AOKI TAKAMASA – SILICOM TWO (CD by Progressive Form)
KRISTOFF K. ROLL – LE PETIT BRUIT D’A COT DU COEUR DU MONDE (Double
CD by CCAM)
MUSLIMGAUZE – HAMAS CINEMA GAZA STRIP (Cd by Staalplaat)
MAIN – TAU (CD by Kraak)
KOHN – KOEN (2CD by Kraak)
KNEALE/KUWAYAMA – BOTTOM OF THE MOTORWAY (10″ Lathe Cut by Pale Disc)
OREN AMBARCHI – MORT AUX VACHES CD (Staalplaat)
IOS SMOLDERS – MUSIC FOR KALX.COM (CD by ERS)
FLIM – GIVEN YOU NOTHING (CD by Tomlab)
THE MOGLASS – KOGDA VSE ZVERI (CDR by Nexsound)
FRANCIS DHOMONT – CYCLE DU SON (CD by Empreintes Digitalis)
PHOLDE – IN ACCORDANCE WITH CONSCIENCE (CD by Panta Rhei)
AN ANTHOLOGY OF NOISE & ELECTRONIC MUSIC, FIRST A CHRONOLOGY
1921-2001 (2CD by Sub Rosa)
TELE:FUNKEN – A COLLECTION OF ICE CREAM VANS VOL. 1 (7″ by Static Caravan)
WARD – SESQUIPEDALIAN ORIGINS (7″ by Static Caravan)
MODIFIED TOY ORCHESTRA – NEW SOUNDS FROM OLD CIRCUITS (7″ by Static Caravan)
THE GRACE PERIOD – MOD KILLER (7″ by Static Caravan)
THE REMOTE VIEWER – HERE I GO AGAIN ON MY OWN (CD by City Centre Offices)
DWORZEC – WEDNESDAY (CD by Metonymic)
AOKI TAKAMASA – SILICOM TWO (CD by Progressive Form)
Having never heard about Aoki Takamasa, it was a great surprise
listening to the second full-length-album by the japanese composer
under the project Silicom. The Silicom-project is based on a joint
venture between Aoki Takamasa and another interesting composer from
the Kyoto-area, Masakasu Takagi. Silicom Two first of all takes its
starting point in Aoki Takamasa^”s ability to create rhythmic textures
that despite the mechanical algebraic pace, still seems nicely vivid
and warm. Imagine how it would sound if a computer as a living entity
was doing the drums, somebody once described the sound of Aoki
Takamasa^”s subtle rhytm textures. Still quite different, Autechre,
must be the obvious kindred spirit as regards the chaotic yet
perfectly programmed rhythmic patterns. There are also some parallels
towards the German electronica-scene concentrated around Mouse On
Mars, thanks to Aoki Takamasa^”s sometimes humorous approach to
swarmingly pulsating electronica. Masakazu Takagi^”s beautiful, almost
visual electronic soundscapes stand as the perfect adaption for the
restless rhytm patterns of Aoki Takamasa. In such way the
Silicom-collaboration ends up with a highly recommendable album that
without any doubt will inspire everyone familiar with the
electronica-scene around Autechre and Mouse On Mars. (NMP)
Address: http://homepage.mac.com/p_form/
KRISTOFF K. ROLL – LE PETIT BRUIT D’A COT DU COEUR DU MONDE (Double
CD by CCAM)
Kristoff K. Roll is the duo Carole Rieussec and Jean-Cristophe Camps
and for this project they got a lot of assistance of other musicians
as well.
This double CD comes with a booklet that explains most of the project
very clearly. Basically, the duo went to Africa in 1994, made a lot
of recordings and has been working on those recordings ever since.
The process of working on this material is almost as important as the
result. Therefore the two CD’s are called Variation 5 and Variation
7. They are both part of the bigger project and can be considered as
one piece. One of the first things to strike me is the lack of field
recordings in the first pieces; it appears that they are only used
very reluctantly. In the booklet it is said that the sounds have been
heard over and over again, and serve more as a reminder of the time
in Africa than as raw material. Later on there is more of them.
Variation 5 is a mix between concrete music, written instrumental
music, improvised music, spoken word and more. In general, the
atmosphere is quiet and spatious although this changes pretty rapidly
throughout the disc. At some points this mix is hard to catch up
with, especially if one doesn’t speak french. Variation 7 is
completely improvised, together with Daunik Lazro on saxophone adding
to the (prerecorded) soundbites and electronic manipulations of
Kristoff K. Roll. This disc seems to be denser and more layered than
the first one, with longer qiet spaces inbetween. The combination
with the sax works excellent in most parts, setting off sounds and
thereby creating a very generous range of expression. In some parts
the combination is too obvious, which diminishes this aspect.
Together with the booklet, this release gives a very broad overview
of the possibilities of working on a large project like this without
any hurry and using all of its capacities to the fullest extent. (MR)
Address: http://centremalraux.com
MUSLIMGAUZE – HAMAS CINEMA GAZA STRIP (Cd by Staalplaat)
Composed less then a year before his slipping away, latest album
titled ‘Hamas Cinema Gaza Strip out on Staalplaat, represents the
harsher side of Muslimgauze. Bryn Jones^”s conceptual focus on the
Middle East certainly comes clear on this very atmospheric album.
Opening with the fairly soothing track of ethnic instruments and
female chant the tempo dramatically increases on the following title
track dominated by pounding beats and the sampled sound of a yelling
crowd only to get even harsher on next track ^”Hezbollah radio advert^’
that opens with another yelling crowd of people that is soon after
followed by a hard-hitting looped sample of hand percussions. After
that the tempo decreases for a while with a more relaxed atmosphere
though still kept in the dark mood with some deep heavy rumbles of
subtle noise somewhere in the lower part of the sound picture. As the
album reaches its end things start to get harsh again with the two
final tracks that despite the aggressive sound expression almost seem
danceable. If anyone should question it, ^”Hamas cinema Gaza strip^’,
being both a furious and an emotionally strong album, certainly
proves the fact that Muslimgauze did familiarize himself with the
conflict of the Middle East. (NMP)
Address: www.staalplaat.com
MAIN – TAU (CD by Kraak)
Throughout listening to this album, I have been wondering why Robert
Hampson still holds on to using the name Main, and not go by his own
name. Main was a sort of ‘ambient guitar isolationist’ thing, for
which a band name seemed appropiate (I believe they were a duo at the
start). After a pretty long stretch of silence – Hampson did a side
project as Chasm and a duo CD with Janek Schaeffer as Comae – there
is this return. Robert Hampson seems to be into taping the
environment, everyday sound evenst and throws them under a microscope
and has a real good listen to the smallest particles in there. What
he in result presents is a long collage of all of these particles. He
does this with a much more ‘composery’ feel then the previous Main
albums (I say this without meaning that those were ‘uncomposed’ –
they rather caught the drift of the sound and built a piece of music
from there), so why hold on to the Main name. I don’t know really,
maybe the reasons are much more mundane then I can assume. With his
more serious hat of composer, Hampson joints the ranks of people like
Roel Meelkop, Toy Bizarre or Das Synthetische Mischgewebe, who have
all left their previous roles as noise makers, to research the finer
possibilities of using sound, collage and more importantely computer
editing. Essentially this CD has two pieces, ‘Heuristic’ (in five
parts) and ‘Mirror’ (in three parts). The final part of the latter
brings back some of the Main memories in a fine ambient, cum Organum
mood. Before that Hampson took you on a ride through the world as
looked through a microphone. Main proofs to be more then an excellent
guide. (FdW)
Address: www.kraak.net
KOHN – KOEN (2CD by Kraak)
Kohn is one Jurgen de Blonde, you may know him from either his
previous CDs or his countless gigs around Europe. If you look at the
small picture on the cover of this CD and see parts of his set up,
then you know we are dealing here with a lo-fi audio terrorist. Some
keyboards, a drummachine and a CD player. Accumulating sounds over
the years on his digital mini disc and later on a PC, Jurgen plays
piano, keyboards, soft- and hardware, vocals, bass guitar, field
recordings and a samples. For the main part, this double pack runs on
looped sounds, edited to hasty and distorted rhythms, flavoured with
likewise distorted sounds (in which, I hasten to say, none of the
instruments are to be recognized as such). Hasty, like life in the
big city, with the occassional leap in the park, like the glitch
drones of ‘Nigewohne’ at the end of CD one. Kohn is like a chameleon,
being able to be in many guises, from lo-fi guitar tunes, to Pan
Sonic like rhythms (in ‘Fohnen’ for instance) to the aforementioned
drone pieces. You can wonder if a double CD is a good idea (or maybe
even consider it, like Kohn does, commercial suicide), but the fact
is that he has much to say, so a double pack is not really a bad idea
at all. (FdW)
Address: www.kraak.net
KNEALE/KUWAYAMA – BOTTOM OF THE MOTORWAY (10″ Lathe Cut by Pale Disc)
Mr. Kuwayama has once again found a metropolitain area in which to
record a session: this time it’s right under a motorway in Nagoya.
And indeed, one can hear the cars passing overhead as the two
musicians play their intsruments and a lot of other objects. As
usual, the combination of ingredients adds to the atmosphere of the
record. The recording space must have been fairly large, regarding
the duration of the natural reverb and the width of the stereo
spectrum. One can hear sounds moving through the space, implicating
movement on the part of the players. The addition of strings gives
the recordings an almost lyrical touch, although there is no such
thing as a real melody. A really good improv work. (MR)
Address: www.lethe-voice.com/kk/
OREN AMBARCHI – MORT AUX VACHES CD (Staalplaat)
A recording from the Australian for the well known dutch radio
program De Avonden, recorded summer 2001 in Amsterdam during his
european tour. Well, quite different I must say from the somewhat
usual Ambarchi sound, if there is such a thing(?) – unexpected stuff
for me to say the least. It starts off with very slow guitar
plucking, almost like an academic 20th century compositional
direction if I am allowed to use those words in a positive way. Then
after quite some extremely calming listening of these plucked tones
popping in and out, and probably testing the impatient listeners
patience, we get to a more familiar ground of humming effects.
Reminds me of Leif Elggren in a good intense sweet’n’sour swing,
although this is more sweet without the sour. This is all ends in a
very subtle way, very interestingly shaped. Not perhaps a CD who
gives a perfectly clear example of the stuff Ambarchi does, again if
there is such a thing(?). But definelty a must for the fans! (HB)
Address: www.staalplaat.com
IOS SMOLDERS – MUSIC FOR KALX.COM (CD by ERS)
It’s been a while for a hard copy by Ios Smolders to appear. Much of
his recent work has found its way to the Web, before it ever reached
production in the physical world. Music for kalx.com presents five
tracks, made exclusively with sinewaves. Of course this has been done
before, and I imagine that this is exactly why Smolders decided to do
so as well. He is known to take up a challenge when met by one. It
may be worth mentioning that the cover states that no additives are
added, so we are dealing with the pure thing here. But upon
listening it becomes clear that this is not at all another minimalist
glitch or click work. Smolders works with sines, but more
specifically with their interferences, creating hisses and hums that
I would have thought impossible. His work patiently unfolds the
multitude of aspects that the sinewave holds, without ever losing
tension or depth. These five tracks are all very well composed, using
quite simple techniques with great maturity. The whole CD radiates a
deep involvement with the material and its use, and a great skill to
capture the listener. An excellent work and highly recommended! (MR)
Address: ers@staalplaat.com
FLIM – GIVEN YOU NOTHING (CD by Tomlab)
Well, let’s say the title is not entirely correct; but only if the
‘you’ in the title is ‘you’. Enrico Wuttke gave us something: his CD.
Once more, like usually on the excellent Tomlab label, we are given
some very nice pop sensibilities here, and again from a somewhat
different perspective. I have really no idea who this Enrico chap is,
but by my estimation he has been in pop bands before. Ambience plays
an important role. Ambience; not an ambient. Not ambient at all this
one. Playing on a whole bunch of cheap organs, a piano, lo-fi synths,
drums and maybe the occassional bass or guitar added with the love of
some sampled sounds, Enrico is mostly interested in creating an
atmosphere. Playing around on a minimal palette of sounds and a sheer
minimalism per piece, he knows how to create an intimate atmosphere.
I kept thinking of some very old Disques Du Crepuscule albums or some
Pascal Comelade. I can envisage this guy coming to your house,
drinking a glass of red wine and play on his xylophone ‘Paspell
Unten’, moving over to your upright piano and play ‘Hell’ (coming up
with the right titles seems like the most difficult task here). Flim
is in dutch what children say to movie (and not ‘film’ as it should
be): it sums up what this record is about. A childlike interpretation
for imaginary films. (FdW)
Address: www.tomlab.de
THE MOGLASS – KOGDA VSE ZVERI (CDR by Nexsound)
My Russian these days is not so well anymore these, they don’t teach
it anymore in our schools, so I can’t relate to the title of the
cover. For some reason the titles are A1, A2, A3, B1 and B2 and with
the length in mind, I expect this was originally intended as a LP
release. I don’t know if this never was released, or if this is a
re-issue. The Moglass are a three piece group announcing themselves
as a free improv/postrock trio. The six (!, despite the five) pieces
on this release are more less free improv and more post rock, or even
better, drone rock. Multi-layered atmospheres of guitars and synths,
which are fed through their self-built effect boxes. the whole
package (cardboard) and music, reminded me a bit of Godspeed but less
the drums and the drama, but it could have been one of their
off-shoots for the real wicked drone heads around. And that’s not the
worst thing to be compared to. (FdW)
Address: www.nexsound.org
FRANCIS DHOMONT – CYCLE DU SON (CD by Empreintes Digitalis)
Canadian composer Francis Dhomont, whose previous work has been
released by the same label, thought it to be about time to pay homage
to 50 years of musique concrete. That is around 1998, because three
out of four works were composed then and it has been then 50 years
ago that Pierre Schaeffer composed his first work using daily sound
material (a.o. derived from sounds from trains in his ‘Cinq Etudes De
Bruits’ (five etudes of noise)). Dhomont harks back to the same sound
materials for all four pieces as Schaeffer used. Of course through
the use of the new techniques it all sounds very different. Whereas
the original Five Etudes last 15 minutes or so, this CD takes up 50
or so minutes. In ‘Novars’ Dhomont samples the sounds of Schaeffer
and plays around with them, either by time stretching, filtering,
looping etc. And this is what’s going on in the three other pieces
aswell. Dhomont has a very classical approach to the material, his
approach is not very different or new then from most of the other
composers on Empreintes Digitalis. Much reverb, oscillators and
filters transform the sound in tumbling parts that fall over each
other. Not a bad thing, but in every sense, classical. (FdW)
Address: www.electrocd.com
PHOLDE – IN ACCORDANCE WITH CONSCIENCE (CD by Panta Rhei)
It seems that Alan Bloor is more busy with his Pholde project then
with his original project Knurl. After a bunch of CDR releases, he
feels confident enough to release a real CD now. Spanning five
tracks, just under 40 minutes, it’s entirely conceived using metals
of various tensile strength and without any overdubs. Some of the
metal can be seen on the frontcover: sheets, wires, fence. Alan plays
these very subtle. A brush here, a small bang (extended by the use of
delay and reverb) there and the occassional rubbing with the fingers.
All in a very minimal and concentrated manner. Very ambient material
at work here, which is very nice, but also a bit sacred or in a way
new agey. Let’s hope this won’t be the direction Pholde is moving
into and hopefully brings us a somewhat harsher piece as a
counterpoint. (FdW)
Address: <movknurl@interlog.com>
AN ANTHOLOGY OF NOISE & ELECTRONIC MUSIC, FIRST A CHRONOLOGY
1921-2001 (2CD by Sub Rosa)
Reasons to be cheerful part two. After Dhomont’s ode to Schaeffer,
another historical perspective (actually more then a homage).
Spanning two CD’s you get the history of electronic music, from
Russolo’s ‘Corale’ from 1921 to Paul D. Miller’s ‘FTP>Bundle/Conduit
23 from 2001, each decade has at least one track represented (except
the seventies). Some of the pieces are well-known, like Walter
Ruttman’s ‘Weekend’ (previously released by Metamkine, and which was
remixed later on for a CD for Sub Rosa), Gordon Mumma’s ‘Dresden
Interleaf 13 February 1945′ or Varese’s ‘Poeme Electronique’, but
also there is some unpublished music and by some people who you might
not think of first when it comes to electronic music, like Sonic
Youth or Einsturzende Neubauten. The first have a piece of audience
responses being picked up and modified by the band on stage. The
latter a piece for kitchen utensils, which sound very unlike them,
but which is a nice piece. Very musique concrete I’d say (which,
despite their use of metal, is usually not the case with the regular
work). There is some more complaining to do on the selection. Some of
the pieces are obviously Sub Rosa related, like Konrad Boehmer, Nam
June Paik or Survival Research Laboratories (both composers have
other work on Sub Rosa). Also, but that’s hard to avoid with any
compilation pretending to give an overview, you miss out on essential
names. For instance Alvin Lucier’s work is sadly missed. The good
thing is that (young) people get a good overview from what’s been
done before (hearing electronic music by John Cage is always a more
difficult thing and sadly unavailable, maybe something for Sub Rosa
to dive into?), plus an extensive booklet with biographies on all the
artists. You can never know and hear enough of the past. (FdW)
Address: www.subrosa.net
TELE:FUNKEN – A COLLECTION OF ICE CREAM VANS VOL. 1 (7″ by Static Caravan)
WARD – SESQUIPEDALIAN ORIGINS (7″ by Static Caravan)
MODIFIED TOY ORCHESTRA – NEW SOUNDS FROM OLD CIRCUITS (7″ by Static Caravan)
THE GRACE PERIOD – MOD KILLER (7″ by Static Caravan)
A handful of sevens by the ever excellent Static Caravan label.
Tele:Funken might be known from their previous releases (a.o. with
Flying Saucer Attack) and after a noisy opening piece, they give us
some psychedelic mood music, which is likewise crazy. The b-side is
more noisy and likewise more rhythmic, but in a hectic cut-up style.
Strange one.
Ward is one David Berry (meme, ex-near earth, whoever those might be)
and one Richard Williams of Calvados Beam Trio. ‘Sesquipedalian
Origins’ start out with a slowed down rhythm, a piano loop and a
forklift loop, which are sometimes interrupted. Strange, unsettling
atmosphere. The record says 33 rpm, but at 45 it might be more
pleasent, me thinks. At 33 the tempo on ‘Calcium Taut Verdun’ is
still faster then on the flip but still culled from slowed down
samples. Although both tracks are kinda nice, they stay a bit on the
static side of things and the experimental ending of the b-side
helped a little bit.
Brian Duffy is the man behind the Modified Toy Orchestra and he
modifies Casio SA-1’s (instructions on how to do this yourself are
enclosed). I assume Duffy has multi-tracked various of his
modifications to create his sometimes funny and sometimes disturbing
sound pieces. Especially the b-side is a drone monster with what
seems random interceptions.
I have no idea who The Grace Period are, but they have an album on
Audio Dregs and are probably from the USA. The Grace Period have a
lo-fi electronic sound, in which drummachines and analogue synths
play the main part, together with sampled voices. The up-tempo a-side
has a breakbeat rhythm and sound great. The slowed down sampled
rhythms on ‘Sunny And Share’ did less for me. (FdW)
Address: www.staticcaravan.com
THE REMOTE VIEWER – HERE I GO AGAIN ON MY OWN (CD by City Centre Offices)
As far as I know is The Remote Viewer an off-shoot project from Hood,
one of those UK bands which I primarily don’t seem to like because of
their way of singing. The previous work of The Remote Viewer I came
across with was on 555 Recordings and seems ages ago and probably has
faded from my mind. However the ten pieces of delicate music on this
CD, makes me wanna search for that old record again. The Remote
Viewer play essentially simple music. The rhythm ticks away, an
electric piano plays a small number of notes and added are small
dashes of bass and guitar (probably both in the form of samples).
Music which makes envisage fields of corn, the wind in your hair and
the sun shining mildly. Mood music as to say. Music stripped down to
it’s essence really. Just in the closing ‘Drunken Noise’ piece things
out of control – if that is something one could say of this kind of
music anyway. Nice one. (FdW)
Address: www.city-centre-offices.de
DWORZEC – WEDNESDAY (CD by Metonymic)
Metonymic are lesser known then Corpus Hermeticum, but they sort of
operate on the same musical level. A shady area of lo-fi drone noise
improv rock. Dworzec are a four piece who got together on August 23rd
2000 to record this CD. Two expanded tracks of drone rumbles on
guitars and bass, and more cracks on the drum sides. Microtonal
feedback drones, speakerhum and more cracks. The is an overall
directness in these recordings which is very charming, though
probably not music industry standard, but it certainly fits the lo-fi
tag that makes bands like Dworzec so nice (and me a sucker for this
kind of music). (FdW)
Address: <tinshed@clear.net.nz>