COSMONAUTS HAIL SATAN – Cape Canaveral Skull Island Apocalypse (CD by Will
Montgomery)
TEKTONICS (compilation CD by Om)
NOMEX – TROCANTE GRAMOFONY (12″E.P. by Praxis)
ULTRA MILKMAIDS – PEPS (CD by Duebel)
ZAMMUTO – WILLSCHER (CD by Apartment B)
MIMETIC FIELD – OVERRATED (CD by Moloko+)
LES FLEURS DU MAL – HERBST IN PEKING (CD by Moloko+
ZONK’T – FALLING DOWN FEARLESS OF BRUISES (CDR by Sound On Probation)
FITA N’DO – >BISCUITS< (CDR by Minim)
DJ CUIT BROS – PASSATGE (CDR by Minim)
COSMONAUTS HAIL SATAN – Cape Canaveral Skull Island Apocalypse (CD by Will
Montgomery)
Guitars, monster movies and the sleazebitten beat of total devotion.
These are people who burn their work after six months. These are people
whose secrets keep them vital. These are people whose time stands still –
even sometimes on its head. They are the children of a thousand murky
cassette releases and a hundred hidden histories. Oh, yes – you may
dismiss the ur-urgness of the kludding thud, you may scoff at the titles
and laugh at their bibles – BUT CAN YOU PROVE IT DIDN’T HAPPEN?
Sounds emit and throb in snakish cruddity and what does it take to anger
older people? What quality of sound, what timbre or tone? And is that the
point? Is the point rather to communicate something that you find
important but that someone else finds incomprehensible? It’s difficult to
remember that – regardless of whatever sounds are borne – the generation
gap is spanned by a notion of “more.” More innocent, more exciting – “more
real.” That notion is smeared across these sounds. UFOs, science-fiction,
the lurid, the garish – skulls, altars, all that shit.
Yet, in adolescence (not the modern, extended version), one of the “goals”
is to figure oneself out. Not out of the equasion – but to make sense of
the world without and the world within. How far from this were the spook
shows of the 1950s with their science phantasies run am-ok? Man strikes
against the alien terror – sometimes from within (“Invasion of the Body
Snatchers”); other times, from without (“Earth vs. the Flying Saucers”).
Oppresion, repression, depression and the impression of the guitar.
These songs ARE the soundtrack to someone’s life. (DC)
Address: <richo@apexonline.com>
TEKTONICS (compilation CD by Om)
A bit of dusty, dusky spokenwordintro and Freestylers, meet DJ Z-Trip.
Sampling from the past emerges more poignant and cringeworthy than the
previous introduction. Zum zum zum ziss ziss ziziziss and this is dance
music. All right, you go off and talk amongst yourselves – Ming & FS?
Ming? Oh, never mind that Flash Gordon, come here – I want you to meet DJ
J-Rocc. Some amount of backwardmask putters its way across the bass that I
need to turn up, ah, all right, and who’s next? I am urged to “come on.”
Photek introduces himself to the Scratch Perverts, and hollow pipes cross
around beats in the Kinski spiral, floating in on a mellow cloud and
jagging off in a rhombus frenzy. Wagon Christ carries DJ Rob Swift in –
sampling stereo testing instructions all along the beaten path – my vinyl
weighs a ton? Sampling from an earthquake-oriented film, now.
Propellerheads meet DJ Craze, thereby joining their bass instincts in one
more urging for me to “come on.” This is the most cordial compilation I
have yet heard! The rump is therby shaken by the ardent shuffle of razz
and its brother amatazz. Tim “Love” Lee meets DJ Disk and mellow is the
groove that springs from their third mind. “Come on, let’s rock” ups the
ante just so. Howie B. (he of the impending Faust “Ravvivando” remixes)
and DJ Apollo don’t so much meet as they collide – and who emerges foremost
from what…emerges? Soulstice meets DJ Curse and hey hey hey, James Brown
is here, too! Much scratching.
The meeting of the Post Tool Project and DJ Tomkat – well, it’s quite
literalist insofar as DJ Tomkat does a lot of…scratching! These are
beats with which you can beat up friends – they will be amazed at your
musical acumen and how did this little label get all these big acts? Cold
Fusion meets DJ Vin Roc and theoretically this should kill DJ Vin Roc but
apparently it only makes him stronger. J-Boogie meets DJ Imperial in
Brazilelectro, which sounds exactly that. King Kooba, DJ P-Trix – Dj
P-Trix, King Kooba. Meat Beat Manifesto meets the Herbaliser, and the
strange counterpoint (as heard in a rather popular automobile advert) is
that the cry to “set me free” wails up against “come on, come on!”.
And all is well and moving in the groove of the road…
Address: <info@om-records.com>
NOMEX – TROCANTE GRAMOFONY (12″E.P. by Praxis)
“If you don’t know the game then you’re a part of it” is the inscription
on this transparent vinyl. The game being “Noise”. Praxis is well known
for their technoise-releases, but this one has no techno on it but a
variaty of noise-treatments; needles being molested, playing the label of
a record, totally overdriven and distorted sounds. Several tracks end in
locked grooves. Drones and voices on the other side gradually evolve into
high-frequency noise. (RM)
Address: <praxis@gonebad.net>
ULTRA MILKMAIDS – PEPS (CD by Duebel)
ZAMMUTO – WILLSCHER (CD by Apartment B)
Two examples of popmusic; yes, I don’t mind using the big word. They are
both examples of popmusic for this millenium – well, for some years of it.
The milkies, a duo from France, quickly moved in their career from
industrialized ambience, to sounding like Coil but better to this, a small
highlight in their career. They sampe the hell out of guitars, basses and
add glitchy rhythm parts to create small, fragile, warmbient pieces of
poppy music.
Now the difference between the Ultra Milkmaids and Zammuto is that the
french use one specific musical language to create the work, but Zammuto
puts in fact a lot in there. It’s even more popmusic, with it’s extensive
use of err… guitars, basses and maybe voices even, who knows. Of course
this is all sampled like hell, but who cares with the warmth involved. But
it’s all very very cleverly made and an enjoyment throughout. I have to
note this is my second entry in this year’s top 10. (FdW)
Address: order@ant-zen.com
Address: http://www.apartmentb.com
MIMETIC FIELD – OVERRATED (CD by Moloko+)
LES FLEURS DU MAL – HERBST IN PEKING (CD by Moloko+
Mimetic Field’s CD could have been subtitled ‘an encyclodepia of hip
underground movements of the last 15 years’. There are dashes of gothic,
sampled orchestras (like Autopsia once did), Electrobody Music, techno and
ambient. As varied as a compilation CD. I thought some of it was nice,
certainly the misplaced pathos of the gregorian (Carmina Burana strikes
again) of the opening track. In general much of this was alright, even when
I am not the biggest fan of this kind of music.
Les Fleurs Du Mal are remixed by Mimetic, Alexander Istschenko, Column One
and Didier Leboz; each doing a few. I am not familiar with the original of
Les Fleurs… The remixes are again as varied as a complation, but in this
case its one. There are b-movie guiatrs in ‘Doubt’ by Istschenko, dub music
in ‘Russian Overdub’ and ‘Dub Reality’, but also bad gothic in ‘Movie Stops
Tomorrow’, which uses the same voice effects as Cher in her hit ‘believe’.
Some of these tracks are not bad in itself, but as a total, I couldn’t get
into it very much. (FdW)
Address: fax: + 49 39200 53629
ZONK’T – FALLING DOWN FEARLESS OF BRUISES (CDR by Sound On Probation)
Zonk’t are Bernard Ducayron and Laurent Perrier. The latter we may remember
as labelowner of Odd Size and his various musical projects (of which I
shamefully don’t remember with a name). He started a new band and a new
label, Sound On Probation. In Zonk’t Laurent is responsible for maybe 90%
of the total sound, which are called on the cover ‘electronics,
programming’. Bernard plays bass. Three very long tracks of very dark trip
hop like music. Rhythms once set forward, continue to decide the piece and
electronics are added to shape the colour. Very staggering rhythm pieces,
which breath the speed of a big city. Very nicely mixed together in
continous mode. This will certainly appeal to the fans of DJ Spooky. (FdW)
Address: <zonk-t@wanadoo.fr>
FITA N’DO – >BISCUITS< (CDR by Minim)
DJ CUIT BROS – PASSATGE (CDR by Minim)
Two minimal packed CDR only releases from Spain. The first one just says
Fita N’Do and the title, plus the subtitle ‘Africa Paisatge Sonor
Artificial’ – whatever that means. Eight small tracks, total spanning just
under 30 minutes of minimal electronica of a more abstract nature. There is
a rhythmical element (as in: yes, it loops), but it doesn’t get beat
oriented for the bigger part. In the sixth track there is a hint to Ikeda
or Mego, but as said the major part sound like tape-loops of marimba’s or
thumb piano’s. Quite alright stuff to DJ with, I guess.
More information can be found on the DJ Cuit Bros release. Again short
tracks, eleven in total, which are turntabled together by this DJ (or does
Bros imply two brothers) and they mention all their sources per track.
Anything from Farmers Manual to Reznicek to Kevin Drumm to Amon Tobin. Not
that I recognized a lot, because I am not very good in quizes. What is
furthermore not very clear, is what this DJ does: just play them, or add
much sampling, sound effects etc. Who cares? Not me. The result is what
matters and I hear quite nice music, which is far more collage like than I
would have anticipated seeing this list. They shift easily back and forth
in tunes, melodies and rhythms with portions of jazz, rock and improv. With
no voice stuff in there, this is altogether plunderphonica without the
social overtones. And that can be nice too. (FdW)
Address: <propost@cccb.org>