ONCE11 vs. UN CADDIE RENVERSE DANS L’HERBE – NAMESIS:: MINILLBIENTAL
DADATA PERCEPTION (miniCD by ooze.bap)
ORIGAMI REPLIKA & KAPOTTE MUZIEK – METAMUSIKK (CD by Ichor)
MICHEL BANABILA, HANNES VENNIK & BOBBY – CARDS ON THE TABLE (miniCD by
Staalplaat)
WIO – WIO (CD by Kraak)
PHOLDE – INTONE (CDR by Panta Rhei)
JOWONIO – HANDS/BIRDS (10″ by Leothan)
KIM CASCONE – RESIDUALISM (CD by Ritornell)
VLADISLAV DELAY – ANIMA (CD by Mille Plateaux)
DES ESSEINTES – MUSE/SUCCUBUS (7″ by Fin De Siecle Media)
ROBERT NORMANDEAU – FIGURES (CD by empreintes DIGITALes)
PERSONA NON GRATA – SYSTEM OF LOGIC (CD by Trottel Records)
TROTTEL MONODREAM – FLUID (CD by Trottel Records)
ONCE11 vs. UN CADDIE RENVERSE DANS L’HERBE – NAMESIS:: MINILLBIENTAL
DADATA PERCEPTION (miniCD by ooze.bap)
If Ball, Tzara and Huelsenbeck were musicians, it’s unlikely their efforts
would sound much like this. Still, that would be a shame. The
self-consciously dadaist elements of this release are its least enjoyable
components but thankfully those are virtually confined to the titling and
presentation. Part of the ‘perkoozed series’ (dedicated to ‘irregularloops
and sound drift devices’, as if you care), this split release is a peculiar
mix of the totally random and the ‘randomly’ preconceived.
OnCe11’s opener ‘FibonacciCopter’ (which, perversely, *is* a great title)
skips between digital tomfoolery and more restrained soundscaping and does
indeed feature as part of its morass some fine, chaotic, DSP’d helicopter
samples. ASCII art could well sound like this. In their other two
contributions, they/he/she/it gets more dancefloor friendly (i.e. the
pieces are rhythmic, whilst retaining the diversity of sound and the
‘randomness’ of the initial approach), and as a result seem more focussed.
These two tracks (I’m not even going to attempt to rehearse the
over-punctuated titles) are what would make me come back to their work
again. Un Caddie’s sounds are more straightforward, at least to the extent
that there are fewer of them happening simultaneously. More stuttering
loops and distressed soundbytes but overall very disjointed and difficult
to enjoy in any real sense. Maybe that’s the point, though. A digitised
bacterium lurking in your hard disc or a diseased digit up your nose? At
around 10 minutes per artist, I’m afraid I just can’t decide… (BL)
Address: http://www.eduardprunera.com/oozebap.htm
ORIGAMI REPLIKA & KAPOTTE MUZIEK – METAMUSIKK (CD by Ichor)
Dissections of directions abound, and this disc is well named: what do you
do after music (and not just *your* music) is out there? Try ripping its
heart out = Metamusikk. The first four tracks (‘1242’, ‘821’, ‘520’ and
‘746’) are from a three hour ‘live room recording’ by Lasse Marhaug and
Tore H Boe from ’97, with no overdubs allowed to sully the proceedings. And
the cast list reads like a dream: 6 speakers, 2 portable stereo component
systems, 1 dictaphone, 1 record player, 2 effect boxes, 4 trash
microphones, 9 prerecorded cassettes, 1 ‘History Is What Was’ LP, 1
‘Malevolent Ear’ CD, 1 ‘Gilles de Rais’ MC, 1 ‘Static Lines’ MC, 3 sounds
of tearing out magnetic tape, 1 tapesax, 3 additional vocals, 1 camera and
1 carpet. Don’t you love recordings that feature floor coverings? ‘1242’
is dense, ‘old school’ noise, the sound mirror of one of the inner photos
of tape being dragged from a cassette body and perhaps too long in its
bombarding. ‘812’ is like Aube on valium and a much more rewarding listen.
The remaining live tracks continue in the same organic, grainy
looping/slipping vein, no individual sound recognisable in tribute to the
all-embracing nature of the regurgitation process. Glints of light are
occasionally evident in the murk although not often. ‘1227’ is a
claustrophobic studio remix by Tore H Boe two years later and much more
detailed, although darker still, reminding me even more of the Eraserhead
soundtrack. On this you can hear the guts of the magnetic tapes being
ripped. The ultimate recycling project, Kapotte Muziek, brings proceedings
to a heady close with ‘1101’, a metarecycling of Kapotte Muziek 97 and a
wonderful distillation and expansion of the whole process, somehow entirely
in keeping with the intentions of the Replika material, yet completely
distinct too. A great finish to a disc for
lovers of the raw fundaments (literally) of noise. (BL)
Address: http://www.ichor.ca
MICHEL BANABILA, HANNES VENNIK & BOBBY – CARDS ON THE TABLE (miniCD by
Staalplaat)
Well, a new CD by names I have never heard of before. But get’s my
attention for it’s nicely designed packaging and it’s one of those CD’s
you’re adviced to play in ‘shuffle’ mode… hmm interesting. So what I hear
is a lot of very short bits wich seem to be largely sampled from movies and
old movie soundtracks, all manipulated and mixed up in a quite a chaotic
stew. And a very tasty one. I don’t know how long you’ll hold it out on
‘shuffle mode’, I didn’t make it too long, but on a regular playback it
makes a very interesting short CD wich jumps back and fort through various
moods. (HB)
Address: http://www.staalplaat.com
WIO – WIO (CD by Kraak)
Music like that is played by Wio, a Belgium group of one person who is
occassionally helped by other people, differs very much from 95% of the
music I usually write about. Wio is a singer songwriter, a genre that in
general is not my thing, but maybe that’s something I just state without
knowing what I talk about. In fact, I may even like Wio. Whispering vocals
over a simple strummed guitar, sometimes twelve strings, occasional drum
fills and even a synth. Naive, simple popmusic (and this time in the truest
sense of the word) which you can even sing along after hearing it twice. I
can’t really say wether Wio are good or bad at their trade, but I don’t
mind. I like it what I hear, so that’s enough. As said, maybe not my cup of
tea, but served in a dose of three quarters of an hour, once a month is
pretty much very ok. And for now: bring in the noise. (FdW)
Address: www.kraak.net
PHOLDE – INTONE (CDR by Panta Rhei)
Alan Bloor, main man behind Knurl, decided to seperate his interests in
music. Knurl is now reserved for noise, and his more deep ambient works are
now brought to you under the name of Pholde. Inside Pholde he uses metal
scraped on metal of various sizes. Alan could have fooled me. I have no
idea what metal is made of in Canada (home land of Alan), but there are no
high end scratches, just deep, very deep drones here. Changes are very
subtle and occur at the speed of full stop. Just as one thinks nothing
happens another deep end sound rolls over and the picture changes, say from
dark blue to dark blue. Nevertheless it changes. Only towards the very end
of the last track, snippets of metallic sounds arise from the mist covered
swamp. If you like Lull or other Isolationists, then this might be your
thing. At least it’s my thing. (FdW)
Address: <movknurl@interlog.com>
JOWONIO – HANDS/BIRDS (10″ by Leothan)
Jowonio were unknown to me, even when they had releases on V/VM and Twin
Tub & Beaver. Here is a 10″ record, with seven pieces of sampled outdoor
recordings and occassional spoken word, like the piece ‘Nine Drive’. As far
as I understand, John, main man here, is a poet of some kind. Musicwise he
moves between ambience in one track and noise in the other. The first six
are like snapshots of these various styles and take up the first side of
the record. ‘Hard Paki’ is like a Merzbow styled track. Standout piece of
the record for me is the b-side, the side long track ‘Hands/Birds’. A
chilling atmospheric recording of rain on Wadsworth Moor, with a slow built
up of synthetic sounds and softly spoken word. As said, very atmospheric
and poetic piece. If you’d ask, I think this the stuff to continue for
future releases. (FdW)
Address: www.jowonio.force9.co.uk
KIM CASCONE – RESIDUALISM (CD by Ritornell)
This CD forms the end of the trilogy that Kim started with Blue Cube (on
Rastermusic) and Cathode Flower (Ritornell). All three are about computer
generated music, and I mean that every sound comes from the computer and
are not processed from external signals. What is the sound of ‘0’ and ‘1’,
that is the question brought forwarded by Kim Cascone, among others of
course. The big difference with the two previous CD’s, is that
‘Residualism’ is one piece that moves between all those small particles
that can be found on those previous CD’s, but now form one big living
organism. Kim is here at more subdued ambient stake then with his recent 3″
CDs for Rioux and therefore his long tradition of ambient music. I think
its an amazing journey that is like closing your eyes almost and watching
the skies and clouds go by. (FdW)
Address: www.mille-plateaux.com
VLADISLAV DELAY – ANIMA (CD by Mille Plateaux)
Vladislav Delay is a busybee, if not a workaholic. In fact, Vladislav Delay
is one of the names used by one finnish guy (and not his real name, as
somebody recentely asked me) to explore the depths of techno, ambient and
dub. He is also doing discohouse as Luomo and err… what I can call it to
describe it the difference… Uusitalo (and maybe more we are not aware
of). Of these projects, Vladislav Delay turns out to be the least
interesting for me and I find it hard to say why. Luomo is obviously
dancefloor minded with slick vocals. Uusitalo crosses between Luomo and
Vladislav Delay, but with a balance going more towards rhythm. ‘Anima’, the
last Delay, is one piece, over an hour. The problem is you can’t skip
forward and you have to listen throughout – probably intended by the
artist. An irregular rhythm opens up, and slowly sounds are added, more
regular beats come in, a keyboard that didn’t fit in, becomes a more
appropiate line etc. In itself not a bad CD, but it’s like listening to a
live set, containing at times beautiful lines and rhythms, and at other
times searching for the right groove. It could have been much more and now
has the feel of great haste. (FdW)
Address: www.mille-plateaux.com
DES ESSEINTES – MUSE/SUCCUBUS (7″ by Fin De Siecle Media)
“This is frustration put to music by Des Esseintes in May 2000. Play at
maximum volume”. On days like this, I realize I am old, very old. Why would
I want to hear a 7″ that is loaded with superheavy noise, because somebody
was frustrated in May 2000 and why would I play it at maximum volume and
thus risk a fight with my neighbour? One side is “just” noise, the other is
rhythm & noise. There is nothing enclosed which I didn’t hear when I was
younger, so much younger. (FdW)
Address: www.findesieclemedia.com
ROBERT NORMANDEAU – FIGURES (CD by empreintes DIGITALes)
Clocking in at exactly 60 minutes is Robert Normandeau’s latest release of
acousmatic music. The opening piece is Le Renard et la Rose (The Fox and
the Rose). This is a concert suite composed from two sound sources: music
commissioned for The Little Prince and the voices of the actors involved in
the recording of the story. It is light and bubbly with laughter layered
and processed through a chain of effects. The second piece is Figures de
Rhétorique which combines tape and piano. It has a cosmic feel at times
similar to early Pink Floyd and Stockhausen. The third composition is
Venture, named after the 60s group The Ventures. But it is more than
that. Venture refers to all the progressive rock music of 60s and 70s.
Normandeau states that Venture is composed exclusively of fragments of that
music. Unmistakably, there are bits and pieces of the Beatles Revolution 9
and Pink Floyds Grand Visiers Party. I am uncertain of the other sources,
but the resulting Venture is worth the price of this CD alone. Figures
closes with Ellipse, a tape piece commissioned by Arturo Parra for him to
accompany Normandeau on guitar. It sounds like heavily processed acoustic
guitar scrapings, tappings, and noodlings. Or is it a swarm of angry alien
bees? Figures is the high point for me of the recent empreintes DIGITALes
releases. (HS)
Address: www.electrocd.com]
PERSONA NON GRATA – SYSTEM OF LOGIC (CD by Trottel Records)
Persona Non Grata is an innovative Hungarian band that appears to have
merged punk and progressive rock, very similar to how the Voodoo Glow
Skulls have combined punk, school band instruments, and rock standards.
System of Logic contains four relatively short, energetic songs. The first
song Minimal has a pounding bass line that pays homage to Primus. The
second song, A Guy Go Through the Zebra, has rapid drumming, staccato
trumpets, and melodic chanting. The third song, Green Grass, is a slower
tempo funky song with a rich mans wife, green, green grass of home, and
other rock song samples swirling through the mix of trumpet, drums, guitar,
bass, and Hammond organ. The last song Reminimal is a remix of the opening
track with a bit more emphasis on the drums and a lesser Primus feel. This
band is definitely worthy of a much wider recognition outside Hungary. By
all means seek this band out! (HS)
Address: www.tar.hu/persona/png.html , http://trottel.mentha.hu]
TROTTEL MONODREAM – FLUID (CD by Trottel Records)
Trottel Monodream is another Hungarian progressive/psychedelic rock band
that is relatively unknown in the US. They have been around since 1989 and
have toured extensively throughout Europe: Hungary, Italy, Austria,
Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, France, Great
Britain, Poland, and Czechoslovakia. Fluid is the bands ninth release.
Consisting of violin, keyboards, guitar, drums, and bass, Trottel Monodream
create and play progressive rock music with a Hungarian flair. Some songs
are sung in Hungarian, others in English, and still others in wordless
chanting. Fluid contains six songs: Fluid, Ikaros, Monodream, Movement,
The End of the Dream, and Spider on the Clock. Jean Luc Ponty style violin
playing is prominent throughout the disk, along side strong guitar and
keyboards. This is excellent music and sure to be a hit with the
progressive rock enthusiast. (HS)
Address: http://trottel.mentha.hu]