BASTARD NOISE – THRONE IS MELTING (CD by Helicopter)
SISSY SPACEK (CD by Helicopter)
VITRIOL – RANDONEE 0.06 (CDS by Sirr)
JANKO, KRUL ALBANSKAJ – EKEZHHM, GYUVEL PYUGANLAHKH AEKTSPYUD? (CD by
Some Place Else)
VARIOUS ARTISTS – LABORATORY SERIES VOLUME ONE (CDR by Planetsounds)
RSUNDIN – SLEEPWALK (CD by Ground Fault Recordings)
ESO STEEL – TECHNOLOGY OF SLEEP (LP by 20city)
MORPHOGENESIS – IN STREAMS VOLUME 2 (CD by Paradigm)
HOTEL STADT BERLIN (CD compilation by Handle With Care)
MATTIN – SAKADA (CD by W.M.O/R)
HUIB EMMER – RADION
FRANS FRIEDRICH – RADIO SYMFONICA
DONKEY HARE JOW – DRONE JOKE YEAH
(all CDR by Z6)
KOJI ASANO – AUTUMN MEADOW (CD by Solstice)
BASTARD NOISE – THRONE IS MELTING (CD by Helicopter)
SISSY SPACEK (CD by Helicopter)
Two noisy releases from our beloved Helicopter label. As far as I
understand the Bastard Noise release is a sort of document of the
Japan tour Bastard Noise did in August 2000. On that occassion two
limited releases saw the light of day and both are presented here on
this CD. The others are new. Bastard Noise, up until 1999 a solo
project by Eric Wood (who is also in Man Is The Bastard) but after
that joined by John Wiese, the labelboss of Helicopter. Bastard Noise
seem to be influenced by death metal aswell as more traditional noise
bands. Especially in the long piece ‘Red Hurricane’, an influence of
old Ramleh can be noted. Densely layered pieces of humming synths and
likewise densely layered pieces of feedback roll over eachother as if
they were summi wrestlers. In ‘Cosmic Eulogy’ their sound grows
towards a sheer implosion. For me Bastard Noise’s music work best in
the lenghty works, which come across as psychedelic waves of noise
for the gutter kids. The shorter pieces, which open up on this CD,
don’t have quite exactely that same impact. They are nice but are too
much punk rock for me.
Sissy Spacek is an actress (starring in one of my favourite films
‘Carrie’), but has nothing to do with the duo that go by the same
name. The pictures on the cover show us a heavy punk rock like band,
but the give is a 23 minute collage of sound, spliced over 78 tracks,
many of them lasting a couple of seconds. It’s of course (I’d say) a
noisy affair here, from sheer static white noise to blasts with drum
machines, vocals and bass. There are occassional quiet moments to be
spotted, but there are really very few. Certainly no music that you
put on as a backdrop when sipping coffee. Quite alright for what it
is, but not more. (FdW)
Address: http://home.earthlink.net/~johnwiese
VITRIOL – RANDONEE 0.06 (CDS by Sirr)
A minimalistic trawl of sprawling digital soundfragments on this new
and very promising Portuguese electronic music label. Vitriol are a
duo of Paulo Raposo and Carlos Santos and their work is utterly
beguiling. Glitching loops and scrabbling, unplaceable events are
intermingled in a completely sympathetic and synergistic way; the
result is more jagged than most in the ‘genre’ but this isn’t
noisemusic in the slightest. Organic location recordings are
deliberately Mac-entangled with abstract, emaciated soundscapings;
distant headphone listening juxtaposed alongside walls of swirling
viral electronics. Randonee 0.06 is a really exciting find of a disc
and short enough to leave you wanting a lot more when it’s all over.
The final piece, the title track itself, is an incredible 8 minute
outing (part of the ‘Headphone Room’ internet project apparently) and
at times had me thinking I was trapped in the hold of some amorphous,
semi-conscious sea-faring vessel. At other times, it is like nothing
more than listening to the sound of your own body as it dehydrates.
Remarkable music. (BL)
Address: http://www.geocities.com/sirr_pt/index.html
JANKO, KRUL ALBANSKAJ – EKEZHHM, GYUVEL PYUGANLAHKH AEKTSPYUD? (CD by
Some Place Else)
The sleeve of this release warns you: “file under SAMPLE TERRORISM” –
not a great start possibly but you can’t judge a book etc, etc so
we’ll move on from there…. The contents: samples all (and appears,
indeed, to be ALL samples) from ethnic musics from around the globe
to ‘awful techno’ to strident classicisms of Wagnerian proportions.
“Nothing here now but the recordings.” is the fundament of this
manifesto and it shows: my difficulty with music of this nature is
not the cultural appropriation of other material, with which I have
no problem, but the tedium that often results when the quality
control goes out the window. Too much is this release is aimless and
plodding. The CD is four tracks, all reasonably lengthy and the
second (‘Mockba’) lasting a weighty 46 minutes, and all prove tough
going – Mockba is largely a mire of corruscating, static-like digital
buzzing, which at various points expands into more distorted,
existing musics, as though recorded momentarily from the radio…and
then back, submerged into the swirl again! File under “simply
dull”, I’m afraid.
Address: http://www.someplaceelse.net
ARIOUS ARTISTS – LABORATORY SERIES VOLUME ONE (CDR by Planetsounds)
A varied and tangentially varying disc of mainly abrasive
new/electronic music from a new UK label, Planetsounds, run by Dave
Clarkson featuring 14 different ‘artists’ covering an hour of
material steered wildly in a number of different directions. The
proceedings open with the trashy (ironic?) electro of ‘Debbie Does
Dusseldorf’ by Pendro (which to my mind lets down the project a
touch) and moves through laptop-spawned noise a la Mego and basic
rhythmic electronica workouts to more amateurish Merzbowish
ear-melting improv: essentially, a huge range of material in a small
time frame. Standout tracks comes from J J Howard, Illuminati
(superb and haunting soundscaping), Black Curtain, with an excellent
piece of lopsided acoustic drone, ‘Melodica Playpen’, and one of the
label owner’s projects Monte Cristo, who proffer a genuinely
affecting miasma of melodic loopings. A number of these projects are
manifestations of the same grouping of individuals who may well be
part of the same scene (Manchester perhaps, where the label is
based). Worth checking out if you like your electronics in a
slightly roughed-up Stock, Hausen & Walkman vein or even in the
fake-moustache-and-glasses of a more respectable V/Vm… (BL)
Address: http://www.planetsounds.co.uk
RSUNDIN – SLEEPWALK (CD by Ground Fault Recordings)
Another release on the quiet series, although it could have been
released on the medium series as well. Mr. Sundin’s vocabulary is too
broad to be narrowed down to one series. Sleepwalk proves this
without a doubt. It moves effortlessly from cuts to drones to
acoustic to electronic to …….. (please fill in the blank
yourself), but without losing its coherence. This record is actually
impossible to describe, it’s too rich, too dynamic and too fast for
that. And once you’ve kind of caught up it slows down as if testing
your patience. Instead I will suffice to say that, as with all the
latest Ronsun releases, this is a challenge for every listener, even
the ones with experience. Well done again. (MR)
Adress: www.groundfault.net
ESO STEEL – TECHNOLOGY OF SLEEP (LP by 20city)
This is the first time I’ve heard of this project by Richard Francis
(also the man behind the 20city label). The record features a variety
of tracks, with a wide range of sound material. Most of it seems to
be acoustic by origin, although sometimes it defenitely sounds more
electronic in the end. The pieces develop quite slowly, if at all,
and make me think of works by WrK or Sukora, although this is more
composed. This hovers somewhere between documenting a piece of sound
art and a composition and stays on that edge all the time. The sound
is crisp and clear, without much additions, but stays distant at the
same time, which is quite a strange and interesting sensation. This
work needs to be spinned more than once to convey its full potential.
Which is good, of course. (MR)
Adress: www.20city.com
MORPHOGENESIS – IN STREAMS VOLUME 2 (CD by Paradigm)
Second and final installment of a small series that provide us
insight in live recordings by Morphogenesis. This large group of
improvisers do not play live very often and if they do, it’s mainly
inside London. Their releases so far were mainly culled from studio
sessions. The six members (who are in various combinations present)
play a very wide variety of objects, large and small , from tin cans
to piano’s and plants. The pictures of the members in action on the
front cover is certainly an inspiring one for those who may want to
try this at home. The CD opens with a studio piece, which is an
excellent, well balanced piece of scraping noise, a bang on a cymbal
and the sound of pushing a piano forward. The other three pieces are
all live, including a short excerpt from a gig at ‘The Red Rose’,
with a hostile audience and which finds Morphogenesis also in quite a
hostile mood. Best of these live recordings is the last one, which
Morphogenesis played to support Sonic Youth. Excellent recording,
well balanced sounds with occassional bleeps and drones, which all
worked quite well. Needless to say that I think they are a great
band, and I wish they would be showing their skills abroad a little
bit more. I can’t be in London all the time… (FdW)
Address: www.stalk.net/paradigm
HOTEL STADT BERLIN (CD compilation by Handle With Care)
On this compilation six different electronic record labels from
berlin present themselves via their favourite artists. There are
strong ties among these six aswell as connections with the excellent
Pelicanneck shop in Manchester. Per label we find the following: ADSR
is mainly a retro electro label, which works well in the pieces by
Skanform and B.I. but sadly H.J. Pfirsisch is miss: a short piece of
locked grooves. City Centre Offices released SND, Arovane but present
here a nice solo piece by Christian Kleine and Hem (who had a CDR on
Microwave before, and also works as Geiom) cracks his way through
subtle keys and harmonies. Din is a well established label with
artists such as Pole and Monolake, but here with Arovane in a minimal
mood and Log who are likewise minimal but more dub inspired. For me
the unknown ones were Hey Records, whose main band seems Hey,
featured here in three laid back reggea pieces and act as a total
contrast with the rest of the CD. ‘Sans Toi’ is a hit, no doubt!. Lux
Nigra is always a hard to pin down label, me thinks. From the three
pieces here, they show an interest in techno, childlike melodies and
way out experimentalism. Strange stuff, but rather faceless. The CD
closes with the wonderful Morr Music label, with three of their more
melancholy outings (by Herrmann & Kleine, B. Fleischmann and Isan).
All in all, a very nice compilation which showcases the many
different talents in one city. You should consider moving… (FdW)
Address: www.handlewithcare.de
MATTIN – SAKADA (CD by W.M.O/R)
Recorded one night not so long ago by a guy name Mattin, who
apperentely plays computer feedback, Rosy Parlane (from the Sigma
label fame) and Eddie Prevost (from AMM name), the latter two on
percussion. This trio battle their way through a good hour of sheer
improvised noise. The odd combination of feedback and percussion
works strangely enough very well. Mainly this is because the
percussion doesn’t work like a counterpart, like a handclap but
instead, just like feedback, it sustains the sounds generated from
the computer feedback. Every sound is like a logical extension from
the previous one to the next one. This music is not a soft briese but
a wild storm, a thick cloud of sound. It’s the sort of hurricane that
totally embrashes you, picks up and you are put on your feet again
after the CD is over, not a single second sooner. (FdW)
Address: <mattin@f2s.com>
HUIB EMMER – RADION
FRANS FRIEDRICH – RADIO SYMFONICA
DONKEY HARE JOW – DRONE JOKE YEAH
(all CDR by Z6)
Until the beginning of this year there was a place in Rotterdam, The
Netherlands which sold CD’s, vinyl and put on almost weekly concerts.
It was called Dodorama, but in january they changed their name into
Worm and expanded their activities even more. One of that is
releasing CDRs. There is a nice series of compilation called ‘Radio
Worm’, which is a radio programme which you can buy as a CDR and
broadcast yourself and which has tons of nice music and excerpts from
their live concerts and now there is the Z6 labels. Again CDRs, but
with nice prints on the disc themselves and with silkscreened covers.
The first three releases, it should be no surprise are filled with
local musicians (Rotterdam has, for those unaware, a large scene of
improvised music) who have quite a local reputation.
Huib Emmer is a regular contributor to the Radio Worm series, but he
has a background in serious composed music. Since a couple of years
he works in what one could vaguely describe as techno music. It has
beats which are quantatized, it has a fat bass line here and there,
but it’s not material to fill your dancefloor with. Huib Emmer
certainly has a darker touch to music, like a hidden layer, a menace
present. You could compare his music to that of Lagowski (in case you
are looking for a reference) and certainly has the same quality.
Frans Friedrich is a well-known on the Rotterdam improvisation scene
but also in love with his sampler. He is to put the entire alphabet
to music (in 26 different CDR releases), but here it is the radio who
is subject for sampling (and since some were for Radio Worm, he feeds
them back to the radio). In two long (22 minutes) pieces, Friedrich
presents us sounds from the radio, sampled, distorted, witty and
funny. Popsamples, speech, drums and the occassional real played
flugelhorn makes this into a startling release. Only one thing that
bothers me: the two pieces can be seen as a multiple of smaller
tracks, so why not indexed them as such?
The guy who is behind Donkey Hare Joe is unknown to me. In his 10
short pieces he toys around with samples too, but the results are
just too eclectic for me. Sometimes I can raise an eyebrow and think,
wow nice, but at other times, I just think, well, whatever. ‘Henry &
Joe’ is one such track. It hoovers around a sample, adding small
layers but it doesn’t seem to go nowhere and there is no tension
present there. These best moments would better off on one of the
Radio Worm compilations.
But with two out of three this ain’t a bad start for a label. (FdW)
Address: <sound@wormweb.nl>
KOJI ASANO – AUTUMN MEADOW (CD by Solstice)
The 21st CD by Koji Asano, the Japanese workaholic who lives in
Barcelona. Twenty one CD’s in a time span of maybe 2 years? That is
crazy. Like many of his works, this one is filled with one piece of
music, lasting just over 68 minutes. Sometimes there is a reference
to what Asasno uses, but not so on Autumn Meadow. Asano present us
one large stream of sound that consists of a heart, and to which
sound effects are added. As I saw him play this kind of stuff live, I
assume this is all powerbook stuff with plug ins being used live to
process the sounds. This results in a highly powerful sort of ambient
music. Not the one that lulls you asleep, but one that creates an
extra ambience in the space you are in. The continous sound, the
minimal changes, it all enhances the effect of the music. Music that
makes your time go by easily, when you are doing other things (maybe
it’s the softer volume that I play this on, compared to the volume he
plays these things live). Death ambient being alive. (FdW)
Address: www.kojiasano.com