MICHEL BANABILA – Voiznoiz II (CD on Steaming Soundworks)
EMERGENCY STRING QUARTET – Hill Music (CD on Spring Garden Music)
HELLOTHISISALEX – THE CANADIAN SPELLING PROGRAM (CDR by Piehead)
ARCA – CINEMATIQUE (Cd by Les Disques Du Soleil Et De L’Acier)
JAKOB DRAMINSKY HOJMARK – For the Birds (CD on Multisounds)
TIME STEREO – THE CAT (CDR by Time Stereo)
LOWFISH – MAINTAIN THE REASON (CDEP by Suction Records)
POIRE Z – + (CD by Erstwhile)
TETSUO FURUDATE & ZBIGNIEW KARKOWSKI – WORLD AS WILL 2 (CD by 23five)
EA – R (CD by Ignis Projekt)
MIMEO & JOHN TILBURY – THE HANDS OF CARAVAGGIO (CD by Erstwhile)
TARMVRED – SUBFUSC (CD by Ad Noiseam)
TWEEN DECK 2 – TWEEN DECK 2 (CD by Multimood)
VAN BERGEN & PRINS & FENNESZ – DAWN (CD by Grob)
RONNIE SUNDIN – MORPHEI (CD by Hpna)
NERVE NET NOISE – METEOR CIRCUIT (CD by Intransitive Recordings)
JASON ALBOT – GETTING IN THE WAY OF PROGRESS – (Cassette by Gameboy Records)
MICHEAL J. SCHUMACHER – FOUR STILLS (CD by Sedimental)
THE CARETAKER – A STAIRWAY TO THE STARS (CD by V/Vm Test Records)
ISAN – CLOCKWORK MENAGERIE (CD by Morr Music)
HANS APPELQVIST – TONEFILM (CD by Komplott)
[SIC] – AND RABBITS NAMED FRIDAY (CD by Squirrelgirl)
MICHEL BANABILA – Voiznoiz II (CD on Steaming Soundworks)
I could write the usual lines on this one. The usual positive lines.
Because it is just another good album that I can recommend to anyone
who likes his music or wants to be introduced to the music of
Banabila. Also I know it makes no sense to ask from a
musician/composer to come up everytime with something completely new
(whatever that may mean) in order to satisfy the tastes and demands
of a never satisfied public.
And what more needs to be said on Michel Banabila who received more
and more international recognizition for his original blend of
ambient, triphop and world music in the last few years!?
‘Voiznoiz II’ is the second release in the ‘Urban Sound Scapes’
series. Sampled and manipulated voices function as the basis in this
project and are put in a musical frame.
When I say that Banabila is assisted on this one by 6 musicians you
might think this one sounds like a band. But that is not the case. I
wish it sounded more like a band. It would make the music sound more
organic. I woeld like to smell more sweat. Now it is so smooth and
sophisticated. But it seems Banabila is entering the dutch jazzscene
at the moment. So may be next time I will be very satisfied again
(DM).
Address: <http://www.xs4all.nl/>
EMERGENCY STRING QUARTET – Hill Music (CD on Spring Garden Music)
Jeff Hobbs (violin), Tom Swafford (violin), Bob Marsh (cello) and
Damon Smith (double bass) together form the Emergency String Quartet.
Just another string quartet…? We have had a flood of string
quartets since the Kronos Quartet made their moves in their
repertoire and that catched the attention of the public: Arditti,
Balanescu, David Soldier, the guitar quartets of Andre Duchesne and
Fred Frith, etc., etc. But the music of ESQ cannot be compared to
what I know from other quartets. What we have here is completely free
improvised music of a very high standard. The musicians have a great
range of techniques. The music is very colourfull and adventureous,
constantly moving and dramatic.
These improvisations were recorded in may 2001 somewhere in
California and show that improvised music still is very much alive.
So I would like to recommend this one to you (DM).
Address: <http://www.springgardenmusic.com>
HELLOTHISISALEX – THE CANADIAN SPELLING PROGRAM (CDR by Piehead)
Behind Hellothisisalex we find two young Canadians who are in love
with their analogue equipment, mainly synths and synths and also
synths fed with an occassional drummachine. They have been around for
some 18 months now and have produced some work, but this is their
second full length, well clocking in at 34 minutes. The two write
have a tendency to write short songs with quirky up temp beats and
synths that roll along nicely. Cute little pop melodies really that
would fit along the robotic lines of anything on Suction Records
(might that be a coincidence that they are from Canada too?) or most
of the music put forward by Morr Music. There isn’t a particular
stand out track here, but they all have the same good quality. Very
well done. (FdW)
Address: www.pieheadrecords.com
ARCA – CINEMATIQUE (Cd by Les Disques Du Soleil Et De L’Acier)
In Vital Weekly 317, I had the pleasure of reviewing second solo
album by French composer Sylvain Chauveau, entitled “Nocturne
Impalpable”. On the same label, Les Disques Du Soleil Et De L’Acier,
now comes another excellent achievement by Sylvain Chauveau. This
time he is collaborating with Joan Cambon under the project name
Arca. It is very easy to get swallowed into the friendly sounds of
Arca debut-album “Cinematique”. No instigating noises of any kind
interferes with the pure tones of easy listening music that uses
elements of reclining Trip Hop-beats, Postrock-like guitar-refrain,
and various wind instruments. The sounds have been put into an
electronic world of ambient-scapes and French voice-samples taken
from soundtracks of films and audio documents. There is an overall
melancholic feeling on the album. On tracks like “Personne”, “Orly”
and “Quand tombent lest toits” the melancholy are based on sensitive
ambient while other tracks, especially “La zone”, use waving hammond
organ sounds to create the melancholic atmosphere. Despite the
comprehensive use of electronic tools the acoustic instruments are
quite conspicuous, resulting in a very nice vivid musical expression.
In that sense Sylvain Chauveau and Joan Cambon have with
“Cinematique” created nothing short of a masterpiece. Excellent! (NMP)
Address: www.dsa-wave.com
JAKOB DRAMINSKY HOJMARK – For the Birds (CD on Multisounds)
Some introduction may be needed here. Jakob Draminsky Hojmark is a
musician and composer from Denmark, active since 1977. As a
bassclarinet and sopranino player he has his place in the world of
European improvised music. He studied with Pierre Dorge, Wolfgang
Fuchs and Gabriel Brncic. He participated in electro-acustic
workshops. He received commissions for works for instrumental groups
and theatres.
In recent years he collaborated with Pascal Comelade as a member of
the Bel Canto Orchestra, Tzarina Q Cut, with Mark Cunningham in Catch
22 and Koij Asano. These collaborations show that Barcelona is one of
his resendencies. This is also where his solo cd ‘For the Birds’
originated between october 2001 and january 2002.
The cd contains 13 instrumentals for a little ensemble. The pieces
were written over a period of 20 years. Most of them functioned
within theatre and stage-events and were newly arranged and recorded
for this cd.
All 17 musicians that participate on this one are part of the music
scene of Barcelona. Well known musicians like Pascal Comelade, Mark
Cunningham, Nuno Rebelo are among them.
The music is a kind of low profile chambermusic: unpretentious, not
screaming for attention. It is not hip, trendy or macho. The tunes
are simple and sound universal and timeless.
The cd opens with a Ornette Coleman-like tune with Nuno Rebelo
starring on guitar. Another one comes close to klezmer music and has
a true ‘solo’ by Mark Cunningham on cornet.
Hojmark plays bassclarinet and/ sopranino sax on most pieces. Cello,
double bass, drums, guitar are some of the others instruments used
here. But also theremin, casio and hammond.
Perfectionism and virtuosity in the playing are not the aim here and
that makes the music very sympathetic. It’s for the birds (DM).
Address: http://www.multisounds.dk/
TIME STEREO – THE CAT (CDR by Time Stereo)
Experimental music and cats seem to attract eachother. Many of the
musicians I know love cats, rather then dogs (although I must admit I
didn’t do a scientific research for this), so a release like this is
most welcome. Davin (of Princess Dragon Mom’s fame) got two lovely
cats from his girlfriend, which he let go freely about in the Stormy
Records space (the shop run by Windy & Carl). One day Davin decided
to tie a microphone to one of the two cats and recorded the animal.
No harm to the animal was done in these recordings, it’s stressed on
the liner notes. It’s an initimate, small recording of rumbling
sounds with the occassional snorring of the cat while being held by
someone who loves the cat. The recordings might be slightly altered
in the final edit (maybe some additional reverb was added, I don’t
know), but the overal recording is one of warm ambience. Little
rumbles, little sounds in a cosey, almost household atmosphere. I
think there is a huge interest in doing a compilation of artists
recording their cats, so who dares? (FdW)
Address: TIME-STEREO@prodigy.net
LOWFISH – MAINTAIN THE REASON (CDEP by Suction Records)
A short CDEP (which goes by in 12″ format too) by Lowfish, aka
Gregory de Rocher, one of the two main bands on Suction Records, the
home land of electro robotpop in Canada. Six tracks in 23 minutes of
quirky synth pop, old analogue drummachines and a true love for the
very early 80’s Depeche Mode sound. An occassional distorted voice is
not really there to sing a song, but is added to the overal
atmosphere of the music. Music which displays the big city neon light
at night, car passing and abonned industrial sites (I imagine all of
this to be shot in black and white, whenever Lowfish is ready to tape
his first videoclip). Dance music for those who never heard it in the
80s but who love the buzz of old analogue equipment in a new
millenium jacket. (FdW)
Address: www.morrmusic.com
POIRE Z – + (CD by Erstwhile)
This is Poire Z’s third CD, after ‘Presque Chic’ (reviewed in Vital
Weekly 283) and a self titled debut which never made it to this desk.
Poire Z combines the talents of drummer Gunter Muller, the
turntable’s of Erik M, and the electronica of Voice Crack. There are
three tracks here, and each has a guest player. Otomo Yoshihide adds
turntables and electronica on track one, Sachiko M sinewaves on the
second, and Christian Marclay turntables on track three. It seems to
me that throughout this CD electronica plays a major role here. At
times the improvisations here tend to get even into a rhythmic
domain. The power of Poire Z lies within the fact that they don’t
just go on stage and do a bunch of weird sounds, but they shift
between soft parts and loud parts with great elegance.. For me the
best piece on this CD is the ‘Kick-off_Knock’, the piece with Sachiko
M, which builts up nicely along her sinewaves, with slowly more and
more sounds kicking in the mix. A perfect blend of all components.
But the other two pieces are also very nice. (FdW)
Address: www.erstwhilerecords.com
TETSUO FURUDATE & ZBIGNIEW KARKOWSKI – WORLD AS WILL 2 (CD by 23five)
There are enough people out there who think that Zbigniew Karkowski
is an untalented noise makers, who travels the worldseas to destroy
speakers from concert halls. Very few know him as composer who can
actually score music and have it performed by ‘real’ musicians. His
ongoing series with Tetsuo Furudate, who plays likewise noise and has
the ability to write ‘real’ music, reflects some of that unknown
side. Their joint work is a combination of both their noise work (but
to a lesser extent) and the orchestral work. The orchestral samples
used here stems from Richard Wagner (the opening of the second piece)
and for the rest by orchestral works by Karkowski. These samples are
treated in the usual powerbook manner, but they don’t loose their
edge or they get lost in granular synthesis. Nevertheless this is a
heavy release, at least heavy in the sense of loaded with dark edges
and stringed waves. The Wagnerian opening samples of the second part
result for a few minutes in a Steve Reichanian minimalism, but goes
into more noise territory as the piece evolves. Both parts (lasting
25-29 minutes) filled from front to back with orchestral samples, and
operate in a strict fury. The orchestral madness it evokes makes
Laibach (to compare with a group who have used loads of orchestral
sounds) into childplay. Although a strong work, it is also one which
probably works best when it heard load in a concert hall, and not at
a mediocre volume at home. (FdW)
Address: www.23five.org
EA – R (CD by Ignis Projekt)
EA is a Polish group, who have been releasing a few works on their
own and a 7″ for Drone Records. These works were mostly installments,
as far as I could judge, guitar induced isolationism. For this new
one, apptly called ‘R” (EA R – geddit?), they seem to be using only
manipulated field recordings. It’s kinda hard to define what these
field recordings consist of, but hey, I’ve never been to Poland, so
what do I know. In one long piece, they slowly shift back and forth
through the undefinable, left along for an occassional bang, tick,
crack (well that, or a cowbell). Sometimes one thinks to recognize
vague murmer, but maybe my mind has gone beserk and it’s just the
neighbour cooking his meal and humming a tune. Mostly this surfaces
just above the level of audibility, so maybe EA get their inspiration
from Francisco Lopez. But ways louder of course then most of the
Lopez’ works, this is a mind wandering soundscape. Ambient humms from
just above the fields. (FdW)
Address: www.ignisprojekt.com
MIMEO & JOHN TILBURY – THE HANDS OF CARAVAGGIO (CD by Erstwhile)
MIMEO is an orchestra full of improvisers, twelve in total, and reads
like a who’s who of improvised music (these are: Keith Rowe: guitar,
electronics, Kevin Drumm: guitar, analogue synthesizer, Phil Durrant:
software granular samplers and treatments, Thomas Lehn: analogue
synthesizer, Kaffe Matthews: live sampling, computer, JÈrÙme
Noetinger: electroacoustic devices, Gert-Jan Prins: electronics, FM
modulations, radio, Peter Rehberg: computer, Marcus Schmickler:
digital synthesizer, computer, Rafael Toral: guitar with analogue
modular system
Markus Wettstein: amplified metal garbage, Cor Fuhler: inside piano).
Due to the largeness of this group, concerts are a rare occassion,
and the recording captured here was the first concert after their 24
hour concert in France. They are joint here by John Tilbury, who like
Keith Rowe, is a longstanding member of AMM, who plays the piano in
this concerto which is based around a Caravaggio painting, ‘The
Taking Of Christ’. The CD is indexed with five tracks, but is one
long piece. The first one is very quiet with low end tones and an
occassional tinkling on the piano. In the consecutative four piece
the noise element takes over, with tons of small sounds shifting in
and out in a rather noisy mix. It seems that Tilbury sometimes looses
the battle against the all electronics, but as soon as he seems
entirely gone, he re-surfaces (or allowed to re-surface) and piano
notes are to be heard again; like morning birds coming out of a dark
night. The whole CD is like a large battle of electronica vs
acoustica, more then a friendly get together. But this controversy
leads to interesting results, and it’s the contradiction that makes
this into a highly vivid CD. Great capture. (FdW)
Address: www.erstwhilerecords.com
TARMVRED – SUBFUSC (CD by Ad Noiseam)
Talking about Swedish Industrial music, most people probably think
about the dark ambient-oriented style of the legendary Cold Meat
Industry-label. Tarmvred is the living proof, that Industrial music
from Sweden can reach well out of this certain CMI-style.
Listening to debut full-length album by Tarmvred, first of all makes
me think about the more rhythmic harsh style of the German Industrial
scene. Probably for the same reason it is a German label, who is
responsible for the debut album titled ^”Subfusc^’. Musically, Tarmvred
uses the rhythmic Noise-oriented style that first of all comes from
German labels like Ant Zen Recordings and Hands Productions. The
familiar sound sphere could also be explained by the fact that Scott
Sturgis from, one of the most popular Ant Zen-acts at the moment,
Converter, remixes one of the album-tracks. But despite the
similarity to the Ant Zen style Tarmvred, especially at the last half
of the album separates in its more emotional and atmospheric approach
not far away from earliest Autechre. Another track heads towards a
more drum^”n^”noise sort of style and yet another features a female
vocal which is of course a quite unusual element in the Rhythmic
noise scene. A very pleasant and quite unique creature from the
Swedish Industrial scene. (NMP)
Address: www.adnoiseam.net
TWEEN DECK 2 – TWEEN DECK 2 (CD by Multimood)
Tween Deck 2 is a very interesting Swedish project consisting of
HÂkan Almkvist and Lars Bjrk. Quite a few acoustic instruments have
been utilised side by side with masses of tape manipulations, voice
effects and other sorts of electronic experimentation, resulting in a
musically rather complex album. After a very nice evocative opening
track, the album moves into a great atmospheric sound picture that in
its mixture of bizarre ethnic ambient and ritual percussive rhythms
reminds a little of the ethnic style released on the Australian label
Extreme with artists such as Mo Boma, Pablo^”s Eyes and Shinjuki
Thief. The atmosphere is generally threatening with dark sub-drones,
hidden underneath the acoustic sounds of processed guitar, bass and
clarinet. In a track like ^”Strange lands^’ there is a jazzy feeling
laid upon the music, while others like ^”Down the drain^’ uses a heavy
bass-line giving a very nice and suitable ethnic kind of Dub
expression. Everyone ready to spend some time diving into the dark
and complex ocean of Tween Deck 2 will be greatly rewarded with this
interesting exploration into ethnic sounds. (NMP)
Address: www.multimood.com
VAN BERGEN & PRINS & FENNESZ – DAWN (CD by Grob)
‘Superstar’ Christian Fennesz teams up here for an all improvised
work with two Dutch guys of which one is well-known abroad (Gert-Jan
Prins) and the other maybe just inside The Netherlands. Peter van
Bergen plays windinstruments, EWI, sampling and computer, Prins plays
electronics and FM Modulations and Fennesz the good ol’ laptop. This
live recording from 2000 made at Podewil, is a pretty straight
forward recording of three guys searching (or maybe re-searching) the
depths and heights of improvised music and electronica. The music is
vast, dense affair of cracking electronics, modified windinstruments
and manipulations through the laptop. Like ever so often this can be
a hit or miss afair, but that’s exactely the power of these
recordings. One hears some struggling before hitting a great move,
exploring that and then moving on to the next. This is improvised
music as it should be: great moves, silly mistakes, small gestures
and a good sense of communication. (FdW)
Address: www.churchofgrob.com
RONNIE SUNDIN – MORPHEI (CD by Hpna)
Sundin’s latest is a one track release just under thirty minutes. It
is a very sensitive combination of field recordings and electronics.
not unlike the work of Toy.Bizarre, for example. However, it seems to
be more gentle, building up a space for the imagination very
gradually and modestly. But it is exactly in the modesty that the
strength of this work can be found. There is no rush getting
anywhere; everything is done with an acute sense of timing, so that
the listener keeps following in Sundin’s track. The accompanying
press statement indicates that the work is a soundtrack to a dream
and for once, this seems to be very true. The track is indeed like
the state between waking and dreaming, it seems slide from one state
to the other without any apparent difficulty. A very good work
indeed. (MR)
Address: www.hapna.com
NERVE NET NOISE – METEOR CIRCUIT (CD by Intransitive Recordings)
Number twenty already on this label, and more to follow. The new one
by Nerve Net Noise is based entirely on recordings of self built
analogue synths.
The synths were hooked up in such a way that they started modulating
each other, creating more or less complex patterns. While recording
NNN decided to let the synths do a s much as possible by themselves,
interfering only when necessary. The result can be found on this disc
with seven tracks. The sound is very dry and very analogue indeed.
Hardly any effects are added, which makes this disc a must for all
analogue synth freaks. he music is sparse to say the least. Only few
sounds at one time and only slight alterations. Sometimes it really
seems as if these synths have a life of their own, as Hiroshi
Kumakiri suggests in the liner notes. With their limited capabilities
they play around as much as they can and seem to have a lot of fun
doing so. (MR)
Address: www.intransitiverecordings.com
JASON ALBOT – GETTING IN THE WAY OF PROGRESS – (Cassette by Gameboy Records)
Having seen Mr. Talbot perform live I presume that most of these
songs were done with very extensive use of a turntable, abusing it in
every imaginable way. The seven tracks on this tape are pretty noisy,
at least as far as the sounds themselves are concerned. The tracks
are not walls of sound or anything, they have build-ups, silences,
breaks and cuts, as one would expect in songs really. Talbot
controlls his noise, letting go of it just enough to keep the tension
on edge. At the same time, there’s enough rest for the ingredients to
be played out well. Talbot is a musician and the turntable is his
instrument. (MR)
Address: mshiflet@hotmail.com
MICHEAL J. SCHUMACHER – FOUR STILLS (CD by Sedimental)
I will not make some jokes about the man’s name and/or his abilities
in Formule 1 racing, but this Micheal Schumacher runs the Studio 5
Beekman space (now called Diapason) in New York, where interesting
concerts and installations are held. As a composer he has released
various discs and what I heard of that, Schumacher is a minimalist.
The original material for ‘Four Stills’ used percussion, cello, a
text being read, a dancer on a creaky floor, guitar, midi grand piano
aswell as recordings of a steam heater and radio static. But all of
these recordings were processed through Max/MSP software. Thus
nothing is recognizable as such. The music shifts slowly back and
forth, through what sounds like feedback and metallic scrapings
(although volume wise very soft). Sounds pop in and out and get a
placeof their own for a while, before they die out. It moves
altogether on one level (let’s say that’s the ambient part of this
disc) and the sounds may be limited (let’s say that’s minimal part),
but the four parts hold enough variation and depth to be interesting
from start to end. (FdW)
Address: www.sedimental.com
THE CARETAKER – A STAIRWAY TO THE STARS (CD by V/Vm Test Records)
“A Stairway To The Stars” is the second album The Caretaker, and also
the second to make use of processed ballroom music from the 30s and
40s. Who is behind The Caretaker I don’t know, but I wouldn’t be too
surprised to find out it’s mr V/VM himself, opting for a more serious
guise. The ballroom music is all lifted from vinyl and processed with
computer techniques. Just upon listening, me thinks it’s mostly
slowed on the turntable and added a little bit of loops and reverb.
Maybe, alltogether, an easy process, but the result is quite nice (so
I guess the easyness of the process doesn’t really count).
Atmopsheric, ambient, with the far away cry of voices and alienated
melodies. Maybe perfect horror music? One possible career move could
be scoring horror movies to set an unsettling ambience. (FdW)
Address: www.brainwashed.com/vvm
ISAN – CLOCKWORK MENAGERIE (CD by Morr Music)
ISAN is a british duo who have been releasing a whole bunch of music
on various labels. The more or less official ones come on Morr Music,
but there have been loads of split 7″s, obscure 10″s and
compilations. This CD compiles no less then 14 of these hard-to-get
recordings and span just the years 1996-1999. This old ISAN work is a
true joy, and combines their more recent poppy outings with their
older sense of experimentalism. In the latter category falls their 7″
for Bad Jazz: spacey bleeps, melancholy synths and a slow rhythmbox.
Most of these pieces use similar rudimentary equipment, old samplers,
cheap electronics but played with a sense of naievty and inventivity.
Simple melodies, neat strings and in general a nice sense of
melancholy are the core of the ISAN sound. If for some people ISAN’s
more recent work is too slick or smooth, and they have missed out on
the older material (and I must say I did miss out, which, playing
this CD, I regret a lot), then this a well worth subsitute. (FdW)
Address: www.morrmusic.com
HANS APPELQVIST – TONEFILM (CD by Komplott)
The text that comes along with this release doesn’t tell much about
the man, other then the fact that he has released The Xiao Fang EP on
Mjall label and that he lives in Malmoe in Southern Sweden. Obviously
Hans is interested in film, taking the name Tonefilm as a title and
samples from films as the more obvious references, but also
incorporating sounds from projectors in some of his tracks. The music
is really very simple: an acoustic guitars plinks it’s way, set
against electronic beats and the sound samples. There is an overall
jazzy, lounge-like atmosphere. Just in one occassion things seem to
go out of control, in ‘Frihet’ there is a drum & bass like rage, with
many voices fighting. For the most part this is a very laidback CD,
displaying the laidback atmosphere and tensions underneath of Swedish
filmmaker Bergmann. One envisages the stretched out woods, the lakes,
the occassional conversation. Filmic indeed. (FdW)
Address: www.komplott.com
[SIC] – AND RABBITS NAMED FRIDAY (CD by Squirrelgirl)
Behind [Sic] is a Canadian women, Jen Morris, who, has released one
self titled EP on her own label, Squirrelgirl, and now comes with a
full length release. Her love seems to be with analogue equipment.
She plays on a bunch of synths and comes up with a variety of tunes,
which are hard to pin to a certain style. Sometimes it harks back to
industrial music, ie straight forward slow rhythm, melody line and
additional bleeps, sometimes it’s more in the direction of techno,
and sometimes the experiments wins. Although one could say that the
majority of the tracks are alright, it’s not altogether satisfying
work. It limps on many ideas and doesn’t become a thing of her own,
even when most of the pieces are executed nicely. It lacks that just
bit extra needed. (FdW)
Address: www.squirrelgirl.net