Week 41
DAVID PHILIP JACKMAN – SCHINING (2CD by Die Stadt) *
JACKMAN – FLAMES OF FIRE (CD by Die Stadt) *
PAOLO L. BANDERA – RICONNESSIONE ICONOCLASTICA SACRALE (CD by Unexplained Sounds Group/Dissipatio) *
FEDERICO DURAND – TÉ DE FLORES SILVESTRES (CD by Iikki Books) *
TOMOTSUGU NAKAMURA – FOR A FLEETING MOMENT (CD by Iikki Books) *
JON ROSE & MARK DRESSER – BAND WIDTH (CD by Relative Picth Records) *
PIETER KOCK – BRIGHT BARS FROM THE STARS (LP by Meakusma) *
LAILA SAKINI – LIKE A GUN (7″ by Futura Resistenza) *
FOOD PEOPLE – CHILLY MORTAL (CDR by Chocolate Monk) *
DELPHIUM – EVERYTHING IS LOST (CD by Aquese Recordings) *
DISORGANISM – HEARTH (CDR by Inner Demons Records) *
BELLIGERENT BASTARD AND ETERNAL CYNIC – THE EUROHORROR COLLECTION (CDR by Inner Demons Records) *
LIVE AT THE FORK AND SPOON 05/18/24 (CDR compilation by Inner Demons Records, Fork and Spoon Records and Forever Escaping Boredom) *
YELLOW6 – SOMETIMES IT SEEMS TOO EASY, SOMETIMES IT’S JUT SO HARD (CDR by Sound In Silence) *
MARTA MIST – WINDOWS (CDR by Sound In Silence) *
ILLUSION OF SAFETY – RADIO-X SESSIONS (cassette by Ebus Music) *
W. RAVENVEER / ANDY ORTMANN (two cassettes by Nihilist Recordings) *
KARM – HAKO (cassette by Ma Recordings)
E.M.I.R.S. – DE DIAMANT (cassette, private) *
E.M.I.R.S. – CARDIODID (cassette, private) *
DAVID PHILIP JACKMAN – SCHINING (2CD by Die Stadt)
JACKMAN – FLAMES OF FIRE (CD by Die Stadt)
Music and musical releases can be controversial for many reasons. Lyrical content, shocking covers, too loud, too quiet: David Jackman’s music is controversial for none of these reasons. His music isn’t noisy or silent, with no lyrical content or a shocking cover. I am not on any discussion group online and never was, but I can imagine a discussion with the topic: “Is David Jackman doing the same thing over and over again?”. I don’t know the answer, but I can guess. We can say the last few releases (and I am discounting his Organum Electronics releases; they are in a different league) contain the same musical elements. I copy from my last review, “A drone, Shruti-like, some low gong sound, the occasional bang on the piano, a church bell and some crows flying overhead”. The crows may have flown away, but the other elements are there. I also wrote, “The drone is continuous here; the others appear irregularly. The whole work is slow and majestic. The music has a funeral aspect, like a black-and-white picture from an Edgar Allen Poe story. It is very similar to much of his recent work, and it is hard to figure out the difference(s). All of this fits my pop-art theory. I love this mystique and playing around with similar ideas and notions. I am sure this mystery will never be unravelled”. On ‘Shining’ (is that a word? Google pushes forward ‘The Shining’), we have two of these works, and they are different, more than just the numbers 1 and 2 on the discs. On the second disc, the intervals appear quicker, and the disc is a few seconds shorter. Both pieces feel like a requiem mass in a church, complete with those church bells. And why is this one credited to David Philip Jackman? More mystery or willful obscure?
What can be said of the other one, a single disc credited to Jackman, ‘Flames Of Fire’? There are more shruti-like drones, but no church bells and the gong is buried in the mix. The drones are heavier on this release, pressing down like a massive, tighter-knit weight. There is an orchestral darkness about this, an enormous cloud without too many details and a more machine-like proposition. It all works out quite differently while using seemingly the same sound materials. This is also very dark music, but with a rather menacing undercurrent, like the soundtrack of a Battefield movie, but after the fight is over. We only see the endless remains of tanks, weapons and bodies. It’s a bleak picture and the soundtrack for a gloomy time. (FdW)
––– Address: http://diestadtmusik.de/
PAOLO L. BANDERA – RICONNESSIONE ICONOCLASTICA SACRALE (CD by Unexplained Sounds Group/Dissipatio)
Much to my regret the only thing I know about Paolo Bandera is that he is a member of Sigillum S (not sure if they still exist) and about his solo act, Sshe Retina Stimulants. According to Discogs, he’s also a member of Apocalypse Fanfare, Ensemble Sacrés Garçons, Helix, Iugula-Thor, Sidra, and The Sodality, plus solo acts as Komplet, NG5361, and P.NG5361.B. You can assume from this I haven’t heard many of his releases, and mostly in far away past. If that’s a good or bad start for a review, I don’t know. It’s a relatively open look at his current release. Many Unexplained Sounds Group label releases come with descriptive liner notes about the musician. That’s not the case here, as the meaning of the words on this CD somehow eludes me. I don’t know what it means; I know I am not very clever. There is no information about the instruments used; my best guess would be that Bandera uses a lot of electronics. As to what kind, modular, analogue, digital, granular, I don’t know. Somehow I assumed this album would be a lot noisier, but that’s not the case. It’s actually quieter music and yet altogether more disturbing. The music morphs and changes along invisible lines, and whether this is electronics or string instruments bent, shaped, and remodelled, I don’t know, but it sounds fascinating. Sometimes, I think of Giancarlo Toniutti, sometimes something from the industrial music of the 1980s—a long-form piece, 16 to 18 minutes long, and usually without seemingly much structure. Things move because they move, if without direction. That may sound boring, but it’s far from boring. It’s a fascinating trip, slightly dystopian, with the use of reverb suggesting a lot of suspense. It was a highly captivating release that was on repeat for quite some time and without making much sense. It was a combination that worked, oddly enough. (FdW)
––– Address: https://unexplainedsoundsgroup.bandcamp.com/
FEDERICO DURAND – TÉ DE FLORES SILVESTRES (CD by Iikki Books)
TOMOTSUGU NAKAMURA – FOR A FLEETING MOMENT (CD by Iikki Books)
Iikki Books releases books with a choice of LP or CD; as they say, you can read the book alone and listen to the music alone or together. These books are photobooks; there’s only a little to read. Sometimes, I get both to review, but only sometimes. These two come without the books, so I have no idea what Michel Roemers’ pictures look like or if there is any connection with the music of Federico Durand. I reviewed various works of his and what he does, he does well, but there isn’t much change, I think. What is interesting is his list of instruments: ARP Odyssey, music boxes, endless tapes, Sony TCM–459V, feedback looper, RE–201 Space Echo, Korg MS-20, Audio Developments AD 145, H1, El Capistan, sampler, Shortwave radio, and Moog Prodigy, which suggests a lot of electronics, and which means a full-on sound. That’s not the music Durand produces. The primary instrument from this list is the music boxes, whose sound lingers in each of the five pieces; the last one is the longest and takes up the entire second side of the record (I assume I have the CD version) and is the best manifestation of his music box approach. But to my best guess, they might also be in the other four, something small and hidden. By feeding the signals of the music box through the endless tapes and delay, there is a certain amount of corrosion in the music, leading to a very vulnerable sound. Everything sounds on the brink of collapse, and that’s the idea of the music and Durand’s main interest. There are also a few field recordings, some watery tones on the synthesisers, and these to get this rusty reel-to-reel treatment. It all sounds like the opposite of many dark ambient lo-fi grainy music producers because there’s none of that dystopian sound in the music, which is, of course, a great thing and Durand’s trademark. As said, that’s what he does, and he does it well, and this release is another damn fine addition to his otherwise damn fine catalogue—mood music, a bit dark but not depressing.
Tomotsugu Nakamura teamed up with the Swiss photographer Simone Kappeler. Nakamura is also no stranger to these pages, with releases on Kaico, Audibulb and Laaps, a sub-division of Iiikki Books (or vice versa!). About his last release, I wrote, “One to keep hanging around until the days are shorter and colder”, which I read on the day winter time became effective in The Netherlands. It’s not necessarily cold weather, but it’s a Sunday, the slowest day of the week; no mail, not much email, and usually a day to play something from the ‘collection’ and not a day of work. But no rest and combining the pleasurable and the love for some easy music brings this release by Tomotsugu Nakamura. It’s very much like the music of Federico Durand, without the near breaking down of the tapes. Nakamura’s sound is vulnerable but clean and crystal clear. Here, we have no list of instruments, but I’d say guitars, electronics, keyboard/synthesisers and maybe some percussion are used. Before, I thought of a man with a laptop to process his sounds, and this might be (still) the case, but maybe not. Consisting of sparse notes, some silence between the notes, sometimes with a bit of delay, and it’s music to relax, dream or sleep, or anything else that doesn’t involve heavy lifting or house cleaning. Nakamura’s music is much lighter than Durand’s, like a clear winter’s day. Short pieces, mostly around two to three minutes, sometimes have a bit of a sketch-like approach but nothing too brief or sparse. Each piece remains a composition, a painting, not a drawing. And, also important, there is quite some variation in these pieces, which makes this album a fine listen and not 12 repetitions of one theme. You don’t expect much change here, and Nakamura does what he does best. (FdW)
––– Address: https://iikki.bandcamp.com/
JON ROSE & MARK DRESSER – BAND WIDTH (CD by Relative Picth Records)
Jon Rose (1951) is an Australian violinist, composer, and instrument builder who lives in the centre of Australia, Alice Springs, to be exact. Mark Dresser (1952) is an American double bass player and composer. Both have several decades of playing experience. They played together over the years but never recorded together. The distance between their locations is roughly 8000 miles. But a software called SonoBus closed that gap by enabling realtime recording. And better still, it’s open-source and free. Eight selections from the sessions they did are on this release. They are joined by Lithuanian-based percussionist Vladimir Tarasov (1947). The music on this release is mindblowing. Jon plays the violin and the tenor violin. Mark plays double basses with four and five strings. This is hyperkinetic and hyperfocused music, where a lot happens simultaneously, resulting in restless music. There’s much to digest here, with no rest for the wicked. Things settle down in the last track, the one with Vladimir joining the festivities. This is improvised music but could easily be played in a classical setting. There’s really no distinction here. Excellent stuff! (MDS)
––– Address: https://relativepitchrecords.bandcamp.com/
PIETER KOCK – BRIGHT BARS FROM THE STARS (LP by Meakusma)
Speaking of someone on the fine trajectory to some fame (Vital Weekly fame, not to be confused with the Swift or such). I reviewed some music from Pieter Kock before (Vital Weekly 1296 and 1348), which I found very refreshing. Sampling synthesisers and rhythm demonstrations from YouRube, adding a bit of speech from the same source, using the DJ software Traktor and bobs y’r uncle. Hey, presto, pop music. I heard two cassettes and a mini label, but down the road now, there is another LP, a 10″ and this LP for the Belgium Meakusma label; also available on CD with a different track listing(the LP has a focus on the dancefloor and the CD is for home-listening. My review copy contains both mixed up, so it’s all a bit blurry). All these releases mean he’s going places, and quite rightfully so, as Kock does something undeniably catchy. From his many years as a DJ (among other places, his O Tannebaum bar in Berlin, a must-visit), he loves his quirky rhythm machines and ditto synthesisers, but it goes beyond and above plain silly or downright naive. Maybe aiming at the dance floor, but it’s also meant for those sitting back in a comfortable chair sipping vino. He plays minimalist music, with many tracks being Rhythmbox exercises and a bit of synth. Still, with the addition of dubby elements and extensive use of sound effects, it never becomes dull or stale. The music has a lounge vibe, with Hammond organ melodies, Latin percussion and jazzy laidback rhythms. The voices that were so apparent on his first cassette are pushed to the back, and I can’t say I miss those. I prefer these instrumentals. And as before, some songs may be a bit too long, but I don’t mind. Mostly pleasant stuff, but not exclusively; a piece as ‘Facial Recognition’ (also the title of a previous release, but not an earlier song) has a creepy undercurrent, meaning not all is well, and, perhaps, oddly enough, it works very well within this album. Think electro-pop, Neue Deutsche Welle (even when he’s from The Netherlands!), cosmic music and krautrock (some of these rhythms are textbook Cluster), all delicately in the blender and cooked to a lovely drink. At times, the music reminded me of Asmus Tietchens’ side project, Hematic Sunsets. The last time I played this was in full summertime, it also works well against the dark days! (FdW)
––– Address: https://meakusma.bandcamp.com/
LAILA SAKINI – LIKE A GUN (7″ by Futura Resistenza)
The career of Laila Sakini started in 2019, when she released ‘Like A Gun’ in digital format. So far, she released four albums, “critically acclaimed”, but not by me; as for me, this 7″ re-issue of ‘Like A Gun’ is the first time I have heard her music. Two long pieces, five and almost seven minutes, consisting of Sakini plucking the guitar, singing (which words? I don’t know), and some kind of (tape?) manipulation. Sakini uses a lot of reverb to suggest the space, and it also creates a metallic effect. Perhaps it’s an odd pairing of sounds, the whispering voice versus the metallic sounds in ‘Life out Here Is Changing’ or the manipulated guitar darkness and use of delay in the title piece. Think very alternative guitar music, once removed from what the real world thinks of as alternative guitar music. Which comes with a disclaimer: I don’t know much about guitar music anyway. I love these two pieces, though, and reach the end of another day with heavy experimental music, I wouldn’t mind hearing some of this kind of heavily treated guitar music, and yet still in some way connected to the world of pop music. It would restore the listening balance. (FdW)
––– Address: https://futuraresistenza.bandcamp.com/
FOOD PEOPLE – CHILLY MORTAL (CDR by Chocolate Monk)
Following the few releases I heard from the UK trio Food People, I can safely say what a great band. They are Lila Matsumoto, Greg Thomas, and Matthew Hamblin, with no specific instruments to their name. The title comes from someone saying, “I guess I’ll just have to face the prospect of ginormous bills this winter, I have to have the heating on see, I’m a chilly mortal”. Also mentioned is this: “All of the voice recordings that aren’t Greg’s grandad Charlie talking about a car he used to own in the 1920s come from Matthew and Lila’s neighbour Bob, who, during one of his daily tea-over-the-fence meet ups with Matthew, revealed that in the late 80s he used to go to Sneinton Market to buy used tapes to record over, but ‘kept the ones of interest’. Luckily, Bob finds weird voice messages interesting. We asked Theo (Territorial Gobbing) to sing for us so that it wasn’t purely old person vibes”, meaning there are more voices than on the previous releases. These aren’t always very obvious. Food People is a bit of a rock band, so there are guitars, bass, violin and looped rhythms; maybe from a rhythm machine, perhaps they have a different way of generating them. It’s a bit loosely orchestrated, along the lines of improvisation, but nothing too noticeable. I like the open sound, which I once suspected was recorded in a barn with the doors open; no doubt it’s a clever mixing of field recordings. Here, too, we have that vague, misty, atmospheric music. As said, whatever voices are used, they are far in the mix; even in the two pieces with Territorial Gobbing, the voice is mixed to the back of the mix. It makes the voice one of the instruments, not the leading one, and works very well. Throughout, these voice snippets enrich the music quite a bit. It’s another wonderful release, getting better all the time. (FdW)
––– Address: https://chocolatemonk.co.uk/available.html
DELPHIUM – EVERYTHING IS LOST (CD by Aquese Recordings)
I reviewed ‘Everything Is Lost II’ by Johnathan Forde’s Delphium project two weeks ago. I wrote I missed the first volume of ‘Everything Is Lost’, and Forde wasted no time to get a copy in the mail. Along with it came a note saying ‘no drum loops’, which, I assumed, had something to do with the previous review. Except, that’s different from how this all went because when I took a better look at the package, it turned out this had been three months in transit. The UK might be no longer part of the EU, but that’s a long ride. The ‘no drum loops’ wasn’t aimed at the previous review but rather a general note of interest concerning how Delphium’s music is made. Going back to my old review, I didn’t use the word ‘drum loops’ in my review but refered to drum machines, synthesisers and sequencers, along with some ambient pads. As on the previous release, Delphium’s aim is not at the dancefloor but to play some head nod music, more armchair than techno music, which I wrote previously, and that’s also on this disc. It all seems more on the minimal side here, with each track relying on a drum pattern, some synthesiser sounds and more extended pads, all connected via the sequencer. Again a long album, and I have the same critique as last time: it’s all a bit too much. A somewhat stricter selection would have made a stronger album, but maybe that’s my love for the old 40-45-minute albums. Also, the production side (mastering, for instance) has room for improvement. Surprisingly enough, I am playing this album again on one of those slow Sunday afternoons, so whatever my reasoning, I love the longitude of the music all the same. (FdW)
––– Address: https://delphium1.bandcamp.com/
DISORGANISM – HEARTH (CDR by Inner Demons Records)
Occasionally, you find out about something, and the links/connections you knew there were are simply defined or confirmed. In this case, we have Disorganize, and even when it’s a new name, there are plenty of reasons why you might have heard of the man behind it, possibly not knowing he did music, too. Because: Disorganism is Thébru Čelet, a multidisciplinary artist in experimental music and film. So you might have heard from him through visuals and otherwise, this guy also runs the experimental music radio station Grey Clay Radio. And if you haven’t heard of that before, I’ll include the link at the bottom of this review. Grey Clay helped me through some moments at the university when I needed excellent music while writing my reports. But as we’re not here to promote Grey Clay, let’s focus on this release.
The promo text leaves me puzzled. A few short phrases on a non-being (disorganism) in a story where fantasy, horror and cyberpunk coincide … It’s all in the eye of the beholder, but I’m more drawn towards the music here. In five tracks, a story is told, but set aside the story’s content, and you have almost 50 minutes of well-done music. Most tracks are rhythmical, with many field recordings and drone layers in the background—experiments where atmospheres evolve. There’s no comparison for me with which I mean that I can’t come up with names where I thought, ‘Hey, this stuff reminded me of …’. The first track ‘Meaningless Baby’, stuck with me for being the least rhythmical of the album and “The Vacuum Behind the Feeling” because one sound reminded me of a Coil track. And “Straight Sex” for being over 18 minutes … And even t hough the rhythm doesn’t change that much, he manages to keep it interesting in some weird way.
So yeah, “Hearth” is a fun release that might not be interesting for everyone because it is not too far from ‘normal’ music, but it has enough weirdness to irritate people who only like regular music. And I mean that in a good way! (BW)
––– Address: https://innerdemonsrecords.bandcamp.com/
––– Address: https://www.greyclayradio.com/
BELLIGERENT BASTARD AND ETERNAL CYNIC – THE EUROHORROR COLLECTION (CDR by Inner Demons Records)
Two artists from the UK, from Southend On Sea. Maybe they’re even the same artist, and it’s a collaboration between two personalities. I don’t have the faintest of clues, all I know is that this is the second time Eternal Cynic gets reviewed in VW and the first time for Belligerent Bastard. “The Eurohorror Collection” is a collection of dark ambient, noise and experimental tracks based on or inspired by European horror movies. My all-time favourite Lucio Fulci movie ‘The Beyond’ is amongst them, so for me, it’s already ears open and see what’s hidden on this album. But how do I do this?
I have seen a gazillion horror movies, but I can’t remember all of them. ‘The Beyond’ was one of my first Italian ones where I focussed on the film itself instead of generally just watching what was on the screen. So, it significantly impacted me, and I advise everybody to check out this classic. The music from the movie also made an impact, but that might also be because of the era I watched it in. It was released in ’81 with music by Fabio Frizzi. And it fits perfectly (apologies for my choice of words here) the sleaziness of the synth themes, the now-dated sound of the synths. Perfect with the rerecording of the sound and the grain of the film. So, in the track by Belligerent Bastard and Eternal Cynic, the theme of the movie is revisited, and for the rest, the atmosphere is well caught in a dark ambient piece.
As I said, I can’t recall the other movies or somehow made less of an impact on me. When it comes to the music, the tracks range from harsh noise (“City of the Living Dead” and “Burial Ground (Michael’s Theme)”) to more dark ambient soundscapes (“A Virgin Among the Living Dead”) to drone (“Tombs of the Living Dead”) and even what can only be labelled industrial (“Der Todesking”). So it’s an album that has something for everyone. Maybe a bit more challenging to promote, but because of its diversity and accessibility it will appeal to a larger audience. (BW)
––– Address: https://innerdemonsrecords.bandcamp.com/
LIVE AT THE FORK AND SPOON 05/18/24 (CDR compilation by Inner Demons Records, Fork and Spoon Records and Forever Escaping Boredom)
It was the 18th of May of the year of our Lord 2024. Vasectomy Party and FAIL were on tour in the Southeast of the U.S. They visited the Fork and Spoon to have fun with other artists. The four sets of that evening were recorded and released simultaneously by Inner Demons Records, Fork and Spoon, and Forever Escaping Boredom.
Marsupial Alliance is Scott Bazar, and for that show, anybody who wanted to join at that moment. The ultimate collective effort resulted in 26 minutes of experiments with, at moments, incoherent changes but, at other moments, great synergy between the sounds. The track is being made at the moment, so it should be your style to really enjoy it. Vantage Planets at this moment were Joel Nobody and Scott Bazar, and they abused a bass and a (prepared) guitar and probably some more instruments or effects, resulting in sounds which I can only describe as absolute weirdness. But honestly, if I had been there that evening, I’d been there because of the final two acts, and these first acts would have been a warm-up for me.
The third act is/was FAIL with 16 minutes of harsh noise in all its beautiful aspects. Highs, lows, subs, pain, layered, throbbing, extremes, bleeping, blooping, noise, more pain, more throbbing, feedback, delays … Need I say more? And then the Vasectomy Party closed the evening. Hal does what Hal does best. Make noise, somewhere between cut-up and harsh, lots of dynamic behavior though a little less extreme in sound. But we were treated as royalty on frequencies by the FAIL track, so it’s not fair of me to say probably. The Vasectomy party, however, has one of the best endings I’ve heard.
So, this is a bit weird to review, as the CD is a document for a live event I didn’t attend. Style-wise, not all projects fit my taste, though I can appreciate all the variations I’ve heard here. My favourite track is FAIL, but we’ll include some Vasectomy Party in the podcast because we can. And it’s fun. And the noise scene needs more fun. It’s all too serious. At moments. (BW)
––– Address: https://innerdemonsrecords.bandcamp.com/
––– Address: https://forkandspoonrecordings.bandcamp.com/
––– Address: https://foreverescapingboredom.bandcamp.com/
YELLOW6 – SOMETIMES IT SEEMS TOO EASY, SOMETIMES IT’S JUT SO HARD (CDR by Sound In Silence)
MARTA MIST – WINDOWS (CDR by Sound In Silence)
There are a lot of releases by Jon Attwood, also known as Yellow6. I haven’t heard all of them; I don’t consider myself a dedicated fan, but I am a very interested occasional listener. I do not need to hear it all because, perhaps, this is a form of critique: there isn’t always much development in his music. Yellow6 plays guitar music with a post-rock attitude: spacious guitar music, lots of delays, some reverb and other colouring using sound effects. At the end of 2023, up to mid-2024, Attwood recorded four hours of new music, which he split together with a friend into the nine tracks on this release. He’s not selfish, as the album lasts 77 minutes. When I say the music doesn’t develop much, I am not saying it’s devoid of any variation. Attwood cleverly moves between very reflective, quiet and small pieces to something more outre; not louder, not viciously ear-splitting, but sometimes coming with a bit of drum (real ones or a machine? I wonder), adding more variation to the music. He takes his time in playing his songs, slow and meandering about, like crossing an empty plain in the mid-West in slow motion. It’s an album with music you expect Yellow6 to play and he does that very well, but no surprise there.
Much shorter in length is the album ‘Windows’ by the group Marta Must, around core members Gavin Miller (also known as worriedaboutsatan) and Sophie Green (ex-member of Her Name Is Calla). They have already three albums, three EPs and four singles. I reviewed their ‘Eyes Like Pools’ in Vital Weekly 1369. It wasn’t an easy album to pinpoint to anything I know. Maybe that’s why there’s now a bunch of references, Talk Talk, Bark Psychosis, Godspeed You! Black Emperor and, of course, worriedaboutsatan, and I know two. I haven’t played any Talk Talk in a long time (why play depressing music when you’re happy? Why when you’re depressed), and Godspeed occasionally appear on the stereo here, but it’s not something I think of when playing Marta Mist. Maybe in the broader sense, I can see them fitting in the scope of post-rock. There are lots of guitars, violins and drums, but none of Godspeed’s climatic and dramatic playing. Marta Mist’s music doesn’t come with the prolonged building up, ending in a mighty crescendo, but rather stays within the same dynamic of the piece. There are six pieces on this album, many of five minutes, all mood music. The drums are pretty jazzy and laidback, lots of work with brushes on cymbals, but Marta Mist doesn’t have that French fifties nightclub feeling. It remains firmly within the world of post-rock music, with a bit of a jazzy backbeat. It’s very nice, fitting the darker, shorter days with the mood getting darker, too. But not as depressing as it could also have been. (FdW)
––– Address: https://soundinsilencerecords.bandcamp.com/
ILLUSION OF SAFETY – RADIO-X SESSIONS (cassette by Ebus Music)
Around the same time last year, Dan Burke, also known as Illusion Of Safety, toured Europe, and he’s doing it these days again – see last week’s issue for a tour itinerary. This tour ends the 40th anniversary, and last year it was the start. That tour ended in Frankfurt with Burke being interviewed a Radio X about the start of his group (there has been a cast of members over the years), “the influence of Throbbing Gristle, Dan’s multi-channel sound live installation, talked about provocation, “The dark side of humanity in Industrial-Culture” and how Illusion Of Safety as a form of psychotherapy saved Dan’s life.” I will share the link to that interview at the end of this review. He has played some 40 minutes of new music, and in a fine musique concrète tradition, Burke uses these recordings to expand them into new music, which is now the material you’ll find on this cassette. Last year, I had the pleasure to see Burke in action (and sadly not this year) working with a small setup including a few modular synthesisers, an iPad and sparse electronics, much less than what he dragged around Europe in the 1990s (I don’t have a list, but I am sure I saw at least 15 concerts by Illusion Of Safety both in Europe and America). He told me some of the music was fixed to match the screen behind him, and some he worked around loosely. I don’t have a recording of that night, but in my memory it sounded different from what I hear on this cassette. Maybe because this is a session in a radio station, without video, allowing Burke to stretch the improvisational part of his performance. It’s also possible this has to do with the processing of the music back home. Based on the music on this cassette, I think Burke retained some of his looser approach to the sounds. This means there is a fine combination of drones combined with samples, electronic and acoustic sounds, and it’s not easy to figure out what is what, except for some ‘media’ sounds, voices, orchestral sounds and music from advertisements. It’s relatively spacious music, in which things slowly develop, shoots simultaneously in various directions, and is covered with a slightly dark and dystopian undercurrent. If there is still a Throbbing Gristle influence after 40 years, it’s more in the general approach of working with sound, much different than the influencers were in their time. Illusion Of Safety is in excellent form here, and when in your area, check him out! (FdW)
––– Address: https://ebusmusic.bandcamp.com/
––– Address: http://www.mixcloud.com/escobaronradiox/2024-10-01-jet-set-die-radio-esco
bar-with-herr-ebu-dan-burke-illusion-of-safety-cassettecult/
W. RAVENVEER / ANDY ORTMANN (two cassettes by Nihilist Recordings)
This is a double split cassette, as in a split between two musicians and the cassette; each cassette has one side by W. Ravenveer and one by Andy Ortmann. The latter we know as the man behind the Nihilist Recordings label, the group Panicsville and latterly using his personal as a composer. W. Ravenveer is from Antwerpen, also known as woo linn ravenveer, and as Erwin van Looveren. I reviewed only one work from him (Vital Weekly 1424). It’s easy to see why they end up on a split release; they love their modular electronics and acoustic sounds. It’s never pure electronics, as there is always something rattling. Electro-acoustic music it is and there are some differences. I wonder if the two musicians agreed beforehand on what to do and what not. One of the differences is, for instance, Ravenveer using an over-the-top rhythm machine in his ‘Haunted Organs and Paranoia Voices’, which brings the piece a weird, almost industrial jamming sound. This isn’t a feature in the other three pieces (each side of the cassette is one long piece). Ortmann on ‘The Gradual Displacement of a Fragmented Mind’ shows his love for old Nurse With Wound sound treatments (and, perhaps, also with strange titles) of saxophone sounds (like the NWW track on ‘Rising From The Red Sand’) and sparse electronics, making this is a very intense piece of music. Free-floating but organised at the same time. Some of that free fall is also in the Ravenveer piece ‘True Belgian Electro Acoustics’, with acoustic sounds of a more obscured source; here, the organisation stays behind, and Ravenveer shows once more he’s the man for the jam but overstretching it a bit. In the final piece by Ortmann, ‘Abstractions of the Electro-acoustic Midwest’, the acoustic are the most obscured on this release, and here too, there is more organisation with the creepy crawly electronics of whirring and buzzing. In total almost 70 minutes of music and it’s throughout excellent stuff. (FdW)
––– Address: https://nihilistrecordings.bandcamp.com/
KARM – HAKO (cassette by Ma Recordings)
As a music reviewer, I praise living in a quiet neighbourhood. Sometimes I am reviewing, which is very quiet (and luckily none anymore by ever so quiet Bernard Günter), requiring to change the volume to a bit louder. Karm is such a duo of quiet music, consisting of Michal Wróblewski (alto saxophone & clarinet) and Torsten Papenheim (acoustic guitar & objects). In March of this year, they did a short tour in Japan, playing nine concerts in five cities and on various occasions, they were joined by local musicians to play with them. At Tokyo’s Hako Gallery, it was koto player Kohsetsu Imanishi. On this cassette, we find the duo on side A and the trio on side B. There is also the promise of hearing trains stop at the station, part of the Odakyu Odawara Line. Improvised music and of the quieter nature, which is something I enjoy. Also, this duo and trio explore their instruments differently and do not always play them straightforwardly; maybe they are more Papenheim than Wróblewski, but both know how to play something different. Interestingly enough, there isn’t always a massive difference between both sides of the cassette, or it must be somebody, a concert visitor perhaps, whistling in with the trio on some occasions. You could wonder what remains audible on a cassette of such delicate music (because my tape deck is in heavy use these weeks, I had to use the online version, which made listening maybe more accessible). This is a most welcome release as a document of a tour and of opportunities to play with like-minded musicians on the road. The promised trains didn’t pass, or I didn’t hear them, but they were all very intimate and small, serving the music just right. (FdW)
––– Address: https://marecords.bandcamp.com/album/hako
E.M.I.R.S. – DE DIAMANT (cassette, private)
E.M.I.R.S. – CARDIODID (cassette, private)
Work and study held Quinten Dierick back from releasing more music as E.M.I.R.S., but the study is over, and now he presents two new releases. This time, he only mentions a little about these, just some basic information. ‘Cardiodid’ is all about recordings with microphones, and ‘De Diamant’ (which unsurprisingly translates as ‘the diamond’) contains pieces “from my endless supply of “Syntheresting”-tapes. Boxes full of reels and cassettes full of jams, tests, sounds, captures. I kept them and over time they ripe”. Two entirely different releases. Both have side-long pieces which contain separate pieces. If you think ‘with microphones, he means field recordings”, ‘ you are partly correct. The microphone acts as an aural camera, capturing moments, in and outside the house, of objects, of animals, anything Dierick can capture; he will capture. He’s not the man to care about expensive microphones; the charm is also with old microphones, adding a layer of graininess to the music, and he is never a problem. I assume the same goes for the recording device; the Walkman is his favourite. High-end is something of low interest for him. Both sides have a layer of natural distortion, perfectly in sync with the music from E.M.I.R.S. as I know it from previous releases and, spoiler alert, from ‘De Diamant’.
That’s quite a different option, with loops, improvisation using electronic sounds, instruments (guitar maybe), toys and objects. Analogue tape manipulation is one of Dierick’s primary interests on this cassette, with many shaky elements, bending sounds back and forwards, often in slight variations. The music has, at times, a somewhat improvised character, but none of this is traditionally improvised. It takes the freedom to the tape recorder, tossing sound and instruments and see what happens if you change the speed (quickly), apply editing, tape-echo, saturation and such like, and the outcome is a sparkling work of craziness, which very occasionally results in what can be loosely called a song, believe it or not.
If the cassette is the means to distribute wild and quick ideas, then E.M.I.R.S. uses the medium in full force. Both cassettes come with a lovely handmade cover. (FdW)
––– Address: https://belchsingersonggrinder.bandcamp.com/