Week 17

DE FABRIEK – KRAUTSALAT (CD by De Fabriek Records & Tapes)
TONSPUR – LIVE IN THE ST. STEVENSKERK NIJMEGEN MAY 11 2024 (cassette by De Fabriek Records & Tapes)
DE FABRIEK – HBBGVB (cassette by De Fabriek Records & Tapes)
SORRY FOR LAUGHING – RAIN FLOWERS (2CD by Klanggalerie)
DIRK SERRIES – ZONAL DISTURBANCES (CD by Zoharum)
PLUHM – L’ANTICRISTO (O L’ACCETTAZIONE DEL MALE) (CD by Dissipatio)
PALO ALTO – THE PERSISTENCE OF MEMORY (EARLY TAPES 1990-1993) (2CD by Klanggalerie)
DENIS FRAJERMAN & MARC SARRAZY & LOIC SCHILD – PAYSAGES DU TEMPS (CD by Klanggalerie)
JACKMAN – STEADFAST (CD by Die Stadt)
JACKMAN – SCILENCE (CD by Die Stadt)
VIDDEKAZZ2 – SOUNDS OF SILENCE (CD by Public Eyesore)
PHILIP GAYLE – SUNRISE CRAZY (CD by Public Eyesore)
ELOINE – IMPRACTICAL FURNITURE (CD by Personal Archives)
PHILIPPE PETIT – EMPEROR TOMATO KETCHUP (CD by Sublime Retreat)
EXTEMPORE – DREAM OF FREQUENCIES (CD by Klanggalerie)
MARK POLSCHER – SECOND LANDING JUMP (CD by Bounteous Farina)
STIAN LARSEN/COLIN WEBSTER/RUTH GOLLER/ANDREW LISLE – TEMPLE OF MUSES (CD by Relative Pitch Records)
MONEY – MONEY 3 (3CDR by Love Earth Music)
WALLMART/RUBBISH (split CDR by Love Earth Music)
BUFFALOMCKEE + D.D. DOBSON – THE CHARITY SCHOOL MOVEMENT (CDR by Hyster Tapes)
ANTICHILDLEAGUE – SUICIDAL TOLERANCE (cassette by Hagshadow)
ANTICHILDLEAGUE – RESIST OR SUBMIT (cassette by Hagshadow)
ANTICHILDLEAGUE – RETRO GUARD (cassette by Hagshadow)

This morning I already penned the review of the Tonspur cassette, and then realised I should have lead with ‘Krautsalat’ by De Fabriek as it involves Tonspur. While I’m not lazy (per se), I want you to read first about Tonspur, and then I’ll continue with De Fabriek. You may not have heard of Tonspur before (well, not this one), as this is their debut release. Tonspur are the two brothers Peter and Simon van Vliet, who, with others, are The Use Of Ashes and best known to Vital Weekly readers as one half of Dutch ultra group Mekanik Kommando. This was in the early 1980s. I know both musicians as the most amiable people with a wide taste in music. Last year, I sold books locally at a fair in the beautiful St. Stevenskerk, and part of the action was live music. I don’t remember if Tonspur was announced as such or maybe as The Use Of Ashes or even Mekanik Kommando, but it was just Simon and Peter, armed with several small keyboards, guitars and pedals. Knowing them and their background made it easy to understand their intention to play some old-school kosmische music in the best Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze tradition. The driving sequences one associates with this kind of music are best heard in the first ten minutes, following which the duo take a more spacious approach, extended guitar notes, whispering and keyboard sustaining, and an excellent trip. Ash Ra Tonspur! It may seem like two long tracks on cassette, but there are individual pieces to be noted, songs, if you will. Occasionally, there might be a bum note, but this live recording adds roughness to the music and gives it an extra push. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw this concert and complimented them on the results (“I bet this is all you ever dreamed of, playing Tangerine Dream-like music, you hippies”, I told them lovingly). Still, I am equally surprised to see a cassette release on De Fabriek (a group of which Peter van Vliet is a participating member) of this concert. This year, the same weekend in May, another record and book fair, same place in Nijmegen, and I am told Tonspur will play again; I’ll be there!
If you call a CD ‘Krautsalat’, referencing krautrock might be hard to avoid. Much like the two Van Vliet brothers, Richard van Dellen, leading operator from De Fabriek, is also, sorry for that, an old hippy. That’s no surprise if you have been following De Fabriek for some time. One of the first releases I heard by them was ‘Consequences’, where they added vocals to Conrad Schnitzler’s LP of the same; he asked for it, and this might be the only result. Labish Intermediariës’, an LP from 1989, saw De Fabriek working with Schnitzler, Mark Lane, Michael Otto and Peter van Vliet at the heart of the controls. This new CD sees De Fabriek teaming up with Tonspur, but also Steve Schroyder from Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Temple, who handed in some tapes from his 1972 band Scarecrew and the two brothers Chulkov, who work as Six Dead Bulgarians—their aim: creating some good old-fashioned kraut music. You can wonder if that’s the same as Tonspur’s intention. The short answer: yes, but with different results. If Tonspur is into the kosmische aspect of krautrock, De Fabriek embraces the whole krautrock thing. The longest track, ‘Koboltentanz’, is a prime example. The rhythm machine hammers on, the sequence bounces along, and a guitarist spaces out in full Göttsching/Michael Rother modus. Other tracks aren’t different; long, spacious (massive, as in actual space) and psychedelic. If I knew how to drive, I would take my car for a spin through the Ruhr area, heartland of Kraftwerk (and not too far away from where I am), and play this at full volume. And only because I don’t have a spaceship, mind you. There is some excellent driving force here: the full-on kraut rhythm, sustaining guitars, and some vocals; I don’t know or care what these lyrics are about. An excellent release! One of De Fabriek’s best in recent years.
But, hold on, there’s more De Fabriek. In Vital Weekly 1281, I reviewed ‘HBBGVZ’ (Het Best Bewaarde Geheim Van Zwolle’ (Zwolle’s best kept secret) and the package was the package of the week: “an oversized matchbox, with a spitfire on the front and a few matches inside, along with pieces of paper. There are also versions released by De Fabriek, in a fabric sample and a cigar box.” Today we have ‘HBBGVB’ – Het Best Bewaarde Geheim Van Breda (Breda’s best kept secret), the hometown of Martijn Hohmann, a key player in the current stream of De Fabriek releases and responsible for the wild packaging. This new comes with a piece of chocolate, cassette-shaped, and the instruction: “Please eat the chocofab cassette before summer kicks in. If it melts it wil ruin your copy! An STL file is available on request so you can 3d print the chocofab if you finished the chocolate one.” – how about that! Also enclosed a small booklet with a chapter from an as yet unpublished four-part novel by Harry van Boxtel (“chapter 17, box 2”), but in Dutch only. The musical cast, now called, obviously, ingredients, includes Winston Shoolbred, Julian Edwardes, Bart Mostart, Levi Lanser, Marien van Oers, Peter Ehrmann, Freek van Andel, Dyane Donck, Twan Bastiaansen, and Martijn Hohmann, with the latter handling the mix, and Van Dellen in a supervising role. Quite a cast of new names I had never heard of in the context of De Fabriek. Here we have De Fabriek is a role we know them best, and that is a much more experimental approach, even when such terms may not mean much for De Fabriek. The cassette has a single piece on each, but takes the listener through a variety of moods and textures. From tinkling electronics, sampled drums, spoken word, rusty drones and guitar and drum doodling, this is an evocative release, taking the listener on a relaxing trip, with some bumps, but that makes it even better. Not too smooth, not too alien, and another psychedelic ride. You don’t need to be a hippy to enjoy this. (FdW)
––– Address: https://defabriek.bandcamp.com/

SORRY FOR LAUGHING – RAIN FLOWERS (2CD by Klanggalerie)

In terms of supergroups, this is probably an Uber supergroup. Started by Gordon H. Whitlow (erstwhile member of Mnemonists and Biota) in 1986 as a solo project for a single release, he released ‘See It Alone’ (Vital Weekly 1287), a collaborative effort with the distinct voices of Edward Ka-spel (of the Legendary Pink Dots) on vocals, atmospheres and lyrics and Martyn Bates (of Eyeless In Gaza) on vocals and lyrics. Later on, there was also ‘Sun Comes’ (Vital Weekly 1423), with the help of Janet Feder on guitar and Patrick Q-Wright, a Pink Dots in the 1980s. On this new double CD (well, one-and-a-half CD: the second is 23 minutes), there is also Larry Wilson (drums) and Dave-id Busaras (vocals); the latter a member of the Virgin Prunes. Supergroup or what? Busaras only appears on one track on the second CD.
With two distinctive vocalists, this is very much a love-it-or-hate-it release. If Ka-spel or Bates’ voice is not your thing, you may find only part enjoyment here. Don’t dismiss this out of hand because both, and all involved, have a lot more to offer in terms of atmospheric music. As with many Ka-spel solo releases, he creates a highly atmospheric soundscape and recites rather than sings his texts. Within Eyeless In Gaza, Bates creates similar electronic soundscapes and takes more to song than recitation. Whitlow is the man at the controls, taking the individual elements from the players and making the overall sound painting. I mentioned before his background with Mnemonists and Biota and their ‘studio-as-instrument’ approach, and this might be standard practice these days, easier, perhaps, but he is the man at the controls and does a great job. None of this is very song-oriented, also defying expectations, I guess, but it all remains on the narrative side of things, in which the music takes the lead, and the vocals support the narrative. Spacious music, in which time is relative, space is infinite, and history looks down from ages; music is as new as old. As before, slow music is to be enjoyed in full seclusion, with no other distractions. (FdW)
––– Address: https://klanggalerie.com/

DIRK SERRIES – ZONAL DISTURBANCES (CD by Zoharum)

During his long career, there have been some interesting changes for Dirk Serries and his music. I am sure I started previous reviews with similar words. In recent years, he has done many releases with improvised music, but there has been a slight side interest, which is more up my alley. This is an extension of his old work as Vidna Obmana, Fears Fall Burning and Microphonics, but it is also a new direction for him. The guitar remains his instrument of choice, but in his current handling, it sounds pretty different from the deep ambient of Vidna Obmana or the rockist drones of Fears Fall Burning. I have no idea how he plays his guitar these days, with his hands, objects, or a bow (or a combination), but Serries manages to retrieve a ‘dirty’ sound from his instrument. The results are crumbled sounds, muffled, alien, and sustaining oddly, like ambient music. In some ways, I’d say Serries connects with those dystopian lo-fi noise mongers, working with cheap instruments to alter field recordings so they sound like a field recording of a post-nuclear blast, but doing something similar. However, it’s less lo-fi, or at least I assume so, and there’s a long line of shiny effects pedals to create this sound. The only other guitarist to play similar music is Manuel Mota (I am sure there are others, but I don’t know them). The music fits Serries’ long career in ambient music, but he now takes a new path, one that leads to more industrial results, as depicted on the cover. There are four pieces, between 14 and 22 minutes, and none feels long or too much. Maybe it’s the somewhat sombre Good Friday, slower than your average, and I am in no hurry either, that made me play this on repeat three times, before even wanting to get up and think about a review. Dystopian never felt this good! (Unlike the unfolding dystopia in real life, I might add) (FdW)
––– Address: https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/

PLUHM – L’ANTICRISTO (O L’ACCETTAZIONE DEL MALE) (CD by Dissipatio)

I don’t think I heard of Pluhm before, the musical project of Lucio Leonardi, who composed and played the music with the help of Guido Tabone (saxophone on one track), Recombinant (synth and effects on one track), and Luigi Giannattasio (trumpet on two tracks). The title can be translated as “The Antichrist or the Acceptance of Evil”, and it’s an essential project for Leonardi. “It’s a difficult theme, discussing violence, which exists in each of us, and how we make it seem normal by accepting and justifying it. Unfortunately. It is an imaginary story of a person, whether man or woman, doesn’t matter, who, by experiencing violence, discovers themselves.” I admit this isn’t something I heard in the music. I don’t know what kind of instruments Pluhm uses, but I bet there are a lot of electronics. Some sampled acoustic debris in the opening piece works fine until a trumpet kicks in and reverb is applied in abundance. The muted trumpet and heavily treated piano sounds return in the next track. I admit I am not too impressed by this. Too much trumpet, too much reverb. The third and fifth pieces are solos by Leonardi and have an interesting collage-like approach to treated and untreated acoustic sounds, including the piano. The piano is the primary instrument of ‘Essere Nula, Sentirsi Nulla’, with the saxophone taking a similar approach as the trumpet; that film noir approach of a muted instrument with a lot of reverb, to suggest even more atmosphere, as if we didn’t know it was supposed to be atmospheric. It’s all oke, even when not my thing. (FdW)
––– Address: https://dissipatio.bandcamp.com/merch

PALO ALTO – THE PERSISTENCE OF MEMORY (EARLY TAPES 1990-1993) (2CD by Klanggalerie)
DENIS FRAJERMAN & MARC SARRAZY & LOIC SCHILD – PAYSAGES DU TEMPS (CD by Klanggalerie)

For reasons I am now no longer sure, I thought Palo Alto was an American band, but it turns out to be a French group, of which I recognised the name Denis Frajerman because I reviewed some of his solo work (and more later). The group also has Jacques Barbéri, Philippe Masson and Philippe Perreaudin as members. One of the reasons I missed their start in the early 1990s is that I was buried too deep in the world of noise music, power electronics and such that I missed releases with gentle electronic music, drums, saxophones, ‘ethnic’ loops, inspired by Tuxedomoon and the early Made To Measure releases by the Crammed Discs label. Their initial releases were on Old Europa Cafe and T.T.I.C.C. Contingent, and I never heard these until today’s reissue, along with ‘Excroissance’, a cassette single with three tracks from 1993. From the information, I also understand science fiction is “a leitmotif in the group’s work”. Of course, I am much older (perhaps not wiser), and my musical tastes have changed over the years and expanded. I admit downloading music opened another world that would have been closed off; Tuxedomoon was out of (financial) reach in my formative years, and I never listened to much radio. That all changed, and it’s easier to hear where Palo Alto is coming from. I don’t know which instruments are played, but wind instruments, keyboards (inc piano) and drums (or drum machines) are used a lot. There is also some primitive sampling and electronic processing, adding a delicate abstraction layer to the otherwise delicate and highly melodic music. The music is often filmic, full of sunshine, melancholy, drama and joy. That may sound like a wild ride, but it brings some excellent variation to these discs, and I found this a pleasure to hear. A great lost gem from the past revived; Klanggalerie once again did a fantastic job.
From Denis Frajerman, I reviewed some solo releases before (Vital Weekly 1261 and 1184), and he teams up with pianist Marc Sarrazy and drummer/percussion player Loic Schild. They recorded two lengthy (22-minute) pieces, and the cover mentions, ‘the electronic part was recorded in 2023, the acoustic parts were recorded in September 2024. Recorded and mixed by Denis Frajerman, Nautilia studios, 2023″, which I regard as a typo. But I also gather the three players weren’t in the same space, as the cover also mentions Sarrazy and Schild “composed their own part”, and I understand Frajerman composed using this material into the two pieces on this release. Maybe something is lost in translation. Anyway, the album is a tribute to the German krautrock music of the early 1970s. That’s possible, but the album also has some leanings towards jazz and electronic music and does not always have that driving force. Especially Schild’s percussive approach is very much inspired by improvised music. Frajerman adds electronics to the pieces- that abstraction amidst highly melodic music. It’s because I also just heard Palo Alto’s double album quite extensively that it’s hard to avoid comparing both works, even when they are 35 years apart. Whereas Palo Alto’s approach was in creating shorter pieces, in these two works, it’s all about longitude, an ever-changing kaleidoscope of sounds and moods, lots of darkish moods. It may not be the music I hear often, but I found this reflective mash-up of electronics, improvised percussion and keyboards very lovely. (FdW)
––– Address: https://klanggalerie.com/gg502

JACKMAN – STEADFAST (CD by Die Stadt)
JACKMAN – SCILENCE (CD by Die Stadt)

These two releases are the final by Organum Electronics as part of eight CDS for Die Stadt; well, seven (two of these are double CDS), and the eighth is a bonus CD if you purchase all seven. I am told this can still be done. These are labelled as Jackman, the name behind Organum and Organum Electronics. As such, David Jackman created an extensive body of work which isn’t covered by the word mysterious alone. This is becoming next-level mysterious. As Organum Electronics, he started to play with harsh electronic sounds, a move from his work in recent years, in which there was the drone sound, the church bells, the raven sounds and a piano. Sounds which he keeps varying in an utterly minimalist way. With the set of releases as Organum Electronics, he found something new to do variations of endlessly. With ‘Steadfast’, we hear both ends coming together. I assume (and that’s the best I can do) that Jackman uses a minimal, modular setup, buzzing and humming, but now he allows his church bells and piano bang to participate in the action. Still, the music remains loud and minimal, like being locked up in a machine room. But with these additions, it’s also something else; something new might not cover it, as it’s a merge of various of Jackman’s works. Maybe that’s why ‘Steadfast’ is the last; the ending ties in with the old, and something new arises.
‘Scilence’ is then such a new thing? Yes and no, as this is the usual drone, bang, bell, gong, crow, but birds are also twittering like a new dawn or the arrival of spring, and yet, it still sounds like a funeral march. I am surmising here as I have no idea at all. For all I know, I might be barking up the wrong tree here. I admit I find all of this fascinating; there’s so much mystery, and Jackman isn’t forthcoming, so I am told to shed any light on his work. One day, post Vital Weekly, I will sit down and play the entire Jackman catalogue, and hopefully, I will see the light and realise what it is all about. Too late to let you know via review, but that’s the whole point. (FdW)
––– Address: jschwarz@diestadtmusik.de

VIDDEKAZZ2 – SOUNDS OF SILENCE (CD by Public Eyesore)
PHILIP GAYLE – SUNRISE CRAZY (CD by Public Eyesore)
ELOINE – IMPRACTICAL FURNITURE (CD by Personal Archives)

Here are three versions of freely improvised music. I started with the one I thought was a great release, but maybe a bit out of context for Vital Weekly. I don’t think I heard the viddekazz (as they spell it) album on God Mountain in 1997. ‘Sounds Of Silence is the follow-up, so what former Machine Gun TV and Blastro guitar and noise maestro Hidekazu Miyano has been doing in the meantime, I don’t know. Likewise, I don’t know the other member’s name, as Public Eyesore tells me this is a noise punk duo. I like noise, I occasionally play punk music, and I am far from an expert on this. This album has 14 tracks, in 28 minutes; one track is just under three, one is 18 and a half, and the rest are below a minute. The extremely long one is also the weakest link. I heard 12 ultra-short tracks, brimmed with energy and aggression, the sort of punk thing that I think is punk, but the long track is an excursion in free noise rock that doesn’t bring much new and is minimal, without much interesting development. Without that track, it would have been a short album, 11 minutes or so, but it would have made a great 7″. As said, maybe this kind of music is out of my comfort zone, and perhaps I miss something.
Back in Vital Weekly 1408, I reviewed a CD by Philip Gayle, after a long silence. These days, Gayle lives in Utsunomiya, Japan, and there is vocal help from local musicians, such as Fuuchan, Hana Fujino, Okaka, and Omusubisan. At the same time, Shogo Oshima plays the alto saxophone and bass clarinet separately on two pieces. Gayle plays banjo, bass, cello, acoustic guitars, mandolin, mouth harp, percussion, piano, recorder, Taishogoto, toy piano, and voice. This time, Gayle has mainly shortish tracks, even when towards the end of the release there’s a seven and ten-minute piece, which, by that, is a bit much as Gayle’s music is quite demanding, especially with all these voices, vocalisations and such, which sound funny but don’t always stay funny. There’s an aspect of chaos in Gayle’s music, which in 19 tracks, spanning 55 minutes, is quite a tour de force. Gayle loads up multiple tracks with the wildest playing of his instruments, but always the guitar being his first choice. Strumming and plucking, Gayle doesn’t seem to be using other, extended techniques to play his instruments, with delay, some chorus and reverb, and creating this rollercoaster music. The exception here is ‘Heartbeat Shakes The Flower – Setsunai Yuki’, a quiet and reflective piece of music, and the one Oshima’s alto saxophone is featured. It is placed at the end of the CD, maybe a moment for introspection? Maybe Gayle realised we could with a little break by now. All in all, this is not easy to digest, but in smaller doses, most enjoyable.
Finally, Public Eyesore’s label boss, Bryan Day’s Eloine, has a new release on a different label, Personal Archives. Day creates wooden and metal constructions with wires and springs, which he amplifies and plays. He also adds some synthesiser sounds, found tapes, objects, and an organ. Of course, the visual side is not part of the CD, which is a pity as they are pretty wild pieces, almost art objects. Day rubs, strokes, hits these with other objects, mallets and manually. He takes all the recordings to the computer to construct a piece of music. Still, he retains some of the improvised quality in the resulting compositions. Well, maybe not, and all of these are live recordings. I simply don’t know. As before, Eloine likes the lengthy explorations, a bit of drone generated through some of the effects used, and the music is a free flow of sounds and ideas. Also, as before, some pieces are a bit too long, as typical Eloine pieces are nine to 12 minutes long, but could benefit from either more editing or more events thrown in the melee. Nevertheless, I greatly enjoy this, reminding me of Noise Makers Fifes, Kontakta, Morphogenesis and Kapotte Muziek, all working to some extent with electro-acoustic improvisation. Still, Eloine is the solo act, which is a unique position in this context. (FdW)
––– Address: http://www.publiceyesore.com/

PHILIPPE PETIT – EMPEROR TOMATO KETCHUP (CD by Sublime Retreat)

For some time, I associated the Polish Sublime Retreat label with a particular musical style: lo-fi dystopian electronic music based on field recordings. There’s no such thing here on the new release by Philippe Petit. It’s the first release in a new series the label and the artist present called “Music for the image_inary”, and this is what it is about: “Unlike the usual exercise of composing music for images, which consists in composing a soundtrack that follows the course of the film « Music to the Image_inary » is a series to arouse the emotion of the viewer-listener without seeking to reinforce the effect of the visual scene.
Pushing the imagination further, expressing a visual fantasy, which could have been the imaginary soundtrack to a thought-provoking film.” The movie of choice is Shûji Terayama ‘s ‘The Emperor Tomato Ketchup’ from 1971, which I have never heard of, and which wasn’t on YouTube, as far as I can see., so I have to go with Petit’s description (sorry for the lengthy quote) “Made in 1971, ‘The Emperor Tomato Ketchup’ has no central narrative and is set in a future where children have overthrown adults. It depicts a series of graphic tableaux in which children engage in cruel and abusive acts against adults. The pre-adolescents rebelled against their parents because they denied them the free expression of their sexuality. Armed to the teeth, they take revenge on adults and use terror to impose a new order: they establish a society where fairy tales and lovemaking take centre stage and blend harmoniously; magician-geishas play the role of lovers and mothers, and schoolmasters are condemned to death.” There’s more on the Bandcamp page for this release if you want to know more. You can probably guess where this review goes, as having not seen the movie, the music becomes very much a standalone affair. Petit uses a prepared piano soundboard, percussion, field recordings and a Buchla 200 analogue synthesiser, and in his music, he approaches the classic musique concrète composing methods. He plays the piano soundboard is hit, plucked and bowed, and the recordings are fed through the Buchla, perhaps in real time or after the fact. The music has a lively, organic feel, owing somewhat to a more improvised approach, bleeping and sparkles flying wide and far, from the synth, but also the percussive sounds, treated and untreated, do their business in this respect. Things fire up when Petit puts his material in order, such as the rhythm part of the second track, ‘Sequences II’ (I assume following the movie in this respect), making it thoroughly composed. At the same time, some of the other pieces come across as more freely played. I’m curious to see what else this series will bring; all music by Petit or others? And maybe with a movie I may have seen before! (FdW)
––– Address: https://sublimeretreat.bandcamp.com/

EXTEMPORE – DREAM OF FREQUENCIES (CD by Klanggalerie)

Extempore, a classic jazz quartet based in Vienna, and previously known as the Ad Libitum quartet, and maybe renamed to avoid confusion because there’s a string quartet with the same name that already had releases out. Although that string quartet changed its name as well. Oh well. Anyway, Extempore is an international quartet of sorts. The drummer, Mark Holub, is an American who lives and works in Vienna after a stop in the UK. Improvised music is not his only style: apart from Led Bib and the Anthropods, he’s the drummer of Blueblut, a trio with guitar and theremin. And he has composed music for theatre and dance performances. Next up is double bass player Vinicius Cajado, born in Brazil. Joëlle Léandre recorded a duo double bass record with him. The group’s piano player is Villy Paraskevopoulos, born in Greece, studied classical piano in Athens and moved to Austria to study jazz piano in Linz and Vienna. He founded the jazz trio Hypnotic Zone. The horn part in the quartet is for tenor saxophone player Werner Zangerle. Zangerle studied in Linz and now lives and teaches in Vienna. Throughout seven pieces, the quartet takes the listener on a journey with melodic lines, engaging solos, and excellent musicianship from all four quartet members. There’s something for everyone here: fiery saxophone playing, gritty bass notes, soft spoken cymbals and long form piano solos. And the production is excellent. All pieces were played and recorded at a concert in Vienna. This comes highly recommended. (MDS)
––– Address: https://klanggalerie.com/

MARK POLSCHER – SECOND LANDING JUMP (CD by Bounteous Farina)

German musician and composer Mark Polscher plays several instruments: soprano sax, bassoon, flute, guitar and piano. Apart from playing, he composes scores for TV, theatre (including an opera called Die mechanische Brau), dance and films. This is his first release after a ten-year gap. Soprano sax combined with modular synths, and I suspect sometimes culled from the sounds of the soprano sax. This is heady music with the soprano sax in the same aural field as the modular synth blips and beeps, creating a dialogue between them. And by heady music, I mean that the listener has to make an effort, as it is no cocktail jazz here. It’s improvised music of the highest order, with the more abstract sounds of the modular synths. Not surprising, really, since he studied with Karl-Heinz Stockhausen. I tried to search for earlier examples of this combination. Evan Parker did this in the early seventies, but combined with more instruments. Anthony Braxton, on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, did the same, again with more instruments, well, multiple instruments and just one other reed player: Roscoe Mitchell. It took me a few listening rounds to grasp the music. Or more truthfully: I did other stuff while listening to it. And that’s not a recommended MO for a reviewer. Sometimes the synth emulates percussion with a hypnotic booming percussive sound. In the shortest piece we hear a bass-like sound and halfway through the sax enters the proceedings. It works really well. Soprano sax is a very nasty instrument to play. It’s pretty unforgiving when not played decently. No worries about that here. Polscher has a great tone and doesn’t go into smooth jazz territory. Quite the contrary, although one can trace some jazz history in what he plays. This is likely not for everyone. But it might be for the readers of Vital Weekly! (MDS)
––– Address: https://markpolscher.bandcamp.com/album/second-landing-jump

STIAN LARSEN/COLIN WEBSTER/RUTH GOLLER/ANDREW LISLE – TEMPLE OF MUSES (CD by Relative Pitch Records)

This is damn fine music from five damn fine musicians. That’s it in a nutshell. End of story. That being said, Stian Larsen has been featured on these pages with Köök, his duo with fellow Norwegian guitarist Jørn Ahlsen. Saxophone player Colin Webster has been featured numerous times on these pages. As is drummer Andrew Lisle, mostly in combination with Colin Webster. Ruth Goller was only mentioned once, as a member of the octet Metamorphic. So let me introduce her to the reader. Born in Brixen, Northern Italy but raised in England, she began as a bass guitar player in a punk band. After graduating from Middlesex University, she became a member of jazz-punk outfit Acoustic Ladyland. She is in high demand as a bass player, electric and acoustic. Skylla is her debut record, and Skyllumina came out on International Anthem. Both are worth checking out. The longest piece is the title track, which clocks in at twenty minutes. Twenty minutes of bliss culminating in a hypnotic groove of drums and bass that sometimes accelerates with feverish noise from guitar and sax. Kingdom of Sailva and Dust starts with a succulent drum solo, evolves into a chaotic circus piece, and becomes a post-punk rock piece with a bass hook and a drum groove that locks in, interspersed with guitar and sax twangs. Excellent stuff! This, and I mean the whole record, has to be played with the volume on 11. I hope there will be more from this group in the future. (MDS)
––– Address: https://relativepitchrecords.bandcamp.com/

MONEY – MONEY 3 (3CDR by Love Earth Music)
WALLMART/RUBBISH (split CDR by Love Earth Music)

The third release by Money is, obviously, a triple CDR (see also Vital Weekly 1452 and 1435), and all I know is label boss Steve Davis, at the controls, doing something far away from his usual noise project +DOG+. He works with Eddie from Wallmart, the music project (more later), not the chain, hence the extra L in the name. Money is the corrupting factor in our lives, and the music project is a bit of anti-everything stuff. Davis confesses to using Audacity to mess with sounds, which reminds me of Egbert van der Vliet from Pool Pervert/Permeation, who does similar experiments with free software and free sounds. I assume Money does something similar, using the software’s possibilities to stretch out sounds, filter out frequencies, reverse them, bandpass filter, the low pass filter and whatever else and come with some of the weirder forms of ambient music, sometimes even passing over to a bit of noise here and there. Radical ambient music, not necessarily soothing, but occasionally violently present, with some of the deepest bass rumble. Not for one second did I recognise any of their sounds. I considered Money uses the same sounds repeatedly, constantly changing the frequencies. It’s perhaps a bit much, three hours of this sort of rumble/occasional burst, but it’s also very consistent.
My final disc is the split between Eddie’s Wallmart and Rubbish. Initially, the cover showed the Walmart logo, but that wasn’t allowed, so it was crossed out, which caused some friction between the involved music projects. Rubbish has (have?) four pieces opening up. They start with ‘PPTO’, a piece of acoustic metal scraping, an intro to their three pieces of noise music. They have a minimal approach to distorting acoustic sounds with stomp boxes in one massive stroke. ‘Customer Value Pricing Code Black’ sounds like a vinyl record with a 20-year dust collection under the stylus. These pieces have some noteworthy differences, so they’re not four times the same, which is good. Wallmart is also noise but more from a digital perspective, meaning it’s always meaner and deeper. Wallmart only has two pieces (effectively, 2/3 Rubbish and 1/3 Wallmart’s) of very minimal noise, almost like a Harsh Noise Wallmart; I am sure that might be one of the reasons for choosing this name. A consistent and politically inspired release, just like Money! (FdW)
––– Address: http://www.loveearthmusic.com/

BUFFALOMCKEE + D.D. DOBSON – THE CHARITY SCHOOL MOVEMENT (CDR by Hyster Tapes)

As with many releases by Finnish Hyster Tapes label, their covers aren’t exactly sources of information. I have no idea how and where this was recorded. I reviewed a release by Buffalomckee in Vital Weekly 1477, from Osaka and D.D. Dobson’s various releases, also on Hyster, so no info either. I don’t think he’s from Japan, so I assume this is some kind of music by mail collaboration. There are three lengthy pieces, which sound, at times, quite coherent, given their improvisational nature. The opening piece, ‘The Chill Of Ecstacy’, is a crossover between Small Cruel Party and early Zoviet*France: objects rolled over floorboards and their sounds being manipulated with some surprises thrown into the delay melee. ‘Sign Of The Lion’ opens with a rhythm machine on meltdown, but slowly picks up coherency by adding and changing the effects, and colouring the piece with synthesiser sounds, voices, to end on a fine field recording note. The final piece is ‘The Sleep Of Creation’, at almost 19 minutes, the longest piece on this CDR. Here, too, we have that mix of improvised sounds, which I suspect is Buffalomckee’s doing and psychedelic effects, creating that mind-bending psychedelic feel of lo-fi electronics and home-spun, basement noise music. Lovingly obscure music, as is to be expected from this label and these musicians. (FdW)
––– Address: https://www.pcuf.fi/~plaa/hyster.html

ANTICHILDLEAGUE – SUICIDAL TOLERANCE (cassette by Hagshadow)
ANTICHILDLEAGUE – RESIST OR SUBMIT (cassette by Hagshadow)
ANTICHILDLEAGUE – RETRO GUARD (cassette by Hagshadow)

Three cassettes from the UK’s Antichildleague, who prefer that as one word, of whom I hadn’t heard in quite some time. The cover describes these releases: ‘Suicidal Tolerance’ as ‘lo-fi power electronics’, ‘Resist Or Submit’ as ‘noise harsh wall, scrap metal’, while nothing for ‘Retro Guard’, which I think is correct. Lots of small and cheap synthesisers, a microphone, some pedals, and they’re off to their aural assault campaign. The covers are grim, so are the titles and the music? Grim too. Due to various circumstances, I found myself listening more and more to good old noise music recently, and while I find reviewing not always easy, I enjoy the musical aspect of it all. The not being easy to review is due primarily to the music itself. Power electronics and other variations of noise music are pretty much conservative excursions. There is a template for use, and following the template means the result is obvious—screaming voices, distorted wall of electronics, maybe the odd distorted rhythmic loop as part of ‘Suicidal Tolerance’ and a minimalist, indeed harsh wall on ‘Resist Or Submit’; interestingly the latter is also harsher than the other, but with some of the chaotic approach, less HWN, according to the rule book.
As said, ‘Retro Guard’ does not mention any style, and maybe that’s because it’s noise, but from a far more experimental perspective. No screaming electronics, no walls of noise, but a controlled action of metal bending, some stabs on a synth, a collage-like approach with a few tape loops, and while not as noisy as the other two, it’s undoubtedly not ambient or even ambient industrial. Suppose the other two releases result from uncontrolled blasting on instruments and microphones, like purge or catharsis. In that case, this cassette seems to be more deliberate, with plans and, dare I say it, composition. The cover lists various titles per side, but equally sounds very neatly as two side-long collages of electronics, scary and haunted, with a touch of chaos. It also means Antichildleague, as a noise band, has a lot of interest in variety, and that’s not common amongst the noisemongers. (FdW)
––– Address: https://hagshadow.net/