JEFF PEARCE – THE LIGHT BEYOND (CD by Hypnos)
PAUL VNUK JR. – SILENCE SPEAKS IN SHADOW (CD by Hypnos)
TOM HEASLEY – WHERE THE EARTH MEETS THE SKY (CD by Hypnos)
PURE – LOW (Cd by Staalplaat)
TICKLISH/FIZZARUM (Split LP by Textile Records)
TAYLOR DEUPREE – OCCUR (CD by 12k)
DE FABRIEK – QUATRO-EROGENIC-OCCUPY THEME (CD by Moloko Plus)
NO + TARAKTAK (CDR by Dach)
KATE MOSH – DYNAMO (CD by Killerpimp)
POIRE Z – PRESQUE_CHIC (CD by Sonoris)
DAVID HAINES – EMO (CD by Sigma)
JEFF PEARCE – THE LIGHT BEYOND (CD by Hypnos)
PAUL VNUK JR. – SILENCE SPEAKS IN SHADOW (CD by Hypnos)
TOM HEASLEY – WHERE THE EARTH MEETS THE SKY (CD by Hypnos)
It’s kinda to believe that this new album by Jeff Pearce is recorded
live. In front of a live audience, broadcasted on radio, Pearce plays
his guitar and a bunch of sound effects, all in real time. Jeff
Pearce could have fooled me, mind you. It’s a highly synthetic (as in
‘synthesizer’) sound, in which I can’t recognize by no means a
guitar. Beautiful waving tones in an ultra relaxing mood. It floats
by in one piece, and time doesn’t exist.
Paul Vnuk Jr. fills up the entire length of his first CD with a wash
of synth sounds that roll in like the sea. To which he adds the
occasional sounds of rain, running cars and other environmental
sounds. Very much music to pass your time with, but I wonder why not
spend your time with something that is more intriguing to hear then
this?
When I started playing this CD I didn’t look at the press release or
the cover (like I always try to do, to keep an ahum open mind) I
thought this was just another Hypnos release: deep washes of sound,
digital processing of synths or maybe guitars, but I was very
surprised to find out that this was all made with a tuba, throat
singing, loops and OK the usual digital processing. The four lengthy
pieces go by floating really well with lots of small harmonies
popping up, playing their tune and then disappearing again. Very nice
release. (FdW)
Address: www.hypnos.com
PURE – LOW (Cd by Staalplaat)
Printed on Coil’s brilliant “Constant shallowness leads to evil”-cd
is a warning against driving vehicle or operating Machinery, while
listening to the album, because of the monotonous expression that
might cause drowsiness. The same warning could similarly be useful to
this ninth release in Staalplaat’s “Material Series” entitled “Low”
and created by sound artist Pure. Listening to the album is an
absolutely thrilling journey through landscapes of metallic drones
that seems to drift out of the speakers in endless streams. The
sounds are minimalist to the extremes creating a hypnotic atmosphere
that under intense listening conditions makes the listener end up in
a trance like state. Thus making you drowsy in the most positive
sense of the word. Minimalist drones, yet still containing a
sufficiently wide spectrum of sound-colors, to
make the album seem unfathomable when it comes to musical
explorations on repetitive listening. Pure creates ambient-drones
sounding like a successful meeting between the morbid expressions of
Daniel Menche and the gloomy atmosphere that made Biosphere’s
“Substrata”-album such an amazing experience. Unnecessary to say,
“Low” is essential to listeners of experimental ambient! (NMP)
Address: <http://www.staalplaat.com>
TICKLISH/FIZZARUM (Split LP by Textile Records)
This LP features one long track by Ticklish and two tracks by
Fizzarum. The track by Ticklish is a slowly developing piece of
layered and manipulated sounds of all kinds. On first listening it
seems a very friendly piece without much edges. Soft loops, drones
and occasional glitches reveal an ongoing process of change. And yet,
the friendliness is oblique: there is a certain harshness as well. I
wouldn’t call it noise, but basically that’s what it is. And then, of
course, things become interesting, because this friendliness and this
harshness are inextricably linked together. That makes this track
very worth the listen, without loosing a certain entertainment value.
The tracks by Fizzarum are based on very slow drum computer rhythms,
with slow synths and samples washing over. And, as corny as that may
sound, the opposite is achieved. This is not corny at all, and, to my
big amazement, I have no clue how to explain. Ah well, sometimes
words are simply not enough. A recommended record. (MR)
Address: textilerecords@mixmal.com
TAYLOR DEUPREE – OCCUR (CD by 12k)
Aside from running the 12k label, Mr. Deupree is also quite busy
making music. Sometimes in the more dance floor oriented direction,
at other times in a more ‘serious’ manner, like this. It’s been said
often lately that microwave or glitch or click ‘n cuts have seen the
best, but after hearing this CD, one can honestly say that isn’t
true. In nine tracks, Deupree brings together the best that one can
hope for within the genre. Subtle, gentle and harsh when needed,
these pieces convey a sense of sound, timing and space, that goes
beyond the boundaries of genres, but staying very much within the
glitch vocabulary. Again words simply fail…..Just get it. (MR)
Address: www.12k.com
DE FABRIEK – QUATRO-EROGENIC-OCCUPY THEME (CD by Moloko Plus)
I have been familiar with De Fabriek since the early eighties and
have been intrigued by the constant changing of sounds, although they
sometimes went into directions that I didn’t like. De Fabriek is one
of those bands I am always keen to hear were the are now. I must
admit that in more recent years I kinda lost track on their releases
(which if they are released on their own label are no doubt super
limited and hard to find), but this CD on Moloko Plus should be
widely available. At the heart of De Fabriek we find Richard van
Dellen, who invites various people to send in their sounds which he
collages into the sounds of De Fabriek. We find here workers as Zan
Hoffman, Alexander and Aleksy Chulkov, Berry Rikkerink, Olaf Seider
and Mitsumasa Miyazaki; a lot of new names for me. The music that De
Fabriek offers us here is of an eclectic nature. From electro rhythm
pieces such as ‘El Ninyo’ to soundscapes of rain and synthetic
ambience in the beautiful opening piece ‘River Of Tears’ and the
industrial soundscapes of ‘Bad Lands’. Music from De Fabriek is like
a trip from the urban jungle to countryside jungle, music that sticks
inside the brain and puts the listener on the wrong track by being
somewhere else then were you expect it. It carries some weak moments
(like ‘Half Live’) but they remain on the minor side. Overall a nice
one, this one. Let’s see where De Fabriek are next. (FdW)
Address: <ralf_friel@ferrostaal.com>
NO + TARAKTAK (CDR by Dach)
Tarakatak is the solo project of Lutz Pruditsch, one half of
Germany’s Raumerkundigung. In this solo project he plays around with
guitar, four tracks and sound effects to create dark atmospheric
music that is not unlike to the more well known Troum/Maeror Tri
posse. On this CDR release he collaborates with ‘No’, a band that was
unknown to me. Both bands offer two solo tracks and there is one by
both. Taraktak takes up the longest tracks with two lengthy dark and
drone excursions which seem to involve more then just bowed and bend
guitar notes. Maybe they are organs, a harmonium or the delayed sound
of a bell ringing? Excellent stuff that needs to be heard out there.
No’s main instruments seems to be radio sounds which are picked up,
recorded and then re-collages in a strange fashion. Not bad, but
Stockhausen or Nurse With Wound did it all better and way before.
Their collaborative piece is much better, because the Taraktak sound
plays the main part and the radio interferences are neatly
interwoven. (FdW)
Address: <taraktak@nwn.de>
KATE MOSH – DYNAMO (CD by Killerpimp)
Behind Kate Mosh we find the ever active Panacea dude, who also works
as Squaremeter. It’s unclear why he choose upon a new name for this
CD, released by the maintainers of his website, but I guess it’s
contractual reasons. Soundwise Panacea stays closer to Panacea with
his Kate Mosh project then with his Squaremeter project. Heavy beats,
albeit not as drum & bass like, but at times, such as in ‘Hectic’,
very straight forward, almost gabber like beat stuff. A tad bit too
heavy for me this dinner. I heard much of this way before, not
necessarily better or worse, but it seems like a pair of trousers
that you have for a long time. They fit well, but you don’t want to
wear them again. But apparently Panacea likes his old clothes… (FdW)
Address: www.killerpimp.com
POIRE Z – PRESQUE_CHIC (CD by Sonoris)
Poire Z is almost like a super group, as it’s collaborative work
between drummer Gunter Muller, electronics by Erik M and the cracked
everyday electronics of Moslang and Guhl – the latter two known as
Voice Crack. Presented here are two lengthy and heavy weighted pieces
recorded at two different festivals. Overall the music is densely
layered (although I can’t say if this is a straight recording or a
mixed multi-track version; I assume the first) which moves into
various places and spaces. Small events happen all over the place,
get their shape and move to the next small event. You can detect sine
waves, radio signals, static drones. Poire Z moves cleverly from
subdued areas into more noisy ones, in order to slide back into
softer passages. They even hit upon a strong rhythmic section in
their recording at the “Taktlos festival”, that is almost Pan Sonic
like. Great stuff. (FdW)
Address: www.sonoris.org
DAVID HAINES – EMO (CD by Sigma)
This is David’s second CD, following ‘Blither’, also on Sigma from
1999. When I got hold of ‘Blither’ it was together with the other
releases on Sigma, and I thought it was the least interesting one.
The repeated piano tinkling sounded fairly simple by means of
sampling. He hooked into minimalism without creating the necessary
tension. So, I was a little suspicious about this new release, but
it’s a remarkable progression forward. Three long pieces which are
all very densely layered. It’s hard to tell weather David uses again
the sounds of piano, maybe he does, but on the other hand maybe he
doesn’t. Maybe it’s not important to know. His sounds are present on
all three ends of the spectrum: low, mid and high end, and each seem
to be in a strange contrast to each other, but wonderful enough they
seem to fit together very well. Powerful minimal pieces, a bit too
crude to be called ambient music, and maybe therefore something I
enjoy very much. (FdW)
Address: www.sigmaeditions.com