EUROCORE 01 (CDR by Eurocore)
JULIUS – (HALB) SCHWARZ (CD by X-Tract/Edition RZ)
WERNER DURAND – THE ART OF BUZZING (CD by X-Tract/Edition RZ)
VESTIGE VERTICAL (CD by X-Tract/Edition RZ)
SAMPLING RAGE (CD compilation by X-Tract/Edition RZ)
DIGITAL LIVE RADIO SESSION (CD by Apo 33)
45’18” (9 VERSIONS OF 4’33) (CD compilation by Korm Plastics)
PHONEM – ILISU (CD by Morr Music)
IF, BWANA – I, ANGELICA (2CD by Pogus Productions)
CHRISTIAN KLEINE – VALIS (CD by Morr Music)
SKANFROM – HAND PICKED FRAGMENTS (CD by Suction Records)
JOHN HUDAK – FROM WHERE I AM (4CDRs)
ESCLAVAS REDENCIONISTAS DEL IMMACULADO VIRGO – MU VIDA (CDR)
EUROCORE 01 (CDR by Eurocore)
Although packed in a normal jewel case and burned to a 5″CDR, this
lasts under nine minutes. Two tracks by Schrankwerk and one by Euron.
I believe they are pro-Europa which of course is great. The music is
hard to describe. Heavy synths, drum computers – all analogue I
pressume here – with occassional samples of voices. Not really using
the vocabulary of techno, but more of the US version of industrial,
without the heavy undertones or that of electro, but without the
freshness found on Suction Records for instance. With such short
music, it’s hard to know if it’s really nice, or just an amateurish
thing. So far they get the benefit of doubt. (FdW)
Address: eurocore@europe.com
JULIUS – (HALB) SCHWARZ (CD by X-Tract/Edition RZ)
WERNER DURAND – THE ART OF BUZZING (CD by X-Tract/Edition RZ)
VESTIGE VERTICAL (CD by X-Tract/Edition RZ)
SAMPLING RAGE (CD compilation by X-Tract/Edition RZ)
If you browse our announcements list, you will recognize the name
Podewil. This is concert space in Berlin, who regurlary organise
concerts and festival, usually dealing with a theme (sampling,
computers, chicago). Seeing all those people arrive, they probably
thought it to be a good idea to ask some of them for a CD release.
The first four are now available, through the help of the other
Berlin landmark of recorded music: Edition RZ. We are served an odd
combination of locals and internationals.
One local is Rolf Julius who has a long standing reputation for using
small sounds. So far he has released some material, most of which is
not easy to get since it’s always quite limited, arty and expensive.
This CD should bring him some more attention. Julius’ sounds, as said
are small, so small that you can barely hear them. These sounds are
all electric or electronical generated. Small buzzers that sound
insects for instance. Rather then using one or two, he has a lot of
those. And by letting them produce sound all the time, Julius creates
vast mass of drones, a sea of hiss. Maybe there is more, but the
cover and text to this CD doesn’t reveal more then this. There are
seven pieces from 1989 to 1998 in this collection and they all follow
a minimal pattern. Lotsa drones, small variations – small but
present! – and occassional there is a sound in there that sounds
vaguely like a flute, or a cello. Or frogs, or insects, by the
thousands of them. For me the prize winning piece is here is ‘Musik
fuer den blick nach oben’ with its dense atmospheric and spooky,
slightly reverberated sounds.
Also local and also minimal is flute player Werner Durand. He has
played on all sorts of wind instruments, but here he limits himself
to playing on PVC pipes with saxophone mouthpieces attached to them.
In one piece he uses a pvc pipe with a plastic membrane and also
flower pots and tin foil plates as resonators. All of these pieces
were recorded on multi-track using sometimes a bit of delay and loops
but the sound remained as it was. A very simple idea, but with an
effective execution. Most of the times the music is drony and
atmopsheric, with references to Phil Niblock (area ‘Four Full
Flutes’) but it can also be wilder rocking as in ‘Honey’ or vaguely
ethnic related in ‘Queen Bee’, in which the flutes sound like an old
bacvking tape to 23 Skidoo. Nice work.
Vestige Vertical is a group of improvisers: Lothar Fiedler (guitars,
electronics), Micheal Vorfeld (percussion, stringed instruments) and
Micheal Walz (sampling, electronics). On some tracks they get help
from Boris Hegenbart (live electronics) and Aleks Kolkowski (violin,
electronics). As one can expect here, the music is all improvised and
remains on a rather subdued level, with small, microscopic changes
here and there, cracks, marbles rolling, a brush here and a cello bow
over strings there. Rather then seeing this as 12 seperate pieces as
it said on the cover, I regard this as one track, a steady flow of
sound, which is like a sea of sound. I assume this was recorded on
multi-track and then mixed, because of the changing dynamics and the
way sounds are faded in and out. A good, solid work.
The last CD is more international and has more well known names on
it. This CD is the result of two events at Podewil which delt with
sampling. The pieces were presented live, but after the festival some
of these pieces were reworked and are now presented again. Steve
Roden’s piece is one of those reworked pieces, and has the sound of
heater, which is slightly processed (some loops, changing pitches)
into a warm (excuse me) sounding environmental piece of music. Terre
Thaemlitz first piece is a live one, dealing with a likewise warm,
but more synthetic ambient sound, with small sounds lifted from
popular music. Nice piece, maybe a bit too lengthy. His studio piece
is much shorter, and deals with voices in the foreground and a warm
ambient drone in the back and somewhere in between small sounds
popping up in and out. Brandon Labelle’s piece is the most noisy one,
dealing with a high pitched tone throughout and small cracklings of
broken contactmicrophones throughout. Boris Hegenbart (anybody
remembers his excellent ‘Hikuioto’ CD? – Vital Weekly 110) uses
japanese voices which are slowly transformed into a field of singing
insects. The final piece is a live collaboration by Christophe
Charles, Brandon Labelle and Steve Roden. They share a mutual
interest in using sounds as they are, either pre-recorded ones or
abstract, computer generated ones. No sound or player lets another
prevail, so it washes ashore in a nice flow. Nice piece, but overtly
exciting. (FdW)
Address: www.podewil.de or www.edition-rz.de
DIGITAL LIVE RADIO SESSION (CD by Apo 33)
A CD of improvisation recorded for a radio station in France
including members of Formanex, the younger brother of AMM. The four
members (Christophe Havard, Emmanuel Leduc, John Morien and Julien
Ottavi) play here radio, minidisc, computer, sampler, turntables…
as you can imagine this results in a very electronical improvisation.
Elements of pre-recorded sounds pop up in the mix which stem from
radio and/or vinyl. The endresult, some 46 minutes of improvisation,
is quite a heavy affair. More noisy then usual in the improvisational
areas (although never nowhere close to good ol Merzbow of course)
which makes this, at times, to a pretty tiring affair to go through
in one go (and unfortunally the disc is not indexed, so it’s hard to
skip or play favourites – just in case you might want to use this in
your own digital ^Clive radio session), but the good elements prevail.
An energetic mix of DJs for non-movers – and count me in there. (FdW)
Address: <apo33@free.fr>
45’18” (9 VERSIONS OF 4’33) (CD compilation by Korm Plastics)
Some time has passed since the first invitations were sent out by Jos
Moers (Meeuw Muzak) to join this compilation. Of course I made a
track, but that was sadly refused, so now I’m left with the honour of
reviewing the results of others. First I would like to point out that
the cover is very funny indeed. It’s a small poster that folds out,
with a photograph on the front and info and texts on the back. The
first track is by Keith Rowe and is called #249, with the liner
notes saying: Nature. That is not a lot of information, but the track
lasts exactly 4’33. It’s a very quiet piece, consisting of one
environmental recording, as far as I can tell. The title is somewhat
misleading, because the sounds are made by trains and possibly cars,
all recorded from a long distance (maybe from an open window?). In a
certain sense, this can be seen as a strict interpretation of Cage’s
ideas. Track two is by Artificial Memory Trace and is called Close(d)
inside me. It clocks in at 8’20 and does not seem to bother with the
original score at all. The piece itself is truly beautiful, because
of the sounds and the composition. In fact, this piece can be
considered as an extension of Cage’s ideas into the realm of
contemporary electronic music. Track three is by Thurston Moore and
he decided to do a jam session in his studio, together with some
friends, that apparently lasted for 4’33. The result is a quite
dynamic piece of improv, altenated with some hardcore punk in the
second part and mostly silence in the third part. Weird, but very
nice indeed. Track four is by Pauline Oliveros, Deep Listening Band
and guests. Their recording is a small part of a longer concert,
lasting 4 hours and 33 minutes, intended as a memorial for David
Tudor, who premiered the original 4’33. The track is a
recording of one of the intermezzo’s in the long concert and is an
actual performance of the original score by John Cage. Next up is a
track by Jio Shimizu, who cut a vinyl record without spinning it and
without actually recording any sound. So the whole track is
concentrated in one dot instead of a groove. An excellent conceptual
work, of course, albeit one without much sound. The sixth track is by
Voice Crack, called Hoher Kasten, which means something like high
box. Electronic and acoustic sounds combine in a pretty quiet
piece, with a live atmosphere. Good stuff. Track seven is by Clive
Graham and seems to be an environmental recording, although I
wouldn’t be able to determine its origins. This is not bad, but I
cannot really connect it to the concept of the CD, besides the
duration of the piece. Next is a piece by Toshiya Tsunoda, who stuck
to the score as far as timing is concerned. He made recordings at
different sites and wrote a long text about the changes of names of
villages, towns and neighborhoods in a specific area in Japan. The
reference to Cage is not really clear to me, but the track is very
much okay. The last track is by
Alignment and they stick to the original score as well. They have
recorded ‘electronic silence’. They used a mixer, a sampler and a
hard drive, all of them without input and then amplified to zero dB.
So in the end, there is obviously some sounds to be heard: a loud
hiss from the mixer, glitches from the sampler and the sound of a
running engine from the hard drive. The last contribution to this CD
is a text by Frans de Waard, explaining why he decided not to submit
an audio work for this compilation. And it must be said: his reasons
are compelling. Having put forward the idea for this album, I am
somewhat disappointed by the result as a whole. I am not sure that
this is the result of the selection of tracks listed above or that
the idea itself is not such a good one. De Waard has some very
relevant thoughts about this. Nevertheless, the material presented on
this disc is good enough to exist on its own, so one might decide to
simply listen to it and enjoy it for what it is. (MR)
Address: www.staalplaat.com
PHONEM – ILISU (CD by Morr Music)
Unlike many others in current dance music, Phonem produces a very
political album here. ‘Ilisu’ is a planned dam in Turkey which has a
great impact on the environment. Much of this is explained on the
lengthy cover notes – another rarity. To say you hear this reflected
in the music is of course something different. Phonem plays
complicated dance music, with heavily complicated beats, sparse
melody lines and many breaks. Even when clocking in at 46 minutes and
with seven tracks, the speed that Phonem uses is a bit too much.
Things go by so fast, with such high speed and by all these complex
rhythms going, that it’s a very tiring album to listen to. Only when
the tempo goes down, as in ‘Displacement’ you get a bit of rest. This
is by far a bad album, but it’s something I can take in at small
doses… (FdW)
Address: www.morrmusic.com
IF, BWANA – I, ANGELICA (2CD by Pogus Productions)
If, Bwana is a group around Al Margolis and have been around since
ages it seems. If, Bwana used to release audio cassettes on Margolis’
Sound Of Pig Music, but since some years things have changed to more
serious music, and are now hosted with a release on Pogus
Productions, also from Margolis. ‘Clara Nostra’ for instance was a
dense work of voices and a more serious composed work. So much to my
surprise If, Bwana still care about their roots it seems, and
releases a double CD of their more noisy works. Buzzing works played
on computers, synthesizers, voice and guitars. Noise here gets to be
a difficult term. In a piece like ‘Sating Farms Far Piano’ it’s
understandable what it is: repeating blocks on noise, synthi-peeps
and a saw like sound. Stretching things up to 20 minutes. Not really
the sort of noise Merzbow is famous for, and not the kind of noise
that deals with pornography or concentrationcamps. Crystal clear
recording, with care of detail, but still noise. In the piece that
follows it, ‘The Railway Station Fire’ the backbone is also synths
but there is also the recitation with a fake opera voice of a text.
Not really the sort of noise to be expected I guess (and also I must
admit not my favourite piece here). As can be expected with 10 pieces
spanning two CD’s, they are lengthy pieces, most of which don’t seem
to go anywhere (another aspect of noise), but that hold enough
variation to be interesting. (FdW)
Address: www.pogus.com
CHRISTIAN KLEINE – VALIS (CD by Morr Music)
A few months ago we reviewed Christian Kleine’s debut album and now
it’s followed by a second CD, which is kinda in between a maxi CD and
a full length, with six tracks at thirty minutes. Kleine, also known
from the duo Herrmann & Kleine, produces some very fine, very warm
atmopsheric techno music. Apperentely rediscovering analogue
instruments, he presents all his influences, from Autechre to Pan
American, in some very nice pieces. The piece ‘Red Norvo’ for
instance hoovers around a very simple tick, some washy lines on the
keyboards and a deep bass end. Simple but highly effective. Other
pieces may have a more extended rhythm, but unlike the new Phonem is
doesn’t get crowded and simplicity rules for Kleine. The chilly lines
match perfect for the time for the time of the year. Sometimes
frozenly cold, sometimes nicely warm. Great CD, that with this length
might be a bit too short, but maybe more would have been less.
Simplicity again… (FdW)
Address: www.morrmusic.com
SKANFROM – HAND PICKED FRAGMENTS (CD by Suction Records)
Suction Records, one of our more favourite labels for retro electro
music releases much music by the artists that run that label, Lowfish
and Solvent. But here they finally come up with some other artist
again. Skamfrom is a German artist Roger, who has been releasing
music on his own ADSR label in various formats, cassettes, 7″ and
12″s. This CD serves as a collection of those previous, hard to get
releases plus of course unreleased ones, seven in total. Skanfrom
plays mainly short pieces, there are no less then 20 to be found
here. It’s foremost simple music that Skanfrom plays on his analogue
imperium. Basslines from a synth, a simple drum computer and some
noise from another synth. Bleeps, robotic voices from an old
computer. A very retro feel from all this. Like raw outtakes from
Kraftwerk or Bochum Welt, or all those early 80s acts that never got
beyond the stages of releasing cassettes (although much to my
surprise some of those exist on CD these days). Back then probably
dismissed as spielerei, but these days welcomed as the new popmusic.
How strange the cycles of popmusic are… but how wonderful coherent
things still are. (FdW)
Address: www.suctionrecords.com
JOHN HUDAK – FROM WHERE I AM (4CDRs)
A while ago I wrote that I think Illusion Of Safety are underrated,
but exactely the same can be said of John Hudak. His recording career
now dates at least 15 years and spans many many cassettes, some CDs
and CDRs, all filled with his highly minimal sound work. Sometimes it
seems just a loop going on, but if you listen closely, there are tiny
changes. This new set of CDRs is all based on a recording made with
two microphones hanging outside his window at home and then fed
through the live computer program Max/MSP. The results were
broadcasted on radio. One disc has no sticker, so I assume this is
the more or less the original recording as broadcasted. The other
three are variations. There is nothing of street sounds to be
recognized here, no cars passing, birds or people. Knowing Hudak
lives in Brooklyn, which I believe is not a very silent part of New
York, I assume the patches are way up to transform the sound. On the
pink disc the transformation is mostly high end peeps. On the blue
disc we find two ticks that are repeated by what seems an endless
delay and is more rhythmical than what we know from Hudak. The final
green disc is more alike the pink disc, but less atmospheric, ie more
nervous sounding. All in all four very minimal discs displaying
Hudak’s capacities to create beautiful textured sounds. (FdW)
Address: www.johnhudak.net
ESCLAVAS REDENCIONISTAS DEL IMMACULADO VIRGO – MU VIDA (CDR)
This is a new solo project by Cristina Bosco, who is one half of the
noise group Hinyouki. The project deals with a supposed convent of
extreme right-wing lesbian nuns who follow a Spanish pop singer from
the 1960s, Raphael. The disk comes in a dvd box with collages of
RaphaelÌs head superimposed on famous Renaissance paintings of the
virgin mary and others,
with the addition of swastikas, and the Non and T.G. crosses. The
disk features 12 mutilated Raphael popsongs sounding like they were
processed through a ring modulator. The effect is truly twisted as
bits of the original songs try to bleed through the distorted and
fragmented remains of the original. The first number is a rousing
ditty that almost made me die of laughter when I first put it on (the
concept alone was already too much). Most of the songs however are
subdued and abstract, with some additional manipulations on top. I
wish that the material was further reconstructed, as a lot of the
sounds make great raw material and I kept thinking of what I would do
with them. The pace picks up again for the last three tunes bringing
the release to a rousing close. Pop music for fans of power
electronics. A delightful
30 minutes. (JS)
Address: <cristina_bosco@ole.com>