ROEL MEELKOP – 6 (MAILCOP RULES) (CD by Intransitive)
121DIALS – GLOBAL CATHOLIC BLACKLIST ARCHIVES (CD-R)
PROJECT DARK – EXCITED BY GRAMOPHONES VOLUME 4 (CD by Invisible Records)
AALBORG NOISE JIHAD (CD compilation by Club DNA)
BRUME – KRIEG (CD by Intransitive)
NACHT PLANK – 1-12 (CD-R by Microwave)
DI-N (FENNESZ_HARDING_REHBERG) – LIVE. THE HAGUE. THE GALLERY KELLER (LP on Ash
ROEL MEELKOP – 6 (MAILCOP RULES) (CD by Intransitive)
Before Roel Meelkop released under his own name, he played in band called THU20. That story is kinda known. Not too many people know he also released solo music under the moniker Mailcop (to explain were that comes from is ancient history and not really relevant) – aswell as some other stuff under another name, but that I save for another time. The reason for stopping these ancient solo (we’re talking mid to late eighties here) activities was an uneasyness in Meelkop’s mind. Equipment (synths, guitar, rhythmboxes aswell as analogue recording gear) could not bring the clarity in sound, the subtleness needed. Too much rumble, too much hiss. With the arrival of harddisc recording, digitalia and samplers, he returned straight away recording the things he really wanted to do: “audio films for ears”. Subtle collage compositions in which time and movement play an important role.
I don’t think we should see it as a question of left-overs, but Roel plundered his archives (as he is not the auto da-fe type) and looked for some interesting pieces from his former career. We get a pretty clear view. The first track is a droning synth piece, no melodic and only vaguely moving. The second, of course no title again (but I know his older Mailcop cassettes had titles for tracks), is a 4 track voice piece that is copied in eternity and is a pure blast of noise. The next one is a total contrast piece: a ticking clock with a wrapped sort of melody. The almost 25 minute piece that is number four here is the missing link between the old Mailcop and the new Meelkop. It’s moving, shifting between different worlds, textures or whatever you want to use. There is a combination of electronic sound with environmental sound, the children playing outside. But it’s put together more raw and untamed. Less silence…
In the last two pieces the contrast loud-soft is split again, with number five being the louder piece and number its counter part. Not just essential for those who want to keep up with the work of Meelkop, but also for those looking for missing links between hardcore industrial and electro-acoustic music. (FdW)
Address: <intransitive@visionload.com>
121DIALS – GLOBAL CATHOLIC BLACKLIST ARCHIVES (CD-R)
Very very good self-released CD-R by this, for me, unknown band (writing credits are for one Mitchell and Prince, whothey?). Full packed house here, with the complete disc filled by interesting electronic music, which is ambient at times (like in ‘IX(2)’) or Steve Reich inspired phase shifting (as in ‘Kachenka’), but also more regular techno like the openingtrack or ‘Vilnius’. Maybe it’s because this CD-R is a bit all over the place, that it sounds so nice and fresh. Order your copy today. (FdW)
Address: <radionic@globalnet.co.uk>
PROJECT DARK – EXCITED BY GRAMOPHONES VOLUME 4 (CD by Invisible Records)
Project Dark maybe known to some people out there for their lovely collectable 7″s made out of biscuit, glass, hair and chocolate. Lovely? I’ve never saw one, let alone can tell if they do make music. Well apperentely they do, since Project Dark managed to cranck out a whole CD – sort of against their policy of doing vinyl – which is a sort of overview for these vinyl outings.The main theme here: what is the sound of drum & bass on chocolate? Because Project Dark is mainly interested in that particular area of music, save for some darker toned ambience pieces (such as ‘A Short Hop From Sarajevo’). Towards the end there are distinctly shorter pieces, of a more noisy character. The whole thing is recorded live in action, and it makes you kinda curious how these vinyls are played. If you weird drum & bass is your thing and art your lifestyle, then you should get it of course. (FdW)
Address: www.invisiblerecords.com
AALBORG NOISE JIHAD (CD compilation by Club DNA)
As the title indicates, a noise affair. But one that is in different territories then the usual ‘I put on a bunch of feedback’. I never heard of any of these four bands, but that should not spoil the fun.
Marquis Konspirator has a track that easily drones away over a bunch of analogue synths and a long affair, mild pun against new age, synth piece, which grows thicker towards the end. Luca Brasi’s Revenge also offer two tracks of lo-fi, dark ambient noise. The full blast noise arrives with Kummerlige Forhold. They offer four short pieces, but all in full speed noise. The last band featured here is Maaet Helliger Midlet 666 and operate in similar vein as the previous band. This means that half the CD is my cup of tea, and the other half has surely some fans too. (FdW)
Address: Kattesundet 19 – 9000 Aalborg – Denmark
BRUME – KRIEG (CD by Intransitive)
Of course Msr. Renou is an old aquaintance, whose work has been widely spread already. Moving on the edges of underground and serious music, he has won himself a place of his own with his crossover between collage, electroacoustics and noise. On this CD he presents five tracks of the sound that we know so well: cutups, fragments of widely varying sound sources, noises without apparent origin, spoken word, musical samples. All this is put togeher with a lot of respect for silence as a musically important material as well. A wide range of strange moods passes through this musical spectrum, constructed very cleverly with the use of these ingredients. At times copmletely abstract and at other times exremely suggestive, Brume captivates the listener in his world of sound. A very well done production and worth listening to on its own terms. (MR)
http://www.visionload.com/intransitive
intransitive@visionload.com
NACHT PLANK – 1-12 (CD-R by Microwave)
It’s been a long time, but now there is at last some new and promising music from England and they present themselves with what I think is a german name. But that doesn’t matter of course, as long as you like what you hear. It often seems to me that the english music scene is too quickly absorbed by commercialism and hype and I surely hope this is not the case with Nacht Plank, which is not to say that I don’t wish them all the succes in the world, but merely that I feel that a lot of bands don’t get the time to truly develop their artistic integrity. OK, so much of my ideas about the music industry, now back to the record at hand: Nacht Plank presents twelve tracks that are essentially repetitive, in a manner that reminds me more of Oval and offspring than any other rythmic enterprise that I have heard lately, but with the relieving exception that this is not embossed with a lot of philosophical liner notes. Also the comparison with Oval is of a superficial nature: there are none of the cd-skipping sounds and in general the sound of Nacht Plank is much warmer and gentler. After close listening it seems as if 1-12 has been made exclusively with vinyl samples from old electronic music recordings (this is to give an impression of the sound character, not to actually state that this is really the case). This is a truly mesmerizing record, one hat captures attention, but leaves enough room for thoughts about the beautiful weather or whatever dreams you’re dreaming. The repetitive character of the pieces is of a very subdued nature and is layered in a playful but also very thoughtful manner. All pieces are quite short, which suits them very well, because it prevents them from becoming too ambient. A very good (debut?) CD indeed. Get it! (MR)
http://www.staalplaat.com
DI-N (FENNESZ_HARDING_REHBERG) – LIVE. THE HAGUE. THE GALLERY KELLER (LP on Ash International)
Well, LP is actually a big word for this one-sided slab of familiarly heavy vinyl. Because yes, it has only one side, featuring a live recording by the illustrious names mentioned above at the location also mentioned above. As it happens I saw the performance and I was quite impressed by the diginoise produced by the trio. This recording must be an outtake of the whole concert, because that lasted considerably longer than the 20 minutes on the record. I don’t know if there has been any editing or so, and to be honest, I don’t remember the concert so well, that I can remember if this is an integral part of it (this may have something to do with a party afterwards featuring the infamous icelandic brenniwin….). But anyway, the record does give a fairly good idea of how the concert sounded: harsh, noisy and uncompromising. Play at full blast! (MR)
http://www.touch.demon.co.uk/ashrip.htm
ashrip@touch.demon.co.uk