HILMAR ORN HILMARSSON -CHILDREN OF NATURE (CD by Touch)
Hilmar might be known, to those with an excellent memory, as a
member of Psychic TV, or, more recent, the 12″ bootleg with
the first housy stuff by The Hafler Trio. The music on this CD
is apparently some film sound track, to a film by Fridrik Thor
Fridriksson. I don’t know this film, simply because I never
watch any. The sound track has won two prices, the Felix Music
Award and an Oscar for the best foreign film in 1992. The
problem with sound track seperated from the film is that one
is confronted with just some isolated music -or so we are led
to believe. Like I said, I haven’t seen the film, nor I do
know anything about. So for me, this is just a CD with music.
All 12 tracks are in modern classical territory, to be more
precise, department: romanticism. Much of these tracks
reminded me of recent work of Arvo Part. A lot of violins,
cellos and some percussion. I can imagine that some will
clasify this as kitsch, but I enjoyed the atmospheric music
quite a bit. But, just as Parts music, I need a small dose of
it. (FdW)
Address: <touch@touch.demon.co.uk>
TRANCE -AUGURY (CD by Charnel Music)
Trance’s fourth CD already… Trance is the ongoing solo
project of Mason Jones, boss of Charnel Music and collaborator
with many other groups and one-off collaboration projects. His
primary interest with Trance is to explore the use of guitars
in a wide variety of music styles, sometimes harsh noise,
sometimes textured and dark. This new CD falls in this
category. Long stretched tones of what sounds like synths and
sampled orchestral sounds, bring you thunderstorms of sound
that get louder and louder, ultimately to disappear behind the
horizon. The final piece is more improvised in character and
uses also saxophone and drums. This music is hard to define,
probably as hard judging it from the first listening session.
After I played this a couple of times, I heard more and more,
hidden beneath. I enjoyed this a lot. (FdW) Address:
<mason@net.com>
RAW -CITY (CD by Elfish)
From Greece we got this CD, that seems to be fairly old
(produced in 1994) and that is a cross-over of armchair techno
and popmusic. Not really a new approach (see Underworld) but
with some nice results. This CD works at its best in it’s
funky instrumental and up-tempo parts and don’t work (at least
for me) when there are some poor vocals involved and their
attempt to write a ‘real’ pop song is involved. So half half a
good CD. (FdW)
Address: Elfish -Artotinis 69-71 -16231 Athens -Greece
COSMIC CONNECTION -ZINCODE (CD by Double Space)
More armchair techno stuff, but without the cross-over to
pomusic. This Dutch duo open with a beatless track
(obligatory, or so it seems) and then there are 5 long tracks
which shift between several forms of techno stuff: dubby,
ambient and straight forward stuff and scripting. I don’t
think this will fill many dance floors, as it is too strange
and there are too many changes within one track. But at home
this works quite well.
Address: Double Space -Mechtildistr. 2-21 -5021 CN Tilburg –
The Netherlands
WHITEHOUSE -TOKYO HALOGEN (CD by Gift)
ESPENDOR GEOMETRICO -TOKYO SIN FIN (CD by Gift)
Two long time industrial legends were taped in Japan by this
new Jap label who co-released them with Susan Lawly and
Geometrik respectively. Whitehouse bring you live versions of
their all time classics: My Cock’s On Fire, Tit Pulp, Shitfun,
Movement 1994, Dictator etc. Their live sound is, I think,
less extreme (at least on disc) then their studio sound (which
goes further in terms of sound processing), but at the same
more rough and less defined. This live set in quite o.k.
Esplendor Geometrico is more structured, but then again, they
use a lot of digital stuff in their live set. Their sound is,
like with most of their studio work, quite minimal. A rhythm
is set and then sparse instruments are used. The rhythms on
this work are rough (less house music based then their recent
studio stuff) and much more ‘old school’ industrial.
One may question the necessity of adding more CD’s to the over
loaded market if the material is ‘just’ live, but for the fans
of these bands these are indispensable of course…
Address: fax: + 81 3-3412-8450
LUCID DREAMS (CD by E:MT)
You probably all know the idea of Lucid Dreaming: to dream
consciously. Psychologist Celia Green has written extensively
about this subject, and now she speaks on this CD. Her texts
are set against a male voice telling about dreams. All of this
spoken stuff is set against ‘ambient’ music. To make sure you
can hear everything, the music is mixed in at a low volume.
I’m not fond of this kind of releases, since the music is too
far away and I don’t think I need to hear all this text too
many times. I would have preferred to hear the music and read
the text in a booklet. So I pass on this… (FdW)
Address:
UNIT MOEBIUS -LIFE MOOD (CD by Silver Recordings)
Unit Moebius is a mysterious duo from The Hague, The
Netherlands (to some Detroit of the low lands). Until now they
had their records on Bunker, an equally mysterious label. Last
year’s release on German Disko B brought them to a wider
audience. Now they are presented on a new label, run by
Starfish Pool (who promises to release more weird dance stuff
in the future). There is one track on this CD, Life Mood, that
runs in 8 versions, plus there are two remixes from an old
Bunker release, remixed by Starfish Pool. This is some cool
and weird techno stuff that is minimal, trancy and obscure.
Presented in an equally low budget cover, which rounds this
off as just a great release! Get this!
Address: Silver -Vrijwilligersstraat 7 2650 Edegem -Belgium
BERNARD FORT -FRACTALS ( CD by Metamkine )
I am used to being sonically seduced by the work I have so far
heard by Bernard Fort. For some reason or another I always
associate his music with gardens -this latest work, a miniCD,
on the carefully curated Metamkine “Cinema Pour L’oreille”
series is no exception. Excepting (of course) that Bernard is
giving us a glimpse of the grazed, moist and dangerously
unfamiliar underbelly of one of these gardens; where bugs wait
with the patience of a dripping tap behind a locked door,
earnest in their motionless wait for oblivious wandering prey.
This CD offers little of the comfort (but retains all the
intensity) of works like ‘Le jardin de la reine’ (off the
compilation ‘Histoires Invisible’) or ’12 Haiku’ another
delicate web of interwoven sounds. Both of these are available
on GMVL – Group de Musiques Vivantes de Lyon of which Mr. Fort
is the musical director.
Back to ‘Fractals’ loads of high wide pitches, alien
conversations, analogue grinds ever on upwards, stuff
straining at the edge of somewhere. Sirens and snipping shears
split gaps in the sky. Something is under pressure…
stretched and threatening to collapse. Tok-tok beetles tap out
frantic percussion as they sense the reduction of space. There
are five fractal components in this suite. Bernards own
description of the work is as follows: “musiques amorphes et
infinies dont le centre est pert out et la circonference nulle
part…”. Don’t ask me what it means. I can’t read French.
Thought you’d like to know anyway. Lyrical cover as always by
Chris Auger. (MP)
Address: Metamkine – 13 Rue De La Drague – 38600 Fontaine –
France
CEREMONIAL SILENCE -CEREMONIAL SILENCE (CD by Korm Plastics)
Here’s a mighty moody and mostly great atmospheric release on
Korm. (The almost hideous typeface hinted at Gothic trifle,
and 10, I was a teeny bit afraid. This dessert tasted
different, tho’) Ceremonial Silence was founded by a certain
DIQ in 1992 and according to the blurb, came out of ‘vis
Produkten’ a group engaged in unique tape/musical and
performance art. Interestingly enough, it appears that people
are actually playing instruments here! In a very big place.
The first track spreads like opening doors. While they open,
they move closer. Rapidly like in dreams, both real and
celluloid. Noises from beyond these doors shuffle about. A
tuxedomoon floats past… same sort of sense of ritual
perhaps? Large objects are thrown to the floor. Great
concentrations of sound crash down like waves. Softness of
hiss and suss twist and wind off in drifting trails. Further
in a musical gate screeches politely (memories of Keeler
here). Deep endless corridors. Tiny sounds from dark corners.
Get the picture ? Definitely one of the better releases on
Korm. Hope to hear more soon. (HP)
Address: <staal@euronet.nl>
COIL PRESENTS THE BLACK LIGHT DISTRICT -A THOUSAND LIGHTS IN A
DARKENED ROOM (CD by Eskhaton)
At last a real and proper new release from the masters of murk and lurk. The (mostly) recycled material which followed in the wake of LSD contained very little which impressed me. This,
their latest release (which they worked on with several and a
half members of the World Serpent crew) is undeniable evidence
that the Sinister Twins are back. Their intentions are clear:
Bend minds. Blur borders. Disorientate. Foncuse (as Spev.
Rooner would say). The CD starts with ‘Unprepared Piano’ a
brief, deceptively effective noodle on Joanna before it
plunges into the oily pool of their disturbed imaginations.
Scanner is thanked, perhaps for the telephone conversations
(most obviously) used on the second track against a dodging
shadowlandworld backdrop. Having confronted us with the
terrain, Coil now lead us into the Black Light District. An
endlessly passing train provides accompaniment to synthetic
sludge which softens the ground still further. The fourth
track is one of three (?) sung songs on this release. It’s
typically Coil, reminiscent of ‘Horse Rotovator’ f’rinstance.
The second of these sungsongs is titled ‘blue rats’ and it’s a
silly thing. The third ends the CD and is a pseudo religious
adventure with lush keybored orchestration and distant angelic
(hmm…) vocals. Pete ‘n John conjure up various apparently
familiar places using sound fx and location recordings which
all too soon degenerate and offer no comfort. It is almost
like being hunted! And Coil have the only map of this
territory I am sure. Most certainly the strangest thing I have
heard so far in 1996. Beside all that I have not seen such
weird artwork as on the cover of this CD. Fragile souls
beware. (MP)