FRANCISCO LOPEZ – UNTITLED #104 (CD by Alien8)
MOTHBALLS VOLUME 3 (7″ by Mouthmoth)
LE JAZZ NON (CD by Smalltown Supersound)
KOMET – RAUSCH (CD by 12K)
TIED & TICKEL TRIO – EA1 EA2 RMX (CD by Morr Music)
TAKU SUGIMOTO & KEVIN DRUMM – DEN (CD by Sonoris)
PEOPLE LIKE US – LASSIE HOUSE/JUMBLE MASSIVE (CD by Caciocavallo)
MERZBOW – LIVE AT RADIO 100 (CD by E.R.S.)
EFZEG – Grain (CD on Durian)
SWEETHEARTS IN A DRUGSTORE – Second Edition (CD on Ninth World Music)
JAMES PLOTKIN / PIMMON (12″ by FatCat)
FRANCISCO LOPEZ – UNTITLED #104 (CD by Alien8)
Maybe Lopez puts you at a test… The first few minutes into this disc, you
think you in common terrain: silence with an occassional sound. What is it?
The mating call of a Costa Rican bird for less then a second? After some
four minutes it becomes obvious what it is. If you have the guts to leave
the volume open where you were to detect any sound, then you have guts
indeed. In the next 30 minutes or so, Lopez plays heavy metal samples –
maybe 12 at the same time. I kid you not. He makes small fades thus
creating breakes and minimal chances. The last 10 minutes is a wealth of
silence. It’s hard to guess what Lopez is aiming at: the search for a new
audience? annoyance as a hobby? Perhaps he’s just revealing another coin of
minimal music… That’s the most likely thing, since all of his work is
about minimal music in whatever form. But I hope it will not be his thing
for the next six CD’s… once seems enough. (FdW)
Address: www.alien8recordings.com
MOTHBALLS VOLUME 3 (7″ by Mouthmoth)
Another most sympathetic 7″ complation featuring five sides of electronic
music with beats. From the sad song by Straight Outta Mongolia (prize
winner band name), to De Babylon’s inspired drum & bass from Snotra,
straight forward techno from D/Compute, guitar and break beats by Asterisk
and computirzed voice cum breaks by Pulsar. Probably none of these bands
ring bells, but since when is that reason for not checking this out?
Mouthmoth deals with limitation only, on CDR and 7″s, so act fast. (FdW)
Address: www.mouthmoth.go.to
LE JAZZ NON (CD by Smalltown Supersound)
Corpus Hermeticum belong to one of the very few labels that I collect.
Their crossing over from improv to noise to drones, is just exactely what I
like (among a lot of other things of course, but I can’t collect it all,
and bytheway: I’m looking for a complete list of their releases, so if
anyone can help me?). Years ago they released a compilation with noise,
free improv and such with bands from New Zealand, known place for the lo-fi
cohorts. Norway seemed a similar remote place as New Zealand, but the
underground becomes overground there. Labels as Rune Gramofon and Small
Town Supersound gain quickly a reputation internationally for releasing
daring music from their own country. Corpus’ boss Bruce Russell wrote the
liner notes for this CD that collect, in my humble opinion the best
Norwegian noise. All of the aspects are here: sheer noise from Lasse
Marhaug, Jazzkammer (a band with Lasse…) and Der Brief, beautiful drones
from Elektro Nova/Electro Nova and Del and more guitar oriented improvs
from Larmoyant. A track that misses the point is the 8 minute trip hop loop
from Kjetil Brandsal, but luckily its the only boring piece. This CD gives
you the oppurtunity to see what the Norwegian fuzz is about, and you might
learn a bit about new artists. (FdW)
Address: www.smalltownsupersound.com
KOMET – RAUSCH (CD by 12K)
It’s not clear what is decisive for Frank Bretschneider to release music
under his own name or the monniker Komet. Being part of the Rastermusic
scene he might not be an unknown person if you already dig the new dance
music. This brandnew CD is his first US release and is simply excellent.
His beats are slow, minimal, and brittle sharp with great depth. The beats
he produces are being fed through his Nord synthesizer (live is not using a
laptop, but sits behind his synth, which looks cool – check out his live
gig this sunday at De Melkfabriek here in The Netherlands), which add those
crazy little sounds. This CD is like a concert, since the tracks flow into
eachother, with the offset points set cleverly. Each track has a steady
beat, those crazy little sounds and sometimes a shy melody. It bears
resemblence to both SND CD’s, for it’s laidback, yet rhythmic features.
Maybe a difference is that this CD is less fragmented then the CD
Bretschneider released under his own name on Mille Plateaux, this is much
more coherent and gains strength. More then dance music, this is relax
music for the moden living room. Excellent stuff. (FdW)
Address: <info@12k.com>
TIED & TICKEL TRIO – EA1 EA2 RMX (CD by Morr Music)
It is of course a bit problematic to review a remix CD if one is unfamiliar
with the original. As far as I understand the Tied & Tickel Trio is a group
of six musicians, whose music crosses the boundaries of jazz, rock and
electronica. They are served here with 8 remixes by 7 artists (Thommie
Brinkmann has two of them). Overall you could say minimalism is the key
point. Almost every remixer takes a steady looped beat and add various
samples (vibraphone, sax, guitar or piano) from the original. Yet the
outcome is quite different: from the very laidback tunes of Kandis, Opiate
and Gustave Lamas to the harddriven minimalism of Brinkmann or the jazzy
feel of Cristof Kurzmann, is taking a great step but it shows the
flexibility of the material at hand. The only track I couldn’t get into was
the one by Wechsel Garland, so seemed to me fooling too much about with the
samples, without a coherent result. Listening to this made me curious how
the original would sound. (FdW)
Address: www.morrmusic.com
TAKU SUGIMOTO & KEVIN DRUMM – DEN (CD by Sonoris)
An album that documents the concert by two guitarists (of which one also
plays electronics) held on April 5th, 2000 in Japan. Sugimoto is known for
his improv style in which silence plays an extensive role. He strums a
string, waits, strums the same and waits again. The space in which he plays
becomes an important factor. Drumm is kinda similar, but he’s responsible
for the electronic part, so he fills his guitar strums, with occasional
feedback, crackles and glitches. Yet, Drumm is a controller, so he never
lets things out of control. Listening to these 41 minutes you feel the air
of the Gallery where this was recorded, so much silent interludes, delicate
strumming, isolated cracks and more silence. If you try listening
superficially, then the whole thing go lost. This requires your full
attention, or better play something else. Zen in music. (FdW)
Address: <sonoris.fr@lemel.fr>
PEOPLE LIKE US – LASSIE HOUSE/JUMBLE MASSIVE (CD by Caciocavallo)
This CD compiles two long out of print, obscure vinyls by People Like Us.
Almost all (maybe all) were recorded as commisions for Dutch radio. People
Like Us plunders her way through the wastelands of vinyl nobody buys,
collages them into mostly strange, and at times funny pieces of music.
Unlike other plunderphonics, People Like Us keep the voice/spoken word
segments to a minimum, which I most hearthly welcome. Extensive spoken
words are usually hilarious, but after repeated listening don’t hold up.
People Like Us use them as a supplementary part of music. There is an
amount of easy listening stuff which may be dated now (the records come
from 1995 and 1996 respectively), but it bears still the skills People Like
Us have. Witty, to the point collages, a DJ that holds attention beyond the
club setting, so one that indeed deserved to be re-issued. (FdW)
Address: www.soleilmoon.com
MERZBOW – LIVE AT RADIO 100 (CD by E.R.S.)
Many different approaches to noise-expression has been experienced by
Masami Akita since his first Merzbow-album, “Material action 2”, was
released two decades ago. Still the innovative source of Merzbow seems to
be endless. On the “Live at radio 100”-album, Masami Akita have taken the
challenge of doing a DJ-set in the Dutch radio station “Radio 100”. For the
ultimate show Masami Akita are being assisted by Reiko Akita on Theremin
and Bara on turntables. One part of mr. Akita himself, empowers the
electronic equipment into hard-thrashing aural machismo, while the other
part of him co-operates with Bara for the mistreatment of turntables. A
selection of vinyls have been brought into the studio only to be getting
sucked into the stream of noise. Being scratched, sampled and processed old
classics function as supplies for the chaotic sound mayhem. Starting out
with samples of Scottish sack pipe-orchestration, the Japanese DJ-team
quickly destroy any bit of relaxation and transforms old recordings by
legends such as Louis Armstrong and Fats Waller, into a powerful wave of
harsh noise. Occasionally the thick wall of sound are penetrated by acrid
noise-loops which in its rhythm structured sense reminds of a mixture
between Merzbow’s “Music for bondage performance 2” and earliest Panasonic
(now Pan Sonic). Although the phonetic violence have been suppressed a few
steps under Merzbow’s standard noise-level, there is still plenty of
moments to keep even the die-hardest addicts of furious noise-rage,
well-entertained. After more than 200 releases Masami Akita still seems to
be well-going. And this very unusual DJ-set at “Radio 100” definitely
supplies the conceptual “Merzbow” a whole new dimension. (NMP)
EFZEG – Grain (CD on Durian)
SWEETHEARTS IN A DRUGSTORE – Second Edition (CD on Ninth World Music)
Two cd’s, one from Austria the other from Denmark. Two countries that, from
a political point of view, have a special position in the Europe of today.
The people of Denmark voted against the Euro by referendum. Austria has the
very dubious honour of having a very rightwing party taking part in their
present government. The very few words that can be found in the booklet and
cover of the Efzeg-cd make clear that Efzeg distantiates themself clearly
from this political situation: “Efzeg repudiates acclaim from anyone not
repudiating the present austrian government”. Durian Records is a very
small label established by Werner Dafeldecker in 1995. Most releases cover
music in the field of improvisation or the border s between improvised and
composed music. Efzeg is no exception to this. Four musicians make up this
group, namely, Boris Hauf (saxes), Martin Siewert (guitar, lapsteel,
electronics), Burkhard Stangl (guitars, devices) and Dieb13 (turntables).
The music is very much about sound, noise and texture. In 3 long tracks
this quartet make their point. Good, but sometimes the lack of dynamic made
my attention go to other things. The name ‘Efzeg’ fascinates me and
contrasts pleasantly with the terrible names that are about to follow.
If voting against against the euro indicates isolationistic tendencies in
the Danish society, which I think is not the case, Sweethearts in a
Drugstore is an example of the opposite. This sextet is made up of
musicians from Germany, Great-Brittain and Denmark, a European group: Axel
Dorner (trumpet), Peter Friis Nielsen (bass) , Johannes Bauer (trombone),
Phil Durrant (Violin, electronics), P.O.Jorgens (Drums, percussion) and Pat
Thomas (piano, keyboard, electronics). Their music differs completely from
that of Efzeg. If Efzeg could be compared to AMM, the Sweethearts offer a
more common variant of european improvised music. Interesting and good
interplay. I guess this group is most of all one of the many faces of Peter
Friis Nielsen and Peter Ole Jorgens. Nielsen is a veteran of the Copenhagen
avant-garde scene. Jorgens, multi-instrumentalist, composed for film,
theater, performance, etc. Both play for example also in
Ghost-in-the-Machine and The Wild Mans Band, bands that have also cd’s out
on Ninth World Music (DM).
Address Efzeg: www.durian.art
Address Sweethearts: www.vow.dk
JAMES PLOTKIN / PIMMON (12″ by FatCat)
A further outing in FatCat’s excellent split 12″ series of sometimes
unlikely pairings and once again a full LP worth of music for the price of
a 12″ single. On the first side, James Plotkin’s ‘Forensics (for Guitar)’
is a 20 minute suite of treated electric guitar sounds chopped into three
parts. What strikes me here, as with so many of these things, is that the
effects process becomes the sound; this seems to be the whole point, mind
you and the attitude of ‘you’d-never-believe-it’s-a-guitar’ is very much in
evidence. In the grooves of this record could lie massed ranks of
nose-flutes through a bunch of digital effects and it would still sound
‘okay’. Overall it’s fine but nothing you haven’t encountered before in the
last 10 or more years. So whilst Plotkin’s outing here is pleasant enough
to behold, it is completely dwarfed by the work on the reverse. Pimmon’s
contribution is 17 minutes of cardiac-arresting mainframe explorations and
blissful soundscaping which can only be complemented and enhanced by the
warmth of the subject matter (see the press release on the label’s website
for more information on how he apparently ‘constructed’ these three superb
pieces). It’s as though Paul Gough has tapped into some unknown or
long-forgotten source of never-heard sounds and has decided we all need to
hear them. And we do. Just exceptional and, like everything else this guy
has done, pretty essential for your continuing peace of mind. (BL)
Address: http://www.fat-cat.co.uk