise. Kinda improv post rock with electronics (file thereunder). The fifth track is a remix by Mego’s Rehberg & Bauer and their virtual third lover LiSa. Here they seem to emphasize the crackling and sped up drums. Music-wise this might be the most interesting cut on this CD, but I guess live Radian was nice to hear. Interesting. (FdW)
Address: <rhiz@rhiz.org>
THE SQUARE ROOT OF SUB – JUMBIES IN SEDNA (LP by Korm Plastics)
Quite possibly one of the better dark ambient releases to come out in the last few years. Of course when one thinks of dark ambient Lustmord’s best cd”Heresy” comes to mind. The Square Root of Sub makes Lustmord sound dated. The tracks on “Jumbies in Sedna” seamlessly move forward without making the listener pay close attention to its intense detail. Dark drones accompanied by clever dynamic soundscapes take you to cold dark chambers of a morass, almost decaying sound enviroments. Essential for those of you who like their cold and dreary nights filled with dark atmose and suspense-full dynamic soundscapes. Limited to 250 copies so one will have to act quick before asking the question “why hasn’t there been a record that fills the void in the world of fake gothic noodling?” (GG)
Address: <kormplastics@staalplaat.com>
RYOJI IKEDA – ZERO DEGREES CELSIUS (CD on TOUCH)
New music by Mr Ikeda is always bound to attract attention, and his stuff has been included on a number of compilations since his amazing ‘+/-‘ CD on this same label, which included sounds which were only apparent after they had stopped playing. I did not spend much time listening to ‘1000 Fragments’, and in fact do not remember it. So there. Now to this – a less-than forty minutes CD (well I honestly didn’t try rewinding past Track 1 this time), split into two parts, the first of which consists primarily of a bunch of very short tracks of sample manipulations: the lengths of loops are changed on the fly and spun through orchestral samples, possibly in real time; blips and bleeps and broken beats dodge around each other like suffocating beasts in an overcrowded space. There are two longer tracks in the first part of this CD, ‘continuum’ and ‘coda’, which (like the remaining three pieces which comprise part 2) sound far too much like Mika Vainio’s solo excursions. They are slow shifting plateaus of sound which serve well as launching pads. These pieces are also strongly reminiscent of the music on ‘+/-‘, which remains my fave rave from this whizzkid.
PS. Uncle Staalplaat will also be releasing some music (including an excellent ‘Mort Aux Vaches’ session) by Mr Ikeda later this year. Wotch dis space…(MP)
FELIX KUBIN – FILMMUSIK (LP on GAGARIN RECORDS)
A short while ago I had the dubious honour of reviewing a 7″ inch by Das Kubin (on Meeuw Muzak), titled ‘antarktis flow/shakin’ tundra’, which was an unusual foray into the murky waters which roll in disguised as cool waves on the beaches of Far. According to the press release which accompanied this 7″, Herr Felix has had an unusual and varied life mostly spent entertaining fat Chermann businessmen at health spas in the former Kingdom of Czechosovakia. A brief interlude which included various command performances for despots, gurus and inbred royals led to their natural conclusion and he ended up playing his organ at satanic rituals, until rescued by an obviously misguided lawyer, who ensured that he could continue living an undisturbed life getting a jiggy wit it back at the temples of health and perpetual shiny-ness. Sometime during this tumultuous period he was selected by cosmonaut, renowned alcoholic and dead person Yuri Gagarin to act as a telepathic channel so that he can relay his innovative technical theories as music (or is it the other way round).(Never mind).
This weighty plastic disc was pressed feverishly into my hands by a pair of hot, sticky fists at a local nightspot, and I keenly recorded a CD-R of it almost immediately, so that I could listen to it endlessly without having to interact with it. The music on this platter was created for three independently-produced films, and there are a few tracks by Reznicek. There are a few vocal quotes from the film, too including the peerless (now say this mit ein heffy Chermann accent, Ja !): ‘She’s the bikkest fukmaschine in town. She’s zer gate to ze vorld for all ze kguys !’. The music itself is a mutant blend of the cheapest possible, earliest models of drum machine rhythms and sounds wrenched out of twisted, bent organs. It is extremely groovy, and the greatest compliment I can pay it is to compare it the original soundtrack by The Residents: ‘Whatever Happened to Vileness Fats ?”, itself an almost unchallenged masterpiece of suggestive sound…at least until this record came along. (MP)