MELGUN – la macchina che moltiplica ‘a’ per tre (CD on Fringes)
WARDROBE MEMORIES/XABEC – DIE FRUCHT
WARDROBE MEMORIES/XABEC – SELF-TITLED
(7″s by Dhyana Records)
KK NULL – DISCOTECA PLASMA (CD by Mindfield)
MIKEAL STAVOSTRAND – LITE (CD by Mitek)
JAMES JOHNSON – ENTERING TWILGHT (CD by Hypnos)
DIFFICULT MUSIC FOR DIFFICULT PEOPLE (CD Compilation by RRsR)
SACK UND BLUMM – SHY NOON (CD by Gefriem)
MELGUN – la macchina che moltiplica ‘a’ per tre (CD on Fringes)
Here we have something very special. The second cd by Melgun a quartet:
Alessandro Bosetti on soprano sax and sampling; Antonello Cassinotti voice
and acting; Renato Rinaldi sampling, amplified objects, etc and Filipp
Monico plays drums and objects. Their first one seems to have been very
much in the vein of chamber jazz. This new one is totally different.
Focused on the relationship between poetry, text and music, they deliver
something that goes beyond jazz, although ‘it’ is always there. Text means
language and language means a particular language, in this case italian.
But the fact that I’m not able to understand it, does not hinder me to
enjoy this cd with very dramatic music. All texts come from Corrado Costa,
an unknown poet connected to the italian fluxus scene.
Original studiorecordings were completely reworked in the studio, the place
where the compositions took form. Because all studio work and composition
were done by Alessandro Bosetti it is also fair to say that Melgun is a
soloproject to some extent.
To make some comparisons: their way of working is comparable to that of
Biota. They also manupulate original music recordings where stlytraditional
instruments are used. The result of their work Melgun present here did me
remind to Un Drame Musical Instantane
who also integrate text and spoken word, improvisation, new music,
psychodrama, etc. into something that is all of this together and far
beyond it at the same time (DM)
Fringes (Italy): www.fringesrecording.com
WARDROBE MEMORIES/XABEC – DIE FRUCHT
WARDROBE MEMORIES/XABEC – SELF-TITLED
(7″s by Dhyana Records)
More obscureness from the gentle as ever Dhyana Records. Keyword:
confusion. None of these names ring familiar bells here, but do we care? On
the first 7″, both bands play a kind of trip hop related electronic music –
as in: too many electronica and less beats. Especially side B (by Xabec) is
a heavy ambient tune, rather then a triphop excursion. ‘Pride’, the a-side
by Wardrobe Memories, dwells more on the rhythm affairs, has these same
ambiento synths, but a vocoded voice and the rhythm section make this into
a nice tune for the floors.
The other, self-titled 7″, by both bands, is more experimental by nature.
Wardrobe Memories deal with whispering, heavily reverbed voices, a tinkling
of the piano and the sampled vinyl run out groove. Xabec here sounds a
little bit more cleaner, with all the sounds that are supposed to be warm,
sampled and therefore is a little bit chilly – the real warmth is left out.
(FdW)
Address: <dhyanarec@compuserve.de>
KK NULL – DISCOTECA PLASMA (CD by Mindfield)
KK Null is since many years a busy man. Besides his work with Zeni Geva and
collaborations, he also cranks out solo CD’s. Recorded late last year to
early this year, Null comes up with a remarkable work. His previous, also
just released but earlier recorded, CD ‘GeV’ showed the way to more
rhythmic sound, and less that of noise/drone fields. This new one takes the
rhythm thing a bit futher. Rather then taking a sample of a techno beat,
Null apperentely produced his own beats in his own way. The beat is the
constant pattern in each track; there are no breaks. Highly hypnotic of
course (er… if you are open to this) and Null adds his own blend of
electronica to it. The beat is the static element, the noise surrounding
it, is the icing on the cake. Towards the end of the CD, the beats go in a
slow mode, and Null takes on what he had almost left off. Nevertheless a
surprising CD, with somebody taking a new course radically. (FdW)
Address: www.mindfieldrecords.com
MIKEAL STAVOSTRAND – LITE (CD by Mitek)
Currentely on tour in the USA, and this new CD (the first on his own new
label) will be sold on the tour first. However the friendly as ever
composer send us a nice promo. The history of Mikeal Stavostrand is
something we should ignore and concentrate on his recent works. His CD
‘DeGeNeration’ already marked a break with the history while entering the
territory of bleeps, clicks, tones and pure hiss. ‘Lite’ takes it a step
further. The previous ingredients are still there, but carefully Mikeal
builts in a beat, a sequenced pattern and shows that he is ready to enter
the world of beat music that is sometimes called dance music. The second
track (of course none of these has a title) is a clear example of
click/glitch work meeting chain reaction dub music. Rather then an
apperentely random set of clicks and ticks, Mikeal now has a backbone to
his music, and it clearly has potential to become a small hit on the very
alternative dance scene. Moving away from the click things to arrive here
is the best move he’s done until now. Very subtle new dance music. (FdW)
Address: <mitek@radiolink.net>
JAMES JOHNSON – ENTERING TWILGHT (CD by Hypnos)
James Johnson’s past releases, in fact his first, are with Illusion Of
Safety, but being frank here, I didn’t recall seeing his name before. To
see him back with a full length, one sixty minute track, on Hypnos is a
kind of surprise. The music is maybe an even bigger surprise. Although this
might be a perfect release for Hypnos, as all their label ingredients are
there: ambient doodlings, arpeggio synths, humming rhythmic patterns, I
think it’s the most regular, most normal release, Hypnos could get. Many of
their other releases are just that little bit more daring, more adventurous
and these elements is what’s lacking here. To me it’s a standard work.
Skillfully performed, but too much of a worn-out cliche. (FdW)
Address: <mgriffin@hypnos.com>
DIFFICULT MUSIC FOR DIFFICULT PEOPLE (CD Compilation by RRsR)
Sometimes I wonder wether paralell universes exist, or maybe a different
kind of reality. One that you don’t know, and may never hear about. In
music this can be the thing. The no less then 41 tracks by maybe the same
amount of artists is one of those universes. Stylistically it could be
something I heard before, being noise from the boys (and hey, who knows,
girls?), but none of these bands ring any bell. Where are they hiding? In
which scene to these things mock about? Tons of radio distortion, tons of
guitar distortion, tons of rhythm distortion and tons of more distortion. I
couldn’t name a single track which made me overtly enthusiastic or a band
that ‘d like to explore further. If travelling into a new universe where
they have bands like Station Grey, The Informant, VitaVerbumlux, Random
Reflections or Fat Elvis is your thing, then go there. If these are
household names and you’ve never heard of anything else in this week’s
issue, then keep visiting Vital’s universe. (FdW)
Address: <mangenerated@hotmail.com>
SACK UND BLUMM – SHY NOON (CD by Gefriem)
Harald “Sack” Ziegler is one of those busybees from the German scene;
somebody who has been a side figure if not his connection with the Mouse
Onn Mars posse got him some fame too. Together with Frank Schultge “Blumm”
(about whom I can’t elaborate, because I don’t know his other work very
well), Sack produced two very nice 7″ records, in which they combine
minimal music with all sorts of percussion, guitars, wind instruments and
of course that wicked German humor. Here is a full length on the Gefriem
label. Twelve relatively short tracks are rhythmic affairs with sampled
percussive sounds, bass and fuzzy guitars and winds that blow small
melodies. There is an overall atmosphere of naivety, but it’s hard to say
where this naivety is. Is it the melodies, is it the slightly reverbed
recording of some of the instruments, the sometimes whispering and humming
voices? A track like ‘Greg B. Roy’ is such an example: the sampled backbone
from a drum & bass piece, humming voices and the toy crickets and right
after that comes ‘Trace Deep’ with it’s sad horns. Melancholy might be a
keyword here for the majority of the pieces. Excellentely executed sadness.
If an even more adventurous Mouse On Mars is your thing, be here. (FdW)
Address: <godijk@a-musik.com>