DEPTHER – ALTAR STATE (CDR by Nihil Market)
SSHE RETINA STIMULANTS – CENTRAL NODE RECORDING (CDR by Nihil Market)
HINAGESHI BONDAGE – PARIISI VUONNA 1959 (CDR by Nihil Market)
CARYA AMARA – VESTIGIAL DIGITAL (CD by Earthrid)
EYE AND EAR CONTROL – PUSHING AT THE DOOR (CDR by Consume)
GRAIN (12″ by Fat Cat)
GOVERNMENT ALPHA – GLACIAL SPECIMENS (CDR by Tabula Rasa Bar)
HANK LAZER – DAYS (CD)
CONVOLUTION – Goes West (CD by Spooky Sound)
CONVOLUTION – 1 to 5 (CD by Sublingual)
HYPO – JINGLES & SINGLES (LP by Active Suspension)
DEPTHER – ALTAR STATE (CDR by Nihil Market)
SSHE RETINA STIMULANTS – CENTRAL NODE RECORDING (CDR by Nihil Market)
HINAGESHI BONDAGE – PARIISI VUONNA 1959 (CDR by Nihil Market)
These are the first three releases by Kaos Kontrol, the Nihil Market branche.
The come in slimline jewel case with a dark, black and white printed cover and
they are editions of 150 copies. The first release is by Depther, the solo work
of a Finnish guy from the band I.corax (not that that ring any bells here).
There are three lengthy piece of very dark soundscapes, two are studio pieces
and one is a live pieces. Heavy, dense, dark atmospheric music of sounds being
pushed around through the wild bunch of sound processors. Vibrant stuff, as
opposed to some of the more static counterparts to be found in this alley. The
live piece is a bit more static then the studio pieces though
Sshe Retina Stimulants is one of those names I see around, maybe lend an
occassional ear to, but never really dived into. Apperentely they use here
environmental sounds (“gathering acoustic signature from central railway
stations” it is called on the cover), which are then sampled into a short
loops. These loops are played all over the frequency spectrum and is heavily
loaded with sound effects. This results in a more harsher form of industrial
music, without leaping into industrial boredom.
The last one is not a new Japanese act, but the first production of a Finnish
guy, who has some other stuff on vinyl. I expect some sort of DJ thing, as the
stuff here is all from reworked vinyl. He brings up all the levels to where
some people might say: right this is a bunch of noise. Rhythmic noise that is
to say, because he creates loops from vinyl. Some things come together here
which I don’t like: the extensive use of vinyl and noise. I liked the noise
thing when I was younger and when it had the power I was looking for; never
liked DJs though. Here is where I take off and leave it. (FdW)
Address: <nihil-market@kaos-kontrol.org>
CARYA AMARA – VESTIGIAL DIGITAL (CD by Earthrid)
I never heard of Carya Amara before, nor from the label. It is being advertised
as ‘aggressive ambient’, which I guess is just the perspective you look from.
If any new age record is your standard, then yes, this is aggressive. But
compare it to say Troum, the ideas may change. Carya Amara uses just digital
sound sources, or rather, environmental sounds being processed by digital
machines. I deliberately use the word ‘machines’ here, because the music has a
rather cold and mechanical feel to it. Many of the sounds aren’t very warm, but
rather very clinical. The wrong sort of robotic voice is used in ‘Teslalations’
. The origins of any environmental sound is hard to recognize. I had great
difficulty enjoying the sounds included in this album, simply because it all
sounded so alien – as in: far away, clinical, mechanical and robotic. Even the
short and funny ‘Viva Cadaver’ with it’s Laibachian orchestra’s couldn’t bother
me and seemed out of place. Less digitalia, more heat please. (FdW)
Address: www.earthrid.com
EYE AND EAR CONTROL – PUSHING AT THE DOOR (CDR by Consume)
I believe this is the third Eye And Ear Control we review in a short time. The
first two were all studio works, but the main portion here is a 24 minute live
piece recorded nearly one and half year ago, but which is their live debut. The
hotchpotch (the remain Scottisch) of styles is here present too, and even in a
more weirder state. Using a bunch (a hell of a bunch) of sounds to work with,
the cement here is formed by a banging rhythm of rather cliched techno rhythms,
but probably that’s their idea of fun. Beyond their bunch of stolen sounds and
rhythms they have a set of keyboards. Eye and Ear Control go for everything
which they can lay their hands on.
The release opens with ‘Son Of Dimitri’ and with it’s classical samples, I
think Shostakovich is ment. Didn’t know he was into high pierced sounds… In
‘Mosquito Tambourine’ they chop up hip hop and rap and effectively deconstruct
it to a dash of noise. Their most Plunderphonic moment here… (FdW)
Address: www.consume.freeserve.co.uk
GRAIN (12″ by Fat Cat)
Fat Cat seems to many a rock label, but in the early days they also released
house and techno 12″s. One of the acts they released back then was Grain. I had
all those three 12″s but put them on one CDR which I still play as ‘music while
you work’ type of thing. Now Grain returns. The a-side has a long techno/house
track with a more an analogue character. The other track on this side is a
short, arppeggio piece with the quality of theme music for Star Trek. The
b-side tracks are more house with it’s short vocal sample and the final, short
phone prank is beyond me. I have no idea why it is included. In all a nice
record, which should soon be followed by more, so I can burn another music
while I work CDR… (FdW)
Address: www.fat-cat.co.uk
GOVERNMENT ALPHA – GLACIAL SPECIMENS (CDR by Tabula Rasa Bar)
A while ago I went to see Monster DVD, a Japanese trio with KK Null, Tabata and
Government Alpha. In a sort of rock trio line up they played a punk rock
version of seventies German krautrock which I though was very nice. What was
also nice is that each member played a short solo set before hand. Government
Alpha played the shortest, but much to my surprise it wasn’t just noise, but a
piece for drum computer and sound effects, plus a very short noise piece. To me
it sounded like a distinct break from his previous noise outings. So I was
looking forward to hear this release, which was recorded in summer-winter 2001.
Although it seems to me he uses rhythm loops at the fundament of each of his
eight tracks, it is a rather noisy affair, with feedback, sonic overload.
‘Dancing With Naiades’ seem to be the exception for it opens with a straight
forward rhythmbox and noises added later on. More like what I heard in concert.
I wish this is territory Government Alpha would explore more and leave the
straight forward noise thing… (FdW)
Address: <tabularasabar@hotmail.com>
HANK LAZER – DAYS (CD)
When you consider the history of sonic discharge and poetry in performance you
find a disproportionate number of botched efforts. DAYS by Hank Lazer trumps
this assumption, orchestrating the essence of a spot-on encounter. Much of the
success seems to have to do with Lazer’s ability to listen paired with his
approach to composition. It all keeps his themes of the rifts between immanent
and daily experience and our ghostly pasts shot full of words centered.
Featuring the Alabama Poetry Ensemble (Jake Berry, guitar and Wayne Sides,
percussion), everyone here responds as if they’re telepathic with quick snap,
equal sensitivity and verve. the drums actualize the verse as when Lazer whips:
“…and then again back/in it witness/serendipitous atoms drip/and cripple the
im/perceptable ache of it.” And Berry’s bluesy guitar washes over all of DAYS,
suddenly soloing, responding to the innocence of a dead child’s vision, and,
later lashes out, suggesting the disquieting danger of what has been witnessed.
DAYS is a remarkable performance, one that so powerfully documents the
immediate. It is a highlight of the history of poetry and sonic collaboration.
(GS)
Address: www.lavenderink.org
CONVOLUTION – Goes West (CD by Spooky Sound)
CONVOLUTION – 1 to 5 (CD by Sublingual)
Convolution is Mark Cunningham (trumpet and groovebox) and Sylvia Mestres
(guitar and voice). The name of Mark Cunningham brings back to my memory the
‘no wave’ bands from New York in the early 80s: Mars, John Gavanti and Don
King. Later Cunningham collaborated with Foetus, Fist of Facts (post-Liquid
Liquid), Rudolph Grey, a.o. Most of these later works I missed. And now, after
a very long gap, I have some new music by Cunningham coming out of my speakers.
Veteran Cunningham moved to Barcelona in 1991 and developed the Raeo concept.
He released two cds with this project. He worked together with Pascal Comelade,
groups such as Beef, Etant DonnÈs and Telefilme. In 1997 he released his first
solo cd ‘Blood River Dusk’. For this cd Cunningham was assisted by Sylvia
Mestres. From this collaboration grew Convolution a multimedia project. Sylvia
Mestres is also responsible for the visuals (powerful slide paintings).
Listening to the cds of Convolution the records of Jane and Jeff Hudson came to
my mind for a moment. There are some similarities. The Hudsons also released
some music on the Lust/Unlust label in the beginning of the 80s, just like
Mars. But what is more important, both use a simple and effective musical
concept: songs with minimal electronic rhythms, the dark voice of a female
singer and, in the case of Convolution, etherical and echoing sound outbursts
of the trumpet in the centre. The sound of his trumpet playing inevitably
reminds you of the trumpet of Jon Hassell. Short guitar interruptions complete
the music of Convolution. There music is hypnotic and repetitive,
song-structured, simple and effective.
Cunningham has a long musical career behind him. But one cannot say he build up
a voluminous catalogue of recordings. I don’t know if this is his free choice.
But it is remarkable that also both new cds are very limited in time. ‘1 to 5’
is a mini-cd with five titles. Three of these titles are also on the ‘Goes
West’-cd. This one has 8 titles (40 minutes). So Cunningham
does not seem to need much time to make his point (DM).
www.arrakis.es/~silmes
HYPO – JINGLES & SINGLES (LP by Active Suspension)
Hypo can be found the recentely raved about Active Suspension compilation (see
Vital Weekly 307) and arrives here with a full length Lp of 12 songs. Maybe
it’s going to be a bit of a boring story, but here again we have music that
falls really in no category. Maybe Hypo’s background is in erum dance music, he
stretches things beyond that. Musical history of the past 20 years gets a place
inside here. Either punk, new wave, house, noise, you name it and it sounds
like a straight influence for Hypo. Hypo functions as a blender: he throws all
of these styles into his computer and messes them about so that he creates his
own style. While this is all very nice done, the problem is that there is no
standout piece here. Within 28 minutes and 12 tracks it sort of moves rapidely
from place to place in high speed, and much of the ideas could maybe be better
worked out. But the potential of Hypo is certainly there. It’s like a raw
diamond waiting… (FdW)
Address: www.activesuspension.org