TOM JOHNSON – THE CHORD CATALOGUE (CD on Experimental Intermedia)
LARS HALLNAS – WO DER WIND DEN STEG UMWEHET (CD on Content)
CHRIS NEWMAN – SAD SECRETS / NEW FRENCH TUNES (cd on CONTENT)
A/H – TULI EN TULI (CDR by Some Place Else)
FON – PROOF (CD by Werkzeug)
SENSORBAND – AREA/PULS (CD by Sonoris)
OPEN:NOISE #1 (Compilaton CDR by OT 301)
TOM JOHNSON – THE CHORD CATALOGUE (CD on Experimental Intermedia)
LARS HALLNAS – WO DER WIND DEN STEG UMWEHET (CD on Content)
From a modernist point of view serious composed music ought to develop
further from Schonberg and serial music. If a composer does not operate
within or from this tradition the music is reductive, regressive or just
nostalgic. Then he is not to be considered a serious composer. This dogma
is very often in the background when you read on tonal music like minimal
music or the new religious music of Arvo Part, John Tavener and many
others. But it is a fact that many composers left this dogma, taking the
risc of not being taking serious as a composer. But of both alternatives it
can be said that they reached a public and influenced many composers,
popgroups, etc. Although this is not a criterium for musical quality and
genius, I think it is not fair to dismiss this judgement as populistic.
There is nothing wrong with the fact that people like music. Here we have
two cd’s, one with minimal music, the other with Satie-like, meditative
music. Whether they will reach a big audience?
Tom Johnson is known as a musical journalist. In the 70s he wrote for the
Village Voice on minimal music. He studied composition with Morton Feldman
who said: “Let the music do what is wants to do”. The title of his new cd
reveals exactly what the piece is about. It springs from an idea. Let’s
play all the 8178 chords possible in one octave. The first piece contains
all the 78 two-note chords, the second piece all 286 three-note chords and
so on. By the way they are played by Johnson himself. They are also machine
versions of the piece. “Sometimes I explain that my reasons for being a
minimalist, for wanting to work with a minimum of musical materials, is
because it also helps me to minimize arbitrary self- expression.” Because
of this the music sounds more objective. Johnson is not expressing himself
here. This makes his work more familiar with the minimal music in there
earlier years then with the neo-romantic work of Philip Glass at the
moment. On the other hand, as a listener, searching for ‘interesting’
musical information that I could enjoy in some or other way, ‘The Chord
Catalogue’ does not help me very much. I feel more attracked to the cd by
Lars Hallnas. As a swedish composer, he was very active in the 70s. Then he
quit the scene for about then years and now he is back. His music strives
for a certain purity and is ascetic in nature. The music does not strive
for a certain effect, to bring about a meditative or religious feeling. The
music is far from superficial. The pieces on this are inspired on poems
interpreted by piano, violin and soprano (in different combinations).
Hallnas: “All the pieces on this record are, in one way or another, about
returning. They relate to all these wanderings along the paths of the
forest, where ons has thought about what is expressed in poems by Claudius,
Hoelderlin, Stagnelius and others, as well as about the technique, the art
of composing. In the end, one can always point at a certain note, or a
single chord, and ask, “What are you doing here?” I want to be able to
answer such questions, at least to myself, and not just refer to empty
formulas, but convince myself that there is a comprehensible solution to a
problem that was once formulated on the forest path, where maybe, on a rare
occasion, you can make mathematics, music and poetry meet and shake hands.
But the questions which remain and live on, are those asked when you
return, when you turn homeward”.(DM)
Address: <xirecords@compuserve.com>
Address: <www.cda.se>
CHRIS NEWMAN – SAD SECRETS / NEW FRENCH TUNES (cd on CONTENT)
On a totally unknown swedish label for me – Content – Chris Newman
surprises with a cd with his songs and characteristic way of singing them.
I had to do al little research in my collection to find earlier work by
him. Together with Janet Smith he released an lp for Review Records in
1985. Last year he released another cd on Review Records. Not that much,
but music is just one outlet for Chris Newman. His artistic works varies
from poetry, video, performance, and also painting. I don’t know his other
work. About his philosophy here a quote from the linernotes: “These pieces
are to do with everything existing already & finding ways to reveal that
fact. The fact that everything already exists also points to a solid-state
situation where chronological time is not valid. Life itself is a case of a
pathway being cut through already existing material, rahter than of making
anything up. Material which has been there is constantly revelaed anew
according to the pathways cut.” Newman comes from London, Studied with
M.Kagel in Cologne and lives in Berlin. “Beim singen der Lieder versuche
ich nicht nicht ein S”nger zu sein, eher ein singendes Selbst.” This is a
very fitting subsription by Newman himself on what he is doing here.
Simple, naive songs are ‘sung’ by normal voice, but in a very expressive
and intense way that reveals a great personality. It’s really a human being
singing here. Soul music. Just accompanied by piano
(DM)
Address: www.cda.se
A/H – TULI EN TULI (CDR by Some Place Else)
FON – PROOF (CD by Werkzeug)
Here are two opposites from the world of microwave. A/H’s second release,
the first full length is totally analogue. A/H hail from good ol Finland,
and might be, after Pan Sonic and Vladislav Delay, the third rising star on
the fringe of minimal techno or microwave. It’s certainly music that moves,
but without the depth that can be found on an ordinary techno record. Its
bleepy, wacky and messy. It’s a kind of pure and raw music that is like the
punkrock from the electro department (also the fact that it’s a CD-R helps
placing it in the do it yourself corner). I like it a lot. It’s fine
combination of Pan Sonic and Goem in strict analogue fashion.
As said Fon is the opposite. Entirely digital makes life much cleaner. This
certainly has more depth and more sharpness. It obviously falls in the same
categories as the other microwavers, but it’s certainly all over the place:
from drone patterns and crystal clicks to more beaty stuff. It doesn’t get
the same drive as A/H, it stays too much off-beat and weird. The eleven
tracks are distinctvely different from each other, but make nevertheless a
very coherent album. And the cover is very nice, almost Designer Republic
stuff. Very nice debut. (FdW)
Address: <someplaceelse@kaaos.org>
Address: <werkzeug@connect.to>
SENSORBAND – AREA/PULS (CD by Sonoris)
Shame of course upon myself: I have never seen the Sensorband live, and
that is a pity. Three guys with a bunch of ropes, connected with sensors.
By moving around, climbing in the ropes, the sound is changed by the
sensors. These three guys are Edwin van der Heide, Atau Tanaka and Zbigniew
Karkowski – three guys with a wide experience in sound, electronic music
and performances. The question of course is: will their sound last on CD?
Since they use pure tones and oscillations which change because of bodily
movements, nothing might happen if you play this at home. It’s unclear
wether these four tracks, one analogue and three digital, are recorded
live, or used in live performances. The CD opens with ‘digtal.1’, a slowly
moving static line with small pulses, gradually increasing tension. The
‘analogue’ track is much a like, but much slower. The built-up takes more
time (no surprise in a track that lasts 28 minutes) and is very austere in
setting. The two shorter ‘digital.2’ and ‘digital.3’ are like the opening
track. More pulsating, without getting anywhere near a beat. Number is
almost like a sentimental song, with a tone of sadness in there. The
presstext talks about the missing link between Hafler Trio and Pan Sonic,
I’d like to add a link to Alvin Lucier’s Music On A Long Thin Wire: pure
tones changed by the environment. A very minimal, but very nice work…
(FdW)
Address: <sonoris.fr@lemel.fr>
OPEN:NOISE #1 (Compilaton CDR by OT 301)
The Netherlands is a small country not bigger then Amsterdam – we all know
that. We receive per week at least 4 requests to organise concerts in our
cool city Amsterdam. Smoking away in a good coffee shop in the afternoon
and the play some nice club – and we have tons of coffee shops, so we have
tons of clubs. Right? Wrong. Apart from the well-know clubs as Paradiso and
Melkweg, there is no smaller stage that books interesting shows of the
people often discussed in these pages. Squatted places come and go, and
temporary spaces exist. The recentely squatted Filmacademie might be one of
those spaces and let’s hope it will last longer. It’s big building,
squatted by artists of all kinds, musicians, painters, film, fashion, and
they use it mainly as their workspace. A small stage is available and they
are actively searching for interesting music to host. Money is small (like
anywhere in Europe that is ot state funded!), but the atmosphere is good.
As a result of their newly founded music part, they released a CD-R with
local musicians. The only two names familiar are Dead Fish Fuck (who
released a LP before with scraping of metal sheets) and Retro/A.K.A., with
his technoidmutants. This very well sets the boundaries of what local
talent is available: noise and rhythm sharing the same space. The three
cuts by Dead Fish Fuck are among my favourites, but also the hissy and
glichty M-Tel. A true miss is the Anti-Delusion Mechanism, with their 15
minute free-jazz improv pathetic theatre. But these things happen. For more
info on concerts, you should contact: <martijn@staalplaat.com> or order
this CD at:
<overtoom301@go.to>