Week 5

EMMANUEL MIEVILLE – TRAVELOGUE TO ASIA (CD by Sublime Retreat)
THE RESIDENTS – ARE FACELESS! (CD by Klang Galerie)
DAVID LEE MYERS – OCULUS (2CD by Pulsewidth)
DAVID LEE MYERS – (RE)VISITATION (CD by Pulsewidth)
MANUEL ZURRIA – FAME DI VENTO (3CD by ANTS)
JOHN KRAUSBAUER & KAORI SUZUKI – SUSPENSION BLUES (CD by ANTS)
RYOKO ONO – THE DAYS (CD by Relative Pitch Records)
A.B.O. (7″ by Meeuw Muzak)
A NEW LINE (RELATED) – A QUARTERLY UPDATE ON THE SADNESS (CDR by Sound In Silence)
LUDVIG CIMBRELIUS – HERE (CDR by Sound In Silence)
THERE ARE GHOSTS – EGO MORTE (Double 3″ CDR by Inner Demons Records)
POLARLICHT – VOLUME 2 (CDR by Inner Demons Records)
EUMOURNER – ARCANA OF PHYSICS: PANSPERMIA (3″ CDR by Inner Demons Records)
LAURA NOT & ANDREW HULME – ALMOST SOMETHING (cassette by Infant Tree)
DAVID WALLRAF – CRUDELTÁ NECESSARIA (cassette by Karl Records)
MIKE VERNUSKY – COLORWAVE (cassette by Neus318)
OORT – HAIL MOUTH (cassette by Neus318)
MACKENZIE KOURIE LUKE ROVINSKY CALEB DUVAL – BEAUTIFUL PIGS (digital only)

EMMANUEL MIEVILLE – TRAVELOGUE TO ASIA (CD by Sublime Retreat)

The program’s title is here; the cover mentions that it is “composed from field recordings made in China (Sichuan region) and south of Taiwan and Malaysia.” I have reviewed Mieville’s works before. If you want to know more, use the beautiful search tool on the website. Mieville calls this a “sonic diary [..] more than a documentary outcome of my numerous travels in Asia”. I haven’t been to any of these countries, and knowing it’s less and less likely that I will fly such distances, it’s doubtful I will do so, which means this CD is a bit difficult to judge. According to Mieville, there are recordings from “nature wildlife, insects – and also Buddhist and Taoist temples”. But he calls himself a musique concrète composer, so electronic transformation (he mentions granular synthesis to be fascinating), along with clarinet and percussion, is a vital part of his pieces. Hence, I’d say it moves beyond a diary. So, even when the field recordings may not mean much to me, it’s easy to see these as building blocks in the overall composition. In ‘Chengdu Shi’, a repeated chant forms the basis of the piece, along with what could be either percussive sounds (objects over drum heads) or clarinet sounds. It’s a great minimalist piece. ‘Itiandi’, the next piece, is a picture from a dusty street with lots of insects., with slowly more mechanical sounds. ‘Batucave’, named after a huge rock mountain with excavation inside where Hindu Indian people pray, has the same distant approach, and only during the piece does Mieville come closer. Also, the final piece consists of talking voices and obscured sounds. It’s never easy hearing the musique concrète element in Mieville’s music, sometimes more along a sonic diary. This seemed to be the case only in the first piece. Perhaps I am missing something. Otherwise, this is an excellent release of field recordings-based music. (FdW)
––– Address: https://sublimeretreat.bandcamp.com/

THE RESIDENTS – ARE FACELESS! (CD by Klang Galerie)

First of all, more than hats off to Klang Galerie for their tireless pursuit of the extraordinary. Their ear-boggling catalogue is a testament to their dedication to re-releasing obscure archival recordings and showcasing the new and unclassifiable. I spend too much money with them, much of it on releases by The Residents.
I was introduced to The Residents’ music back in the late 1980s by the lovely Ellen at Torso Records, who gave me a fantastic sample pack, press kit and a bunch of promos. I blame her for my nearly 40-year addiction. Since then I’ve seen the band live about 20 times and own at least 300 of their products. They are responsible for some of the most beautiful songs and music I have ever heard.
However, this release by The Residents is, unfortunately, ‘just another live show’ by them, with all the Residential cliches I have groan [sic] to dislike. The vocalist’s growls at the end of songs, the once-startling (but now not) unpredictability and angularity of their arrangements, even the pitch-shifted voice… Plus, how many more times do we have to hear ‘Constantinople’ or ‘Smelly Tongues’ when they have such an ENORMOUS body of work to choose from? (Luckily, the fantastic but sadly over-released/performed ‘Six More Miles’ isn’t on this set.)
Whoever thought that The Residents would be in danger of becoming a formulaic band? Maybe most of this repetitious material should be released digitally, and maybe some of the stuff that’s currently only available digitally should be released as a hard copy? As an avid collector, I’m sorry to say that I do not think this Klang Galerie release adds much.
A double CD, it was recorded in Hamburg during February 2023 and is named ‘The Residents Are Faceless!’, to associate it with the Cherry Red et al. release ‘Faceless Forever’, also a documentation of a live performance almost a year later, in January 2024, but this time a ‘Secret Show’ and closer to home in San Francisco, that involved (finally! thank fuck!) loads and loads of other people who performed songs from their repertoire (a couple of choirs, ensemble arrangements, musicians such as Les Claypool, Pamela Z and Joshua Raoul Brody…). And what a joy that release is (comes with a DVD, video artist John Sanborn collaborated), replete with a recapitulation of the various guises/personas Resident Randy has assumed over the course of their five decades-plus career.
I’ve been clamouring for years about their music being performed in other configurations. I even initiated tentative discussions with the musical director of a progressive orchestra here about them playing some of The Residents’ music so that it could enter another musical domain and invade uninitiated ears. (But COVID intervened, and she no longer works with the orchestra.) So, this San Francisco performance perked me up monstrously. Maybe next time, there’ll be musicians/ensembles/full fucking orchestras (yes! Why not?) in some of the towns where they perform who would be interested in recreating an event like this. Deconstruct the deconstructionists’ deconstructions!
Sadly, a co-founder and the primary composer passed away in 2018. Eric Drew Feldman (who has a long history with The Residents, and yes, the same guy who was Captain Beefheart’s scribe for a while) and Warren Huegel were enlisted to contribute keyboards and drums, respectively (and in Feldman’s case, much more). Guitarist Nolan Cook, who was with the group for over twenty years and spun some of the most idiosyncratic and contorted six-stringed cobwebs ever heard in music, departed the band in 2023/2024, apparently to deliver pizzas. Always credited as a collaborator and never as a full member, his contribution to their ‘sound’ for those two decades will forever remain incalculable.
A new Residents release is just around the corner, ‘Dr Dark’, a three-act concept album in the tradition of ‘God In Three Persons’ (perhaps my all-time favourite) and ‘Bunny Boy’ (and hopefully ‘Voice of Midnight’). Good! That’s what they’re best at. Telling stories. It was recorded with the San Francisco Conservatory Of Music and Edwin Outwater, a conductor and producer best known for his work with Metallica! There’ll doubtless be loads of ‘associated material’ and other spinoffs (looking forward to what Psychofon might do), maybe a tour: The Residents is a teat that keeps on giving.
But a big BUT here: I suspect ‘Dr Dark’ will conflate my critique above into calcified coprolites. And I may have to eat one or some of those hats I took off in a salute to Klang Galerie at the start of this screed.
[PS. Walter & Lisa @ Klang Galerie – maybe this is more a rant than a review, and despite it being triggered by your release, these thoughts have obviously been fermenting for quite a while now. Keep up the astounding work!]. (MP)
––– Address: https://klanggalerie.com/catalog/available

DAVID LEE MYERS – OCULUS (2CD by Pulsewidth)
DAVID LEE MYERS – (RE)VISITATION (CD by Pulsewidth)

It’s always a pleasure to hear new music by David Lee Myers, formerly known as Arcane Device. I have been doing so since I listened to his debut album in 1988 or thereabouts. I can’t say how many different releases I have heard from the man, who seems to have become increasingly active in recent years. These are his two most recent releases.
The most recent one is the one he recorded in the summer of 2024, ‘Oculus’, a double CD with three long pieces and a short prelude. Myers calls this “ambient minimalist aural visions for electronics, lamellophone, feedback matrices, hardware and software processing.” The lamellophone is a thumb piano. Per piece, he mentions what we hear, starting with “various sources” and then “low-frequency audio oscillators”, “lamellophone”, and “feedback matrices”. Obviously, the thumb piano is the most surprising instrument here, but Myers plays it quite differently. The operating words are given by Myers “ambient minimalist aural visions”, and that’s exactly what he offers here. In his feedback music, Myers swings many ways: noise, ambient, musique concrète, or even something very vaguely pop music, and I like them all, but I am also very much a lover of minimal music, drone music and all sorts of ambient. In that respect, ‘Oculus’ is what I enjoy best, and it’s some of Myers’ best work. However, I have to put in a disclaimer: this is my opinion as a private listener. If I take a step back and discuss this album in terms of innovation or development, then, objectively, I have to say that’s maybe not the case. Granted, there aren’t many works from Myers on this minimal level, let alone playing these pieces for such a length (six, twice 30 and one 55 minutes), but it fits his previous ambient excursions quite well. The thumb piano piece, ‘Oculus Indo’, has very little to do with the traditional thumb piano and acts as repeated triggers for setting an ever-changing set of sounds in motion, sometimes very ambient, some machine-like. That’s something that he repeats in each of these pieces. It’s a beautiful, extended soundtrack for a dark evening.
The other work is something entirely different. “In 2023 and 2024, I produced two projects based on drastic dismantling and reconstruction—radical remixing—of other artists’ sounds. With ‘(re)visitation’, I apply these techniques to some of my own past recordings, creating completely different works.” These techniques aren’t described, but I assume Myers uses the tools he always uses: feedback machines, modular synthesisers and computer editing. From the titles of these seven pieces it’s not easy to tell what earlier work lies at the basis. On ‘(re)visitation’, Myers reaches into the musique concrète toolbox, which he seems to be doing more and more. I am guessing, but he records many treatments and then uses collage-like techniques to create a piece. Sometimes, a bit too extended for my taste, such as in ‘replication of masks’ (everything is in lowercase on this album; I don’t know why). It works better if he keeps it within the five to six-minute range. Following the ambient of ‘Oculus’, this album feels like an abundance of sound; a lot is happening here, and maybe the album to start an evening of Myers, not to end it with. Things burst and crack, shake and roll, and it is a very lively organism. As I don’t know which works are treated, I couldn’t say if these are radical changeovers, but I didn’t recognise any, so let’s assume these are radical. The thumb piano makes another appearance in ‘in a cold wood’, and this time it’s easily recognised. In terms of moving forward and exploring new paths, this is the one that fits that line in Myers’ work. I might be wrong, but, as said, it seems he’s exploring the musique concrète angle more and more these days. A fine, yet not easy work. (FdW)
––– Address: https://davidleemyers.bandcamp.com/

MANUEL ZURRIA – FAME DI VENTO (3CD by ANTS)
JOHN KRAUSBAUER & KAORI SUZUKI – SUSPENSION BLUES (CD by ANTS)

Along with these two releases, there is a folder detailing all ANTS releases, which made me realise I haven’t heard them all. There are many names I hadn’t heard of before, but the ones I did hear gave me the impression this Italian label has a strong interest in new minimal music. I reviewed a double CD from flautist Manuel Zurria (Vital Weekly 1243), which completed a trilogy and reviewed the first release (Vital Weekly 776). This time, he has a three-CD set of works composed by composers such as James Tenney, Riccardo Nova, Rytis Mazulus, Stefano Pillia, Juste Janulyte, Alvin Lucier, Mary Jane Leach, Julius Aglinskas, Laurence Crane, Jürg Frey, Giorgio Battistelli and Toshi Wada. Each CD opens with a prelude and ends with a short saxophone piece Gianni Gebbia plays. Some of these composers have been around for some time and belong to the best minimal music. I didn’t recognise all the names or know what to expect. Zurria plays flutes, bottles and percussions, but some pieces include electronics. For whatever unknown reason, I expected this perhaps to be tranquil music along the lines of Wandelweiser composers. Much to my surprise, the music is, at times, quite dense and drone-based, reminding me of Phill Niblock. ‘Critical Band’ by James Tenney is a piece for 12 flutes and 12 sine waves. I assume Zurria didn’t record this live. Some pieces are more modern compositions (the Battstelli piece, for instance), but these are shorter and not as extended as some drone pieces here. Maybe it is within the nature of the instrument, but many of these pieces gave a very gentle, almost ambient-like approach. ‘Swaying’ by Aglinskas is a piece with a slow drift and pleasing space, nearly sounding like a piece of new-age music. Almost, but luckily, it stays away from such a place. It also makes these three hours sound like one sonic bliss, perhaps also creating the idea that some of these pieces are a bit too similar, but the shorter pieces and the addition of temple bells and electronics prevent it from being one sound throughout. Along with these three CD sets is a 24-page booklet detailing each track and interviewing the composers.
From John Krausbauer, I reviewed various works before; two were collaborations, and two were on the ANTS label. I reviewed only one CD from Kaori Suzuki, ‘Music For Modified Melodica’ (Vital Weekly 1325). The work created together is an audio-visual work. “It is a model for an activated environment with an amalgam of pulsating light and colour, high-frequency drones, and shimmering glissandi.” The booklet represents the visual part and “involves a strobed-phasing of a five-hued blue (colour) variation pattern on a split screen.” It goes too far to copy/paste all that information, but maybe something about the audio: “The corresponding audio is a multi-tracked custom-synth patch with real-time software processing. There are two main elements to the audio: one, sustaining/repetitive bass and treble note sequences; two, a glissando vhf tone that both functions as a phasing in the audio frequencies and the element that directly corresponds back to the visual movement of the blue phasing, i.e., the rise and fall of the glissando’s time is relative to the phasing from “blue1” to “blue5″ and vice versa.” Maybe seeing and hearing works better, as I couldn’t possibly summarise or even understand it. The music is an excellent piece of loud drone music, quite the opposite of the Zurria discs. There is a metallic edge to the music, maybe due to the digital way it was made, but it still works very well. There seems to be very little change in this piece, but that’s just superficial hearing; listen closely, and there are some significant shifts within this music. I don’t always do so, but if something needs more volume, I’d say this is the one. Play loud and let it become an immersive soundtrack, which works pretty well even without any flickering visuals. (FdW)
––– Address: https://ants4.bandcamp.com/

RYOKO ONO – THE DAYS (CD by Relative Pitch Records)

Ryoko Ono is a saxophone and flute player. She’s not to be confused with the voice actor with the same name. Ryoko is one-quarter of the progressive metal band Plastic Dogs, for which she penned all compositions. With the band’s drummer, Kota Ueji, she forms a Zeuhlband called Sax Ruins, which may be a nod to the famous Japanese drum and bass duo Ruins. There’s more: she has played with the drummer of Ruins, Tatsuya Yoshida. And there’s Ryorchestra. A Zeuhl/RIO (pun intended in the name?) band with just like the other groups kinetic and high energy music. Of a different order, I ordered 2019’s duo with Duncan Pinhas on synths. He is the son of guitarist Richard Pinhas. With Richard, she played at the TUSK festival in Gateshead in 2015. That performance is released on Bam Balam. It is, in fact, Sax Ruins with Richard Pinhas’s guest starring on guitar. The Days is her first solo recording for Relative Pitch Records, but not her actual first solo recording. That’s Solo And Duo (2004-2007), so not actually a sax record per se. Anyway, on to the music. Aptly named The days, all titles are named after days of the week. Only Sunday is missing. Apart from Monday until Sunday, we have Pixieday, Doomsday and Phonyday. Pixieday has a duck whistle as an instrument and is quite enjoyable to listen to. Doomsday is just that—one full-blown long note of four minutes and 52 seconds, achieved by circular breathing. Phonyday is Ryoko on sax and voice, not at the same time, and the voice follows the sax, or vice versa, as if they are one, with some more comment from the sax. I’m just wondering what she is saying. Unfortunately, there’s no translation included. It’s up to the listener how the music of the weekdays, including Saturday, is connected to the actual weekdays. Ryoko has fantastic control over her instrument and can make up melodies on the fly. In ‘Thursday’, there’s a lot of space, or silence (ma in Japanese) in the music. Followed by that immense attack of sound in Doomsday. Quite the contrast. In total, nine pieces last a bit more than fifty minutes. There’s a lot to discover here. And it’s not all dissonance or showing-off technique. And some days are just variations of other days, just like in real life. I found this one really interesting, and Ono came up with plenty of ideas. And check out her other work as well. It is quite a rabbit hole. (MDS)
––– Address: https://relativepitchrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-days

A.B.O. (7″ by Meeuw Muzak)

It’s been three years since I last saw a new release by Meeuw Muzak. Today, Meeuw Muzak 054 arrived, as it says so on the cover, and it’s by A.B.O. I have no idea who or what that is, and the website only says, “This is the last of the A.B.O. material. Probably recorded in 1991, certainly mixed in 2024.” Heading over to the oracle that is Discogs, I learn this: “Started as Ausgang Berlin in 1989, became A.B. (4) in 1990 and finally as A.B.O. in 1992 or slight variations of A.B.O.” Aliases are: “A.B. (4), Apomorphine International, Ausgang Berlin, Joachim Nordwall, Jocke Svensson, The iDEALIST”. It’s music by Joachim Nordwall from a very early project of his; born in 1975 with his first releases in 1991, so that’s early indeed. The first side (no titles, what did you expect?) consists of a looped rhythm from a piece of vinyl along with some low and mid-frequencies from a synthesiser humming. Something similar happens on the second side, with more loops and seemingly of an acoustic nature. Think of early Boyd Rice or Robert Turman and with less of a noise approach. It works pretty mysterious, like being looked at in an ancient factory, a recording of industrial archaeology, which, if indeed recorded in 1991, might very well be the case. Obviously, a label such as Meeuw Muzak has no Bandcamp, so there’s nothing to hear, but trust me, it’s worth your while. (FdW)
––– Address: http://www.meeuwmuzak.net/

A NEW LINE (RELATED) – A QUARTERLY UPDATE ON THE SADNESS (CDR by Sound In Silence)
LUDVIG CIMBRELIUS – HERE (CDR by Sound In Silence)

The Grek Sound In Silence label loves atmospheric music and broadens its nets. There is the music of long, sustaining form; there is synthesiser-only music, rock instruments, vocals and, on a release by Andrew Johnson’s A New Line (Related), a techno-based rhythm. Johnson was a member of Hood, The Remote Viewer, Famous Boyfriend and On Fell or solo under his real name and the alias of Septemberist, with releases on such labels as Home Assembly Music, Domino Records, City Centre Offices, 555 Recordings and others. It’s been a while since I last heard a release on any of these labels, and I assume some are no longer going, but playing the eight pieces on this release brings back memories of what we used to call ‘armchair techno’ and ‘head-nod music’. Music with much rhythm but not always suited for the dance floor. It has all the elements except for that massive kick. There may be elements in the music that would be too experimental for the dancefloor, such as in the third piece, ‘It’s 5 O’Clock Somewhere In My Heart’. I imagine this would work well in small surroundings, such as a hip underground bar. It’s pretty ambient, very dubby, with big pads and a hopping bass. There is talk of voices, but I didn’t hear these. I am told the mix was “live to a real computer”, but that’s not something I heard. It had all the depth of a carefully constructed studio album, and it doesn’t matter (to me, that is) if it’s live-to-computer recording or not. It’s a damn fine album; I didn’t hear anything that I didn’t hear 20 or more years ago, but that’s okay. One can’t be innovative all the time.
My introduction to the work of Ludvig Cimbrelous was with his ‘Love Letters From The Sky’ (Vital Weekly 1357), released by the same label. In the past, he played with various musical interests (ambient, modern classical, minimal dub techno), and under this name, it’s all out ambient. There are six pieces here, with the first and the last primarily relying on the piano. I was reminded by a documentary I recently watched about the popularity of ambient piano, with Einaudi et al, and I was thinking how naf all that music sounded. It’s popular music, and the consumer is always right, so what do I know? But don’t let this get in the way of this album. Cimbrelous’ piano pieces are also atmospheric but moodier, and this is continued in his four synthesiser-based pieces. At least that’s what I scribbled down, synthesiser, but according to the information, he works with vocals, acoustic piano, electric guitar and field recordings – he could have fooled me there. Maybe the text is ambiguous, as he also talks about another album to be released next year. Either way, these four lengthy ambient excursions are charming. The piano now plays a minor role in the music. With some goodwill, you may recognise bird sounds, all in bed behind a blanket of drone-like sounds, and yes, repeated listening revealed a guitar—shimmering music, and like much of this label’s catalogue music, nothing that you haven’t heard before, from this label or in the enormous scope of ambient music, but nonetheless of high quality. (FdW)
––– Address: https://soundinsilencerecords.bandcamp.com/

THERE ARE GHOSTS – EGO MORTE (Double 3″ CDR by Inner Demons Records)

A double 3″ CDr by Marcello Saponaro of whom it’s hard to find anything on the almighty interwebz. Why do I keep on trying to find information? If people don’t want to be found, it’s probably part of a conceptual approach. Maybe the ‘ghost’ part of the name explains it. On the other hand, Marcello has absolutely nothing to be ashamed of to hide in the darkness. This release is a mighty fine work which holds the middle between dark ambient, drone, noise and cinematic isolationism.
The concept behind this release is a personal vision of ‘The Conspiracy Against the Human Race’, which is a philosophical essay written by Thomas Ligotti in 2010. From the liner notes: ‘Life is represented as an infinite and unfair suffering that corrodes conscious beings, forced to go through the disturbing horror that dominates reality from birth until death.’ So, as you can imagine, this isn’t a happy release; it is produced very dynamically and probably touches the borders of what the medium allows. The promo explains it better with the phrase that Marcello is ‘bringing back the same sensations that invalidate all human beings who have decided to pierce the veil and live outside an illusory frame.’
The four tracks, totalling 38 minutes, cover various styles as written before. The additional spoken word part in “Ancoraggio – verità metafisiche” is well done and layered over multiple effects. But my favourite track is the closing part, “Sublimazione – la paralizzante paura” (The paralysing fear), because of its seemingly endless buildup and yet gorgeous feeling of nihilism. At moments, reminding me of Troum; at other moments, it could have been a Cold Meat release of the past. (BW)
––– Address: https://innerdemonsrecords.bandcamp.com/

POLARLICHT – VOLUME 2 (CDR by Inner Demons Records)

Sometimes, the 3″ format doesn’t work. If Polarlich’s “Volume 2″ had been restricted to the 3” format, it would result in a quadruple release, and that is pushing it. In the past, Inner Demons would have done it either way, as proven by the 12-part release by Conure a few years ago. But that was a few years ago. Times they are a-changin’, someone once said. So, this artist and label opted for a ‘normal’ format. Holding almost a whole hour of carefully constructed noise compositions.
The four tracks are simply numbered; therefore, it is hard to think of the concept behind them. Or how they were created. I do not know if this is a pedalboard, computer, modular or combination. I have a careful suspicion it is a combination of pedals and computers, but hey, I’m only human. I CAN be wrong, too. The style isn’t the same on all tracks. “1” is carefully constructed, while “4” is closer to a HNW / feedback exorcism. And “3” is an experiment with classical layers, completely destroying it with VCA’s, distortion and LFO’s.
Now, about the origin of Polarlicht. Discogs mentions four Polarlichts, and I can find which one this is, though there is no information. On the Inner Demons Bandcamp, where you can download this beauty, there is a link pointing to Polorlicht’s personal Bandcamp; it simply says PolarlichtNW, which is probably Nordrhein Westfalen. So, I still have no clue, no name, nothing.
Oh, Wait … It Seems he or she also released some stuff on LOUDsilence, which is itself developing into an elegant label / Bandcamp presence. Let me see if I can find information there … [ insert journey of search ] … Damn, nothing. I just added a few releases to my waitlist, but that’s it. LOUDsilence did release “Volume 1”, by the way, and there will be more. The promo text on the IDR site mentions ‘Volume 2 out of (hopefully) 92 volumes’, so we have 90 more to welcome in the years to come.
If only I knew who to congratulate on this release … (BW)
––– Address: https://innerdemonsrecords.bandcamp.com/

EUMOURNER – ARCANA OF PHYSICS: PANSPERMIA (3″ CDR by Inner Demons Records)

In their sixth year of existence, the Italian project eumourner consisting of Francesco La Cava,
Gherardo Zauber Pierantoni and Michele Venturi found their way onto the Inner Demons label. What a beautiful fit. With a sonic palette of percussion, voices, guitars, theremin, bass, field recording, cut-ups, samples, and effects, they create massive drones where so much is happening.
Constant movement in all layers and yet listening to it, well, it’s very abstract. It’s like the depth inside one of the colours of a Rothko painting. The more you look, the more movement you see. Or maybe it’s more Newman, where you can stare into the abyss of the monochromatic colour and where your mind is playing tricks on you, generating hallucinatory images that aren’t there. Or maybe it’s like the white noise on television that you’re staring at after a night out, and instead of an indeed randomly spread, you are starting to see figures.
A lot is happening here, yet nothing is happening, but it is done so actively and in a beautiful way. Close to orchestral at moments, close to HNW at other moments, yet not with the usual sounds HNW generates. No, in organic, non-distorted sounds, you can also create massive pressure in a composition. I definitely will be checking out some of their other stuff, which can be found amongst others on Death in Venice Productions – which we know specialises in Death ambient & Death electronics Label. A great revelation in the first month of 2025. (BW)
––– Address: https://innerdemonsrecords.bandcamp.com/

LAURA NOT & ANDREW HULME – ALMOST SOMETHING (cassette by Infant Tree)

Of course, we recognise Andrew Hulme’s name as one of the founding members of O Yuki Conjugate. Here, he teams up with “artist/DJ” Laura Not, with whom he has a long-standing collaboration; it’s my introduction to her work. Yet ‘Almost Something’ is their debut album, a 30-minute cassette. They call their work “musical domesticism” based on location recordings made in London and Berlin. I assume recordings were made close to home to account for the domesticism. It’s difficult to recognise any of these recordings and say what they were at a previous point. That’s partly due to the electronic processing, but surely also to the way they were recorded. Think of a bow across a rusty fence, rubbing fingers on a dirty window, or an out-of-tune aeolian harp. In the distance, there’s a police car. What I noticed about the music is that it is ambient, as one would expect from Hulme and this time, it arrives in a rather loose form. The two sideling compositions meander about, and sounds come and leave, without too much of a composition (more on ‘In The Course Of Events’ than on ‘Finding Midday At Two’). It’s as if these two musicians sat down with many sounds and machines and started recording without too much of a plan, improvising ambient music, perhaps. Yet it all works very well. I think the slightly more ‘together’ second side works best, but these two pieces have a gripping, mysterious power that is hard to pin down. There’s an elegant darkness here that doesn’t dominate but lurks beyond and below. It’s fascinating and quite far from the regular O Yuki Conjugate music. (FdW)
––– Address: https://oyukiconjugate.bandcamp.com/

DAVID WALLRAF – CRUDELTÁ NECESSARIA (cassette by Karl Records)

Hamburg-based musician David Wallraf is not a stranger to Vital Weekly. His releases usually have a conceptual edge, and ‘Crudeltá Necessaria’ is no different. “His artistic work deals with the repressed and uncanny sonic residues of quotidian life, crafting soundtracks for the creeping disaster we inhabit”, to which I can wholeheartedly agree. He has a strong interest. A previous release dealt with Guy Debord’s 1952 film ‘Hurlements en faveur de Sade’ and this new one is about the cruelty found in the films of Pier Paolo Pasolini, and I know, my bad, but I have yet to see any movie of his. Such is life; it passes, and you get older and realise you may have missed something, and there is never enough time to catch up. However, I am aware of the cruelty in his films, so that’s at least something. That’s not to say I can’t enjoy the music. About the music, Wallraf mentions on the cover that it contains “Sound design fragments from Pasolini’s films Edipo Re (1967), Porcile (1969) and Medea (1969) were recorded to ¼-inch tape loops and appear throughout these selections.” That sounds fascinating, but I am speaking as a reel-to-reel enthusiast. I admit it’s not something I would have known listening to the music. Wallraf does what he does best and that’s creating dense clouds of noisy darkness—intense music with unknown sound sources. It’s noisy, but not for the sake of playing loud music. There’s brutal love here; opposites attract. For example, the voices in ‘Porcile’ sitting next to the cracking of acoustic objects. I suspect Wallraf uses some computer technology to play his music, granular synthesis along with feedback and analogue noise generators. There is a collage-like approach with an interesting interaction in dynamics. The brutal aspect doesn’t always win but forms a delicate contrast with some quieter sections. At 30 minutes a bit too short! (FdW)
––– Address: https://karlrecords.bandcamp.com/

MIKE VERNUSKY – COLORWAVE (cassette by Neus318)
OORT – HAIL MOUTH (cassette by Neus318)

It’s been a while since I last reviewed releases from the Japanese label Neus318 label. One reason is they took a break from releasing CDs and started with cassettes, but there were no promos as they came in an edition of 13 copies. These two new releases are limited to 23 copies; therefore, I can review them.
The first one is by American composer Mike Vernusky. I have reviewed various works before, but there is always so much music to hear that I must read my old reviews to understand the music. Another reason is that I have never heard much of his work. Field recordings play a significant role in his work, but not on this new cassette, which mentions the instruments: voice, Bucla, EMS Synthi, Macbeth, Moog, and Suiko. I don’t have a clear picture of some of these, but judging by the side-long pieces, these are all electronic instruments. It’s lovely, atmospheric, dark, ambient music with that excellent, rough edge. That’s how I like these things best. Two dark clouds hovering close over your head, slow meandering about, dark and gloomy but of great beauty—expansive music, slow but with all the necessary detailed changes to prevent from lulling you asleep. At one point, a long time ago, we’d call this ‘isolationist’ music, say along the lines of Thomas Köner or Lull, and that’s still a valid term.
Oort is a duo from Italy consisting of Michele Anelli (field recordings, electronics, double bass) and Nicholas Remondino (synth, electromagnetics waves, contact mic, piano). They recorded the two pieces (plus one as a digital bonus) on 26 May 2024 in the living room of Michele’s house, which adds a nice little detail. “Their research is focused on the apparent contrast between acoustic and electronic sound with a marked sense of composition in the improvisation. The fascination for the animal souls and behaviour represents an important guiding light for the aesthetics”. The first side is a drone-based piece, slowly building, and after a while, I asked myself, ‘Where are the animal sounds?’ they arrive in some form, and maybe these are real ones or instruments doing fine imitations, but it all works well. It’s not your typical improvised music, which is excellent. It’s a very moody piece and something similar we find on the other side, but not as one continuous piece of music, but more a collage-like approach. Starting with some drones, slowly falling apart in more fragmented piano tones, and via some static hum we enter the final section of fragmented noise bits and far away piano. Maybe a bit of a surprising noise ending, but it’s still atmospheric. Both pieces are eleven minutes, which might be a bit short, even with that additional bonus piece, which is just over five minutes. I wouldn’t have minded something more. (FdW)
––– Address: https://neus318.bandcamp.com/

MACKENZIE KOURIE LUKE ROVINSKY CALEB DUVAL – BEAUTIFUL PIGS (digital only)

Out on Mackenzie Records You and only available on Bandcamp as a download-only, is this release by the trio of Mackenzie Kourie (percussion, tapes, production & engineering), Luke Rovinksy (electric guitar) and Caleb Duval (electric bass & samples). Last year we had a review of the duo of Luke Rovinsky and Caleb Duval. While that was a bit dominated by the guitar on heavy distortion and feedback, Luke is playing a bit more subdued but with no less energy. Three long-form pieces, each lasting more or less twenty minutes or a bit more. That sounds like an eternity for someone with a short attention span, but we have a trio that works wonders with their instruments. Snippets of grooves, testing the waters by bass and guitar, joined by drums with kinetic playing all over the fretboard on the guitar, not unlike Jasper Stadhouders does. And to add to the festivities, some samples of a country song are thrown in. Sometimes, these samples are for texture, and they are sparsely used. The music growls, snarls, and digs, just like a pig would do looking for food. All three pieces are named after pig breeds (duroc, mangalista & lop). It’s not all hyperactive music; there are parts where there are more peaceful and moments with a more spacious quality, especially the second piece. It’s a great release, with a lot happening and changing moods. And as always with download-only releases: this one is an exception. I like this music a lot and thought it deserved some recognition here at Vital Weekly, so an exception, I wrote this review of a digital-only product. Rovinsky and Duval are founders of their own label and a community-based organisation in all types of venues around Connecticut. This was recorded at a venue in Providence, Rhode Island and made available just two days later, in this case on the label run by Mackenzie. In any case: this is well worth your (listening) time. (MDS)

––– Address: https://mackenzierecordsyou.bandcamp.com/album/beautiful-pigs