KOJI ASANO – A SECRET PATH OF RAIN (CD by Solstice)
MUSICA VENENO – LOVE STORY (CD-R by Hazard Records)
BRIAN LAVELLE – TOWRDS DEEP RED (online by technoh)
CHRISTOPH DE BABALON – DARK BACKGROUND (online by fals.ch)
THEMOONSTEALINGPROJECT – MSP.003/NT[EP]FKM (online by notype)
AD RELAY – DOES THE MATH
TV POW – WE’RE ALMOST TO YOUR HOUSE
LIMINAL – TEMPLE MUSIC
ANDREAS BERTHLING – AVEN
SHIFTS – FIVE PIECES WITH NO PARTICULAR TITLE
(all CDRs by Boxmedia)
KOJI ASANO – A SECRET PATH OF RAIN (CD by Solstice)
Having been introduced to Asano’s music by the CD ‘Preparing for April’,
which was basically a series of lo-fi recordings of piano pieces, this
release comes as a real surprise. This is electronic disturbance, with a
lot of cuts and silences. The two long tracks of over twenty minutes each
consist of distorted sounds, the origin of which could be anything. Except
for the title and the cover photograph (which are not very explicit), there
are no clues given to the origin of the material or the concept of the
tracks, which, in this case, is somewhat of a problem for me, because the
music is so hermetic, that it becomes somewhat irrelevant. On the other
hand, this might just be the challenge, of course. (MR)
Adress: solstice@retemail.es or http://personal4.iddeo.es/koji
MUSICA VENENO – LOVE STORY (CD-R by Hazard Records)
OK, so this is the (love) story: during the permanent Gracia Territori
Sonor festival (in Barcelona, Spain), Hazard Records were asked to do a
series of concerts. And they did, with the following bands: Superelvis,
Obsolete Farmer, FMOL Trio minus one, David Rodriguez, Xavi Marx and File
Under Toner. These concerts were all based on the song ‘Love Story’ by
Francis Lai. You can imagine that this song was properly mutilated in all
possible ways. But it doesn’t simply end here: all the concerts were
recorded by Musica Veneno, who in turn mutilated all these recordings into
a live concert as well and then into one track of just over half an hour
for this CD. This is serious desconstructivism, it seems. However, the
beginning of the track sounds pretty much as one piece and then another and
then another. It is difficult to tell whether any serious decomposing was
done unto the original recordings; it sounds pretty much like a cutup
thereof. Of course, there is nothing wrong with that, but somehow the story
sounds more exciting than the result (in contrast to the subject of the
review above). Anyway, the CD is nice enough, mind you. (MR)
Adress: hazard@vectork.com
BRIAN LAVELLE – TOWRDS DEEP RED (online by technoh)
Brian Lavelle and technoh were unknown to me until I heard a friend mention
both. I checked out the website which looks a bit coarse and decided to
download the available music. Levelle is owner of web only label Technoh
and the first release is one from his own. It is definitely rhythmic but
definitely a very modest variant of techno. The atmosphere is much more
laidback. It’s more something for a chill out party. Pleasant rhythms
mostly constructed (except for the sacred bass drum of course) with exotic
sounds with a very slight melody only just discernable. I’d like to see
where this is going…. (IS)
CHRISTOPH DE BABALON – DARK BACKGROUND (online by fals.ch)
This is an online release with only one composition, lasting a bit more
than 5 minutes. Well, it does leave an impression. What we hear is a dense
cloud of heavily reverbed basses with overtones fading in and out. The
atmosphere is dark. The whole thing gradually works towards the end which
comes slowly. The last 15 secs or so are filled with reverbed and phased
50hz noise suddenly cut off. That is an important statement, to end this
composition this way. I just don’t see what it could mean. (IS)
THEMOONSTEALINGPROJECT – MSP.003/NT[EP]FKM (online by notype)
Themoonstealingproject produces music that is contemplative. It is a
gurggling repetitive stream of harmonics. Slowly gliding towards the end.
There is hardly any structural progression. It just stops there and then. I
like it. Every time I listen to it I want to hear more. Let’s hope this
isnt just a one time project but an ongoing one. (IS)
AD RELAY – DOES THE MATH
TV POW – WE’RE ALMOST TO YOUR HOUSE
LIMINAL – TEMPLE MUSIC
ANDREAS BERTHLING – AVEN
SHIFTS – FIVE PIECES WITH NO PARTICULAR TITLE
(all CDRs by Boxmedia)
The CDR is as an independent release is still not recognized as such; very
few people are building a coherent catalogue of releases. They are either a
better looking demo or too much of an incidental feature. Boxmedia, used to
releasing difficult music from the greater Chicago area, are trying to
built some sort of catalogue of CDR only releases. Their releases so far
proof that there is more to it, then just a demo. Some of these could have
been ‘normal’ CD’s, and others could be regarded as work in progress. All
CD’s are packed in silver carton sleeves, with a small sticker (the similar
approach is nice, but this looks a bit too similar to RRR’s pure series).
One Robert Wilkus is behind Anti-Dynamical Relay and his eight tracks show
an interest in computerized, distorted but looped noise. The music is
physically present, and captured without many dynamics – soft parts are not
there really. Noise as it is, it goes beyond the average industrial noiso.
The sound is very clean and not filled with stacks of sound effects. I
imagine Wilkus working on a laptop, but who am I to tell.
Definetly laptop trio TV Pow played a concert at the Nervous Center almost
2 years ago, but they seem happy with the recording, since now you can
obtain it. They play their average length concert, and move back and forth
between noisy paths and silent hums. The silent space is, luckily I think,
more present and therefore this a nice document to play at home too.
The three members of TV Pow, with three more musicians part of Liminal,
whose disc is also a live concert, but from 1993. The six persons play
handmade instruments, guitar, flute, percussion, synth and sampler. In an
hour they play music that floats by, and I don’t mean as in ambient, but in
a very lush, openly, relatively unstructured music. The kind of improv
music that AMM plays for so long now. There is a semi-sacral atmosphere
(without any links to religious music) because of the flute playing, but
overall this is a well-enjoyable concert.
Boxmedia has also two European artists, Andreas Berthling (known from his
excellent releases on Microwave and Staalplaat), plays 6 pieces which are
called ‘Utan Titel 1-6’ (and since my holiday in sweden I know it means ‘no
titel’). Berthling plays coherent fields of microscopic sounds – the
rhythmical elemets certainly play their part, but the overall idea are more
fields then dots. Berthling uses a little amount of sounds per track, but
he explores their possibilities better then many of his collegue
laptoppers. And at times, Mr. Berthling is a noisy guy…
Shifts is a dutch guy on the guitar, whose only ability lies in working
with overtones, and whom I would not invite for a campfire. The five pieces
are multi-layered e-bow pieces, and form five monochrome coloured pieces of
guitar sounds. An alright release.
All of these releases are worth checking out, support this label (and
others that release CDRs!) – they have taste and guts to bring you exciting
music. (FdW)
Address: www.boxmedia.com