PIMMON – WAVES AND PARTICLES (CD by Meme)
*0 – 0.0 (CD by Meme)
OLEG KOSTROW – THE GREAT FLASHING TRACKS FROM IWONA (CD by STORA)
SYBARITE – MEUSIC (7″ by Emanate)
THE IDEA FIRE COMPANY (LP by Swill Radio)
THE SHADOW RING – LIGHTHOUSE (2LP by Swill Radio)
RICHARD CHARTIER – A HESITANT FOLD (CD by meme)
PIMMON – WAVES AND PARTICLES (CD by Meme)
*0 – 0.0 (CD by Meme)
This is Pimmon’s, aka Paul Gough, first full length CD. Earlier he released
a beautiful 12″ LP on the new ERS label (which sadly enough wasn’t reviewed
in Vital Weeky, eternal shame upon ourselves) and there are also released
out or forthcoming on Fat Cat and Static Caravan. According to the rather
uninformative Meme cover, Pimmon uses a personal computer in combination
wwith two old analogue synths. He tapes sounds from the synths and composes
with these sounds on his harddisc. Over the course of his 10 tracks, he
shows a varied pallet of sounds and techniques. There is the obvious noise
bit (as in the short ‘Cafu’), and more quiet pieces which places more
interest on the balance. Pimmon mostly uses loops to create his pieces, and
thus a somewhat ‘beating’ character is added to the pieces. Even when it
would maybe hint at techno music, it never gets anywhere close. At best
some of the pieces are more in the Mego alley, and the majority would be
classified as ‘intellectual industrial’. The more noisy variant to RLW,
Meelkop and the like.
*0 is also at his first real CD, after some CDRs and collaborative work
with Richard Chartier. More then Pimmon, *0 is closer to techno and
industrial. High blee ping pulses and deep bass sounds make up his music.
If the work of Ryoji Ikeda means something to you, then you’ll find 0*
similar. He uses the same sort of souds, but less hectic and more linear
then Ikeda. It’s quite extreme music, very low end bass, very high end
pitches: the middle seems to be playing part. Very homgone material here
and very much tone inspired. What more could I add? (FdW)
Adress: meme-@msh.biglobe.ne.jp
OLEG KOSTROW – THE GREAT FLASHING TRACKS FROM IWONA (CD by STORA)
Something is happening in Chermanny. Of late a profusion of new,
adventurous music has been floating down the Rhine, released by a number of
innovative labels, quite unafraid to lower themselves into the polluted
stream of contemporary sound without testing temperature or depth first.
Bungalow, Gagarin Records, Staubgold and Stora crawl resolutely forward
with a rapid succesion of CDs, intent on carving a niche for themselves
with unusual and clever ditties designed to slip into the space between
your ears and re-sound there indefinitely. Oleg Kostrow’s CD is the first
in a series titled ‘Storage Secret Sounds’ released by Stora, who released
a ‘Kompilation’ CD in March this year, which indicates the direction this
series might take. The ‘Secret Sounds’ packaging is reduced to a minimum
slipcase, emphasising the aural content. Kostrow’s “Great Flashing Tracks
from IWONA” showcases music selected from a children’s theatre-play ‘Iwona’
designed by the young Russian artist Andrej Bartenev (who has worked with
Paco Rabane, Andrew, Brian Eno and others). Kostrow wrote the music for
this play which has been performed in St. Petersburg, Moscow and London
Royal Festival Hall. Apparently, KOSTROW is well-known in Russia, being one
half of the band MESSER FR FRAU MLLER, which was voted Best Band of 1998
by the influential Moscow magazine Ptjutsh. The music on ‘Iwona’ is sharp,
witty
and concise, constructed mostly from samples taken from naggingly familiar
tunes of the last fifty years or so. Herein lies its immediate appeal, of
course. Still I cannot help but marvel at the way in which these sound
fragments are cunningly combined to produce new compositions which can
proudly rear up on their hind legs as ‘original’ works in their own right.
Tunes flip-flop effortlessly between lounge, mambo, disco, psychedelia,
drum & bass and early electronic rock without fear. Think of it as Tipsy
taking a relaxed stroll down the lane of memories archived by Stock, Hausen
& Walkman – a hybridisation of ‘Trip Tease’ and ‘Organ Transplants’
.Laidback, cool and wonderfully musical, without the frenzy that prevails
in most of SHW’s output. Kostrow created the soundtrack for a new
production of FAUST, a project commissioned by the Goethe Institute (and
others?), with stage design and costumes by Bartenev once again. Rumours
were that Kostrow would perform in Europe in the last quarter of 1999. I
have not seen any sign of him yet, and it’s unclear whether he will be
touring with the theatre group or on
his own. If you like the madness of Stock, Hausen & Walkman, the undulating
grooves of Tipsy or the twisted tunes of Felix Kubin (who’s new rekkid will
be considered here next week, together with CDs by Groenland Orchester and
Gunter Adler), then ‘Iwona’ is for you. A peerless example of what
recontextualisation is all about. Brilliant. A sense of humour is
mandatory. (Check out their groovy website, and find out more of the same.)
(MP)
(http://www.freibank.com/stora)
SYBARITE – MEUSIC (7″ by Emanate)
America is a quickly increasing place for ‘intelligent’ dance music, which
can be found on a series of small labels, such Isophlux and Emanate. The
latter just released a 7″ by Sybarite (who had before two tracks on a
compilation, which I never heard but I’m very curious to hear it). Sybarite
is one Christian Hawkins and is not techno or drum & bass in a plain form.
He combines the modern technology with guitars and bass. ‘Meusic’ is a
laid-back tune, with a returning guitar motiff. ‘Invisible Magnetic
Missive’ has a less recognizable theme and is more straight forwardand more
techno inspired. These two tracks can easily meet with the best pieces of
Kreidler, To Rococco Rot or any indie rocker from the UK. Limited release!
(FdW)
Address: PMB NO 402 -2342 Shattuck Ave – Berkeley, CA 94704 – USA
THE IDEA FIRE COMPANY (LP by Swill Radio)
THE SHADOW RING – LIGHTHOUSE (2LP by Swill Radio)
These two should be reviewed together, since Swill Radio announces these as
the first attack of the Anti-Naturals. This, so I understand, is a movement
that want to set art and science free from commerce.
The Idea Fire Company have released a number of records before, and arrive
on their latest at the most austere sonic painting. They mainly go for the
drones that stick deep in your head. On top of the drones they place loops.
Its that simple, it’s minimal and it’s that fascinating. They claim that
these are ‘idealized field recordings’, but there is not a single bird in
sight. The tracks are either very long, or very short. It’s strange but
intriuging record.
That can also be said of The Shadow Ring. A group of 6 people (including
some The Idea Fire Company) with a standard line up of instruments. However
they play strange kind of rock music. Instruments remain unprocessed,
lyrics are usually spoken and the tempo is slow. Feedback is added at
various occassions and adds a strong experimental edge. I’ve played this a
couple of times, but I still don’t know what to think: this is either great
or shite. Those are usually the best. (FdW)
Address: <swill@crocker.com>
RICHARD CHARTIER – A HESITANT FOLD (CD by meme)
Chartier has had quite a few releases lately, all of them in the same
‘microwavy’ style. This one is no exception; 8 tracks of quiet pulses and
waves, once again best listened to with your headphones on. It is
remarkable how Chartier’s music has its own very personal character. In
that sense he is defenitely on the same level as Ikeda or Noto. But in
comparison with them, Chartier’s music has got an intimacy, that is not
easily associated with this kind of music. This is probably partly due to
the low volume of the tracks, but also has something to do with the way his
work sounds. The stereo panorama is extensively used for all those pulses
and bleeps and there are no FX to distract from the original synthetic
sounds. So it is the pure nature of this synthetic material, that creates
the intimacy, because of its directness. The tracks have a slow and steady
development, with some breaks here and there, but not any harsh ones.
Chartier makes very clever use of the different qualities of pulses and
waves, alternating or combining them in such a way, that their character is
changing all the time. And that is exactly why this CD is so fascinating:
he is able to make strong compositions with a very limited amount of
material. And I think that deserves a lot of credit.(MR)
Adress: meme-@msh.biglobe.ne.jp