BERND FRIEDMANN -LEISURE ZONES (CD by Ash International)
DISINFORMATION -GHOST SHELLS (LP by Ash International)
B. Friedmann may be known to some for his work as Drome,
Nonplace Urban Field and Some More Crime: three sides of the
dance ambient coin. ‘Leisure Zones’ is a different affair.
This is just one piece – a soundscape of reverberated
noise, like processed traffic or some other kind of
environmental like noise. Every now and then there are
interruptions of what sounds like violins playing. There are
inaudible parts on this CD, and sometimes the noise bursts
out. But it is a continuous flow. Recommended if you need a
different kind of ambience. Disinformation is one Joe Banks,
and he dedicates his record to Heinrich Georg Barkhausen, who
was the first person to investigate with natural atmospheric
music, like picking up radio signals (hey, I’m just quoting
the press info, and with sort of release, you never know it
is true or not). The Disinformation record is kinda
experimental noise, not unlike Chop Shop. One side is
mastered at a low volume and that lasts about 5 minutes. We
are asked not play this at a high volume or on headphones.
Certainly both an extreme and informative release, and the
harshest one on Ash International. // Address:
<ash@touch.demon.co.uk>
NOISE FACTORY 1995 (CD by Stein Sein)
This is an interesting CD, as it is not a compilation, but
more a collaboration. Not a collaboration by mail, however,
but some 13 people locked up in an old farm, working and
exchanging ideas for a week. All the involved musicians are
from the current German underground scene, and included
people from Templegarden, Maeror Tri, Kernschrott, Para Noise
Terminal and Y Ton G. The result of these jams are documented
on this CD, well, better outtakes, since the total time of
recordings was 13 hours. In one piece, “20 Minuten” (of
course with playing time of 20 minutes) all the 13 people can
be heard. But, you may ask, was what they produced
interesting? I must admit, only in partl. It’s all mainly a
sort of musique concrete, but maybe too much of a jam: a
continuous flow of sound, without too much dynamics. Every
piece seems to start at a certain volume, and it stays there.
But, overall it is not a bad CD, and certainly deserves your
attention. This year, there will be another noise factory, so
that could be again of interest. // Address: fax Stefan
Rossow: + 49 40 651 4846
ENTERTAINMENT THROUGH PAIN (CD by RRRecords)
What is going on? Just saw somewhere a tribute to Joy
Division, also one to Death In June and now, here is a CD
tribute to Throbbing Gristle. I’m sure I do needto explain
who Throbbing Gristle were… I can’t remember the last time
I played a TG record in god knows how many years, but looking
at the tracks, I knew them all.. It would be interesting to
see if I could sing along with every track. The short opening
noise attack that has to be ‘Six Six Sixties’ by a band
called ‘Subtrochanteric Muta Ul Trag lasts only a few seconds
and Phlegm’s ‘united’ is also hard to decipher. Both of them
could be any piece of music.
This goes for some other pieces (like ‘Adrenalin’ by 7000
Dying Rats, Skullflower’s ‘Hamburger Lady’ , or Paul Lernos
‘AB/7A’ ) which are not at all bad tracks, but have nothing
in common with the original. Merzbow’s version of Tiab Guls
is likewise difficult, but the steady stream of sound is at
least a little bit of the original (I wonder whether Masami
reversed his tape, since ‘Tiab Guls’ is the backwards version
of ‘Slug Bait’ -true devotees know what I’m talking about).
Emil Beaulieu has some ordinary everyday working sounds (I
guess from one record shop or another), which are then
coupled with the original version of ‘What A Day’ .This track
is the only one that appears twice, Violent Onsen Geisha
stays close to the original. A surprising original track is
the almost spoken track ‘Blood On The Floor’ by Impact Test.
Also appearing are XPXR.XR with ‘Subhuman’ and Grae Corn with
’20 Jazz Funk Greats’ . Wherever there is noise on this
compilation it is incredible louder and more abrasive then TG
ever was -compared to today’s standards they were soft. They
set the term industrial music, whereas their children expand
the term… (FdW) // Address: RRRecords 151 Paige St. –
Lowell, MA 01852 -USA
DUE PROCESS -COMBINE I-XVIII (CD by RRRecords)
Due Process, also known as Ron Lessard’s (head of RRReCords)
band, has always been a band to keep an ear open for. Many of
his recordings are conceptual in a way, even without it being
possible to tell what exact the concept is. This CD is yet
another proof of that. As far as I can tell, this is some
sort of collaboration/recycling carried out by Due Process,
using sounds by themselves, Thomas Dimuzio, Ron Lessard and
John Wiggins. There are drones underneath and collage like
sounds on top, swirling in and out of the mix. Probably some
multi-track collage. The sounds are somewhat drowned in
reverb, which is a pity. The overall flow is a steady stream
that remains at the same volume which I thought was not so
good for the attention span. Conceptwise pretty much o.k.,
but a CD single would have worked as well. // Address: as
above
SLUGBAIT -MEDIUM TO HEAVY FLOW (CD by Dirter)
From UK’s guitar noise scene comes Slugbait, a three person
band. This 5 track CD is the first I’ve heard by them. The
instruments they use are synthesizer, guitar, radio, metal
and voice. Not that it is necessary to know, as none of these
are not recognizable in any way. The whole lot sounds
distorted, feedback like. If you thought that only the
Japanese were capable of doing feedback noise music, then
this CD proves you were wrong. If you’re looking for more
noise in the style of Merzbow or Incapacitants then this is
for you. And for me, as I was very impressed by this! (FdW)
// Address: Dirter – P.O. Box 61 – Herne Bay – Kent CT6 BGA –
UK
MERZBOW & JOHN WATERMANN -BRISBANE TOKYO INTERLACE (CD by
Cold Spring)
A surprising combination one might say! Merzbow is king of
noise, and maybe so is Watermann, but the latter on another
level. This CD has solo tracks by both of them as well as a
collaboration piece. Merzbow opens solo, with a sample of a
violin, but the noise onslaught bursts open, to develop into
some rhythm after a few minutes. A recent feature of Merbow’s
recent releases. The second piece is the collaboration If I’m
the one to tell, then each of these two are set after each
other: a few seconds of Waterrnann, to be followed by a few
second of Merzbow. Probably following some compositional
idea, which I haven’t discovered. This gives the piece a
collage effect that is interesting as it shifts back and
forth between noise and ordinary, unprocessed sounds. The
Watermann solo is built from small samples that are noisy,
but never go over the top, but keep flowing on a constant
volume level. Not a bad piece. Nice carton sleeve (though I
saw it before) and the only point of criticism is that I
missed more collaborative stuff, as the CD remains quite
short (at just over 35 minutes). (FdW) // Address: Cold
Spring – 87 Gloucester Avenue – Delapre – Northampton –
England NN4 9PT
ULTRASOUND.WOONSOCKET (LP by Another Autonomy Recording)
Ultrasound. Woonsocket are from Texas and advertise
themselves as a sonic infusion of ‘Flying Saucer attack,
Main, Jim O’Rourke, Galaxy 500, Stars Of The Lid, Eno and
Popol Vuh’ .One of them is a member of Stars Of The Lid, who
surprised us last year with an outstanding CD of guitar
ambient. The B-side of this record is built up of one long,
continuous track of dripping-like water sounds in a cave
(catching up with the reverb of that cave). A huge dark
ambient sound. The guitarish drones open up side A, but more
lushly played. Then the big disappointment: a guitar chord
with girly vocals.. which every once in a while gets into
noisy drones. Boring and out of place. Both sides end in
lockgrooves, so there is some DJ fun in there too. Anyway:
great 2/3 of a record (let that be enough to get it). //
ddress: <silence@mail.utexas.edu>
GREGORY WHITEHEAD -SHAKE,RATTLE & ROLL/DEGENERATES IN
DREAMLAND (CD by V2
Archief)
Here’s a new release by Gregory Whitehead. It includes some
older material placed into new contexts and of course, some
new stuff by this linguistic wizard from Nantucket. I am
still in awe of ‘Dead Letters’ , released on Staalplaat last
year. Some of the characters on that disc reappear here to
unravel more of their yarns. There are two pieces on this CD
but I hardly notice the dividing announcement. Indeed the
owner is encouraged to shuffle-play ( more and more shufflin’
every day) thus participating in the joy of de- and re-
contextualisation. Hear Gregory manipulate his live audiences
with as much skill as he does his larynx ( or not as the case
may be ). Listen while a pathologist at a military hospital
displays specimens with the conviction of a salesperson as
she anticipates the delivery of 2500 brains dating from
before 1880… something she was particularly pleased about
as pre-1900 medical treatment of schizophrenics ( another
Whitehead fetish) was obviously quite different to that of
the present day. Another woman relates the details of her
first sexual encounter as an extremely innocent 13 year
old… it spills out of her like a confession. Saxophones
accompany her juggling the themes from an earlier Whitehead
composition ‘Fever’.
Once again Greg touches on amputations -those performed
medically with permission and those performed by an ex-Mrs
Bobbit. The lady with her shattered and blackening fingers
who contributes so much material on ‘Dead Letters’
shares more of her own experience of dismemberment. Her
fingers, unable to speak, however cannot relate their own
feelings of dismemberment as they pickle in her fridge.
Gregory is enraptured with language and it’s mysteries and he
shares this love infectiously. It’s flawless editing shines
through – jumpcutting with as much speed as the early
surrealists dodged the other pedestrians as they cantered
from cinema to cinema in an attempt to try and watch as many
fragments of 7 or 10 films in the same night and then try to
make sense of it all. Or not, as the case may be.
Congratulations are also due to V2 and especially Joke
Brouwer who is responsible for the outstanding package and
booklet design. Full marks. (MP) // Address: <peterd@v2.nl>
MICHAEL FAHRES ZOOPHONIA (CD on Valves)
Here’s a strange item which is rendered all the more
incomprehensible to me because I do not understand the lingo
what the book is written in, like. My fault. But it does mean
I can assess the material without being influenced by the
information. Is this a good thing ? Hmm… Anyway, the first
three tracks failed to impress me, something to do with using
animal sounds as source material and arranging them according
to a score by a bloke with the monniker Hercule Florence. I
think. The last and longest track Fenix managed to catch my
attention while I lay listening to it in a half-sleep state.
It starts as an uneasy collage gradually unfolding into an
impressive array of sounds which swell up or barge through
swirling around each other in an unusual and seemingly
endless procession. The piece becomes more and more clever as
we journey through a kaleidescope of found field recordings
and invented and fabricated places where Charles Ives might
well have taken a vacation or indeed, have sold insurance.
There are a few and a half too many treated choral/orchestral
bits which result in the idea wearing thin. (MP) // Address:
<staal@euronet.nl>