[MULTER] – POPOUT (7″ by Genesungswerk)
N – SEGMENT (7″ by Genesungswerk)
BIP-HOP GENERATION V.3 (CD compilation by Bip Hop)
ORGANUM – FELDZEUG (7″ by Die Stadt)
SEOFON – ZERO POINT (CD by The Foundry)
DEAN SANTOMIERI – THE BOY BENEATH THE SEA (CD by The Foundry)
EM – ALL THE STARS BURNING BRIGHT (CD by The Foundry)
MOLLUSK – TRACKS AND DEFINITIONS (CD by The Foundry)
SOGAR – BASAL (CD by 12K)
YOSHIO MACHIDA – HYPERNATURAL #2 (CD by Softl Music)
ORCHESTRA TERRESTRIAL – HERE AND ELSEWHERE (CD by Die Stadt)
DIGITAL TERRESTRIAL – AURAL ILLUSIONS (LP by Die Stadt)
KOJI ASANO – THE END OF AUGUST (CD by Solstice)
SYNAPSCAPE – POSITIVE POP (Cd by Ant-Zen)
ROGER ROTOR – MORT AUX VACHES (Cd by Staalplaat)
OREN AMBARCHI – SUSPENSION (CD by Touch)
RICHARD CHARTIER – DECISIVE FORMS (CD by trente oiseaux)
BRENDAN MURRAY – NOT NOW (CD by create.transmit.records)
JON & UTSUNOMI – ( ) (CD by H÷REN)
NEUROBOT/MOLR DRAMMAZ – L.I.VE.V.I.L (2CDR by Mik Musik)
[MULTER] – POPOUT (7″ by Genesungswerk)
N – SEGMENT (7″ by Genesungswerk)
[Multer] is a German band of whom we reviewed music before. That was always
quite recent stuff, but here they present material from 1999. Two tracks in a
more rock-pop format. Side A has a slow tempo with melancholic strings out of a
box, a voice sample, drums and howling guitars. Nice piece, with nice changes.
The B-side is even slower and more melancholic and contains the same elements.
But for me it’s a lesser piece, since it drags on a bit too much, without too
many changes.
Behind N we find Hellmut Neidhardt, the guitarist of [Multer]. He completed his
first solo CD, now being mastered by Thomas Koner and as an appetizer we get
this 7″. As a guitarist, N places himself in the corner of people like Main or
Jim O’Rourke. Densely layered sounds, but with more repetition throughout.
Sometimes he manages to get his guitar sing like Steve Reich circa ‘Music For
Large Ensemble’, with it’s slowly changing patterns and fades in of horn like
sounds. The only problem is the sound quality. This record contains too much
music to make it sound right and that is a pity, because it’s a very nice one.
Hopefully the CD will have a better version. (FdW)
Address: www.genesungswerk.de
BIP-HOP GENERATION V.3 (CD compilation by Bip Hop)
Sadly ignored until now, but it’s never too late to set things right. The Bip
Hop series is growing into a very nice series of new millenium electronics.
It’s not about finding a particular corner (say microwave, say clicks, say
techno), but it embrasses all sorts of electronic music. That’s one good thing.
The other is that it combines known artists with lesser known and that the
booklet gives information on the artists and what they released otherwise.
Every band gets 10 minutes of fame, even when some take more. Neotropic opens
up with two lenghty pieces which a sort of music that defies description. A bit
ambient, but with rhythm, but not techno… Bovine Life is one Chris Dooks
whose sound is not unlike some of the music found on Morr Music. This one finds
itself in more techno areas of the lot.
Pimmon might be one of the more known names here, and he created three beauties
of pieces which display his quality as microsound artist works very nicely.
Drony, crackly with small events. Nice stuff. From Zonk’t we reviewed material
before. It’s the name chosen by Laurent Perrier, formerly of Nox and Cape Fear.
Like before his music is filled with sound, samples running amok, synth lines
and dub like rhythms. Very full force stuff. As a contrast we get next Atau
Tanaka, one third of the Senzorband, but also active as a solo composer. I
expected drone like music but nevertheless Tanaka arrives at rhythm too with
various soft-synths to go along. Apperentely the second piece was made
‘brushing the dust off of an old synth and some old soundfiles’. Can’t tell
wether this is old or new… (nice piece, so why care anyway). The last one
here is Novel 23, aka Roman Belousov from Russia, whose music I never heard
before. Heavy synths and likewise heavy beats follow their ways here, but the
more lighthearted ‘There… Don’t know Where’ is nice. In all a very nice CD,
introducing me new names, bringing back familiar ones. (FdW)
Address: www.bip-hop.com
ORGANUM – FELDZEUG (7″ by Die Stadt)
This 7″ is released by three labels, Die Stadt (Germany), Robot Records (USA)
and Siren Records (Japan) and is no doubt limited to a handful of copies and
can be had only through mailorder. This, plus the fact that both sides together
don’t last four minutes in total, means that this is for the die hard Organum
fans only who collect everything. I could count myself among them, but my bank
doesn’t extend me another mortgage. Nice enough, I have a promo to review.
Organum is here in his most classical sound, on both sides of the vinyl.
Scraping, scracthing, metallic sounds. This could be a left over from ‘In
Extremis’ or ‘Tower Of Silence’… Nice piece of music, since this is the
Organum I like very much. But it’s so damm short… (FdW)
Address: <jschwarz@diestadtmusik.de>
SEOFON – ZERO POINT (CD by The Foundry)
DEAN SANTOMIERI – THE BOY BENEATH THE SEA (CD by The Foundry)
EM – ALL THE STARS BURNING BRIGHT (CD by The Foundry)
MOLLUSK – TRACKS AND DEFINITIONS (CD by The Foundry)
Hypnos is a known label for their ambient music in all its forms and The
Foundry approaches ambient from a more experimental angle. The two labels now
joined forces and unlashes four new productions which crosses these boubdaries,
of course if ever they existed.
The first one is by Seofon in collaboration with Vidna Obmana and Steve Roach.
The source material on this CD were recordings by Ambient Temple Of
Imagination/Mystery School, which were processed by the three. After that
stage, the results went to another group of recyclers, this being Stephen Kent,
Thermal, Robert Rich and Not Breathing. It takes the simple remix away and is
replaced by a more complex form of recycling (and the blurb acknowledges this
to Vidna Obmana’s work with Asmus Tietchens, which is not entirely true
however). Looking at these names, it might be no difficult to guess what this
sounds like. Deep washes of synths, sound synthesizes and processing, coupled
occassionally with pseudo ethnic percussion. Not really hypnotic for me, but
pleasent music while reading the newspaper on a cloudy sunday morning.
Reading newspapers is not easy while listening to Dean Santomieri’s ‘The Boy
Beneath The Sea’. This is a fourty minute work of reading texts and music. The
music is played by Bruce Anderson, of MX 80 fame on the chronotone guitar),
David Kwan on sampler and processing and Karen Stackpole on percussion. The
music is here primarily to support the text and do not play a big role. As far
I heard the texts were full of fantasy and mystery. While executed quite
nicely, not entirely my thing.
Behind Em we find Micheal Bentley, whose previous work was reviewed before
here. In his latest work he moves from his more sonic experimentalism to
ambient. References to stars and of course the infinite space between, might be
enough to open up the whole palette of synths washes with an occassional more
experimental touch (that might be a satellite passing probably), so it luckily
doesn’t leap in a new age black hole. Lesser in diversity then the Seofon
album, but still a worthwhile listening experience.
The last new one is by Malcolm Bly, who goes by the monikker of Mollusk, which
is an undersea living creature. This is his first CD. Originally he produced
only Mp3s but created them at a low resolution, so they were easy to download.
On this CD only two of the original low res versions are there, the rest is
upgraded. From the four releases the Mollusk one is the most experimental with
high end tones and frequencies, occassional stereo rhythm pulses and, probably
unavoidable washes. Especially the six part piece ‘The Evolution Of The Snail’s
Brain’ explore all of these ingredients to a great extend. As far as
experimentalism goes, this is my favourite of the four. (FdW)
Address: www.foundrysite.com
SOGAR – BASAL (CD by 12K)
Sogar is the name chosen by a German guy Juergen Heckel, who lives in Paris and
‘Basal’ is his first release. Apperentely he manipulates accidental sound,
using guitars, mixing desks and amplifies and cables as instruments. Everything
is then put into the holy computer for further sound treatment. Soft clicks,
soft hiss and slowly faded soundscapes forms the music on this release. Quite
ambient atmospheres here, but don’t be fooled. This has not much to do with
ambient music as you may know it, but it extends the ambient music to the
clicks and cuts movement, without having the 4/4 beats or the digital coldness
found amongst some of those. Sogar is a less hectic Oval and a less poppy
Stephan Mathieu, and a more coherent Shuttle358. Sogar found himself a nice
spot among the best with a clear own sound. Great discovery of a new artist by
a likewise great label. (FdW)
Address: www.12k.com
YOSHIO MACHIDA – HYPERNATURAL #2 (CD by Softl Music)
Again a new label, and again from Cologne. I don’t know if Softlmusic is
devoted to one kind of musical programm (kinda hard to tell after one release,
and a second coming soon), but the package looks distinct: folded pieces of
stencilled paper by my beloved Extrapool print shop. Yoshio Machida released
his first Hypernatural in 1999 and I must say I sadly missed that. Here, on the
second Hypernnatural he gives us eight pieces of music, all of which around
three to six minutes. “With his work, Yoshio Machida has been investigating the
relativity and the continuity between phenomena in the area of the
unconsciousness and the consciouness”. The overal theme is “transparant
existence”. Machida uses field recordings in combination with a gong, miao
bamboo flute, wind, chimes, glasses, mouth harp, piano and SP 808. It seems to
me that sometimes the sounds are sampled and presented to us in looped form,
but I should hasten to add that it still sounds natural. Bird calls in addition
with unidentifiable sounds (a pig maybe) picture the rain forest for us in a
piece called ‘Malaria’. Not every track is great. ‘Afterimage’ plays around
with ambient sound, but dwells too much around computerized effects. More or
less the same goes for ‘Daydream’, which I found drowning in effects. But with
a score of six good tracks out of eight, I think it’s not bad at all. (FdW)
Address: www.softlmusic.com
ORCHESTRA TERRESTRIAL – HERE AND ELSEWHERE (CD by Die Stadt)
DIGITAL TERRESTRIAL – AURAL ILLUSIONS (LP by Die Stadt)
By signing Richard H Kirk, formerly Cabaret Voltaire, Sweet Excorsist and
Sandoz (to mention a few), Die Stadt is growing more and more into a very fine
label, were we find the more interesting European (and occassionally US)
artists on one label. Orchestra Terrestrial is the latest of the names chosen
by Kirk. Kirk has been all over the electronic place: from industrial with the
Cabs, techno, ambient and now rediscovering classical music (Wagner, Debussy
and Mozart – quite a different trouppe) aswell as pure electronic music. This
release finds Kirk is a much darker corner then I would have thought. Synthetic
sounds, played on a handful of synths and sequencers, with arpeggio’s on the
good old analogue beasts. Occassionally beats drop in, but the remain at the
background. In some of the keyboard touches and rhythm patterns, you can hear
the influence of Sandoz, but in a rather stripped down version. Although it is
a very fine release, my objection is that some of the tracks are bit too long.
In all it’s simplicity – which is here not ment in a negative way – there
should be a little bit more happening per track.
At the same time a LP is released under the name of Digital Terrestrial, which
is said to be made out of lockgrooves. Reconstructed by Trance Anthem. A most
curious record, which I enjoy but don’t get. It has acid like rhythms, but they
slip out, slide back and step forward. Sampled in a very rudimentary way, with
odd changes and no real groove in sight. Sometimes the record seems to be
sticking into a groove, but there isn’t a lockgroove in sight. I can imagine
this is a fun DJ tool, but I like it very much for it’s minimal music
connotations. Steve Reich on acid? Who knows. It’s a pity that we don’t get a
little bit more information, like who made it and what the connection is to
Richard H. Kirk… (FdW)
Address: <jschwarz@diestadtmusik.de>
KOJI ASANO – THE END OF AUGUST (CD by Solstice)
Koji Asano’s twenty second CD… It’s a pity that Asano doesn’t list his source
material, so we have to start guessing. I think he mounted some recordings of
an upright, detuned piano on his powerbook and added a bunch of sound effects.
In some variations this keeps on playing for the next hour. Maybe I missed
something here, but I don’t like it at all. Very dull and redundant… (FdW)
Address: www.kojiasano.com
SYNAPSCAPE – POSITIVE POP (Cd by Ant-Zen)
Since their debut-album “Synapscape” six years ago, Tim Kniep and Philipp M¸nch
have positioned themselves among the most interesting Power Noise-acts coming
from Germany. Seventh album titled “Positive pop” picks the best of earlier
Synapscape-releases and ends up with a harsh technoid album that both works on
the underground dance floor and for the more body shaking chill-out-journeys in
your favourite armchair. Some tracks on “Positive pop” uses subdued
noise-drones suppressed by heavy distorted beat-loops with processed vocals
appearing once in a while. Other tracks let the drones of noisy power
electronics rise from the sub-level into the centre of the listening
experience. Positive Pop musically lies in-between Synapscapes double -Cd “So
what” and their collaboration-cd with Imminent (formerly Imminent Starvation)
titled “Screenwalking”. After one hour of sonic pleasure “Positive pop” ends up
being the overall best album from Synapscape to date. (NMP)
Address: www.ant-zen.com
ROGER ROTOR – MORT AUX VACHES (Cd by Staalplaat)
Roger Rotor is an artist I had heard a lot about, without ever having listened
to his music, – until latest edition in the Mort Aux Vaches slipped trough my
mail-box. The three tracks of the album have the obvious titles “Start”,
“Middle”, “End”. “Start” opens with a processed low sound level vocal. Silent
beats penetrate together with suppressed noises from a wide range of sources
until everything is replaced with a bizarre low-level noise loop that almost
sounds like having buzzing in your ears. After that “Middle” comes in with
another loop that fills more in the sound space than the previous loop. After
two minutes beats slowly appear assisted by almost inaudible noise-drones and a
wind horn-sounds. Then a simple rhythm-pattern comes in and the track turns
quite minimal for another fifteen minutes with a few echoed vocal-samples
coming in and out. The minimalism is continued on final track “End” where the
beat pattern turns almost danceable. Together with the simple loops of minimal
sound-structures the track is quite reminiscent of Plastikman’s Vokx-track from
“Sheet one”. Empowered by the hypnotic compositional textures Roger Rotor’s
Mort Aux Vaches-release communicates with the sublime level of the listener.
Excellent! (NMP)
Address: www.staalplaat.com
OREN AMBARCHI – SUSPENSION (CD by Touch)
Recentely Oren Ambarchi was on a worldtour, so you may even seen him play. I
was lucky to catch him playing live in a small club with a good sound, and was
delighted by his music. Oren plays guitar. Period. The fact that he adds a
little bit of guitar effects is nice to know, but not essential. Oren plays
careful tones on the guitar which are sometimes stretched out into a sort of
sine waves. ‘Suspension’ is his second CD for Touch, after ‘Insulation’ which
set him on the map (and now I’m thinking of it, Touch becomes more and more a
label were guitarists play an important role). When I heard Insulation, I
thought he was using samplers, laptop and other what have you got, to transform
his guitar sound. After seeing him doing this thing live, I know it’s just a
man with a guitar. Oren’s music is very poetic, very silent and full of
suspense. A simple strumm on the guitar slowly evolves into an Alvin Lucier
like drone. Never offensive, never harsh, always delicate. This music is both
far away and nearby at the same time. Remote for it’s randomness but nearby for
its intimacy. If you never heard Oren’s music, then this CD is the best place
to start. It showcases everything he stands for. Great stuff. (FdW)
Address: www.touch.demon.co.uk
RICHARD CHARTIER – DECISIVE FORMS (CD by trente oiseaux)
Well, it seems that electronic music is entering a new stage with this work by
Richard Chartier. One track of 43 minutes he gives us, and I think this piece
can be considered the best Chartier has given us so far. It combines all the
qualities that he is known for, but adds new directions. The richness of this
work, in all its aspects , is simply overwhelming. The structure, the sounds,
their layering, everything has been done with utmost care and concentration. It
is defenitely no use trying to describe the piece. It is too rich for that.
Instead let me tell you that it sucks you in from the beginning and doesn’t let
go untill the end. A totally mesmerizing experience and totally rewarding as
well. I was thinking about the way to describe the piece in a few words, but
all I can come up with is that it is something like a symphony, divided into
several parts with their own atmosphere and ambience, but strongly connected by
material and structure. Is this symphonic minimalism? Ah, who cares about terms
anyway. This is truly one of the best CD’s of this year. (MR)
Adress: www.trenteoiseaux.com
BRENDAN MURRAY – NOT NOW (CD by create.transmit.records)
Murray is a new name in the field of electro-acoustics (for me, at least), but
his solo debut is defenitely not a beginner’s work. Using samplers and
computer, Murray takes us into a world of clicks and glitches, but without
apparent craving for popularity. I mean this in a very positive sense, because
his work combines the use of a (by now) well known vocabulary with
a refreshing appraoch to composition. Playing around with volume and cuts, his
works create a suspense of a very light kind. Light, because the material is
fairly open and transparent and so are the compositions. And although the
sounds are sometimes pretty raw, there is never a feeling of doom or
depression. Murray knows how to work with sounds and their qualities and is
able to sustain this quality throughout the four tracks on this disc. A very
good debut. (MR)
Adress: www.create-transmit.com
JON & UTSUNOMI – ( ) (CD by H÷REN)
I have no idea who these two are, but they must have had a lot of fun recording
this album. Then again, the lyrics are in Japanese, so maybe they’re not funny
at all. But when listening to the songs, a definite sense of enjoyment arises
in yours truly. What we have here are twenty short songs, sung by a woman in a
quite childish voice and accompanied by a harmonium. Under this first layer,
there are different field recordings with cicada’s and birds, giving a slightly
different ambience to each song. So, in a sense, the album can also be
percieved as one piece in twenty different parts. And if you manage to read the
liner notes, you may find that a completely new musical theory is being
practised. Personally, I am not so sure about this, but there is no question
that this record is very unique and certainly worth listening to. (MR)
Adress: Hren, 1-8-25-1103, Ebisu-honmachi, Naniwa-ku, Osaka, 556-0013,
Japan
NEUROBOT/MOLR DRAMMAZ – L.I.VE.V.I.L (2CDR by Mik Musik)
In april 2000 two Polish bands played at Club Jaz in Zabrze and the resultant
recording was interesting enough to explore further by remixing. Each band got
their own CD here to explore these remixes. Neurobot is a three person group
with such illustrous members as dr kudlatz, facial index and wolfram, who
explore the Molr Drammaz material from that evening, aswell as other live and
studio recordings. Things open wildly with a long pulsating piece ‘Sinktribe’,
minimal pulses that slowly change, added with a dash of analogue synths (maybe)
and is like Goem meets Pan Sonic and ends with ‘It’s All Right”, which is an
almost deep ambient laptop in the veins of Stillupsteypa. These are long
tracks, and in between are nine short pieces (from 6 seconds to 4 minutes) of
sketches and ideas in which both the minimal throbs and the ambient sound meet.
I prefered the longer, more worked out pieces and not the haste ‘n paste of the
others.
Molr Drammaz also stick to sampling the original live concert, but arrive at a
somewhat more conventional result. Beats (it seems to be an important feature
at these concerts) form the backbone of the two long pieces, which are
flavoured with mumbling voices, effects (a lot of those around some parts). Of
particular interest to some is the second track (the shortest of the total of
three) which is a recomposed ‘Rite Of Spring’ from Igor Stravinsky, with sped
up sound fragments and sampled percussion of the original. An interesting
plunderphonic approach to a classic piece. At times a nice CD, but a little
less coherent then the Neurobot side of things. (FdW)
Address: <wojt3k@artcom.pl>