HEATH YONAITES – WHERE (self released CDR)
RACCOONS – MOTHER (2xCDR by Crouton)
EYE MAN – FUCKER (CDR by Mouthmoth)
SCOTT ARFORD/RANDY H.Y. YAU – EDIT FOR UNCONSCIOUSNESS (CD by Auscultare)
MATTIN & ROSY PARLANE – MENDIETAN (CD by W.M.O/R)
SUL – DEDICATED TO CHRIS MARKER (CD compilation by Sirr Records)
MIKRONYTES (CD by Crank Automotive)
MUM – FINALLY WE ARE NO ONE (CD by Fat Cat)
BRAIN TRANSPLANT – LIVE AT THE PRAIRIE HOUSE (3″CDR by Absit Omen)
CHRIS SMENTKOWSKI – WORMS (3″CDR by Absit Omen)
DAVE STONE – SOLO (3″CDR by Absit Omen)
ULTRA MILKMAIDS/TELEPHERIQUE/INOX KAPELL – NAN TIKUM REMIXES (CD by Ignis)
INTONARUMORI (CD by Unit Circle Rekkids)
V.A. – e- 1999:1
JENS HEDMAN & PAULINA SUNDIN – CURRENTS
BJELKEBORN – PAST TIME
V.A. – EIGHT TIMES FALLING
(All CD’s by Elektron)
DAVID MARANHA – NOE’S LULLABY (CD by Rossbin)
FRANCISCO LOPEZ – UNTITLED (2000) (CD by Ignis Projekt)
HEATH YONAITES – WHERE (self released CDR)
The Charango is a small, fretted ten string andean lute – the cover
says so, otherwise I wouldn’t have known this. The music played here
by Heath Yonaites are six improvisations on this instrument, but he
adds a mighty lot of other sounds, from a dog show to a computer and
a dremel tool to sword and many many more. It’s good that this is
mentioned too, since I wouldn’t have guessed this from just playing
this. Pretty strong stuff here at work, I must say. The metallic
sounds of the Charango fed through the usual reverb, in addition with
all these sounds, have a quasi ethno sounding but the material is too
varied to be just put down as fake ethno or hippie doodlings. Played
with a bow, or plucking it, there is a sense of minimalism to it, but
again it’s the variation that makes it different. Think of Laraaij on
Eno’s Ambient Series or Micheal O’Shea on Dome, but with a much less
rigid mind or, as you wish, a more anarchistic mind to it. It never
goes over the top, no noise or real anarchy, but played and executed
in a very much controlled environment. And with a nice printed cover,
one hardly notes that this is a self-released CDR. Phew. (FdW)
Address: www.yonaites.com/heath
RACCOONS – MOTHER (2xCDR by Crouton)
Ah wooden boxes – don’t I love them. They just remind me so much of
smoking cigars – and how much I love cigars! The box with this pack
is really nice, but a bit oversized for just 2 CDRs in a plastic
wallet. Raccoons are a trio with Jon Mueller (drums, thumb piano),
Hal Rammel (single-string guitar) and Chris Rosenau (six string
guitars, thumb piano and harmonica) and they operate inside the field
of improvised music. Their work is divided here over two discs, one
is a live CD and one is a studio CD. Although both are interesting, I
found the live CD a bit too normal for my liking. The three lengthy
pieces sound nice indeed, but maybe also don’t say too much. And
certainly when one hears the second, studio disc afterwards (better
not play that one first really). Here there is a great flow in
dynamics, more space for seperate instruments, a guitar plucks it’s
way for a couple of minutes before slow changing, almost theremin
like sounds kick in. One hears that these are improvisations, but in
a very spacious, open way (spacious not as in new age mind you). Very
nice stuff here, especially on disc two. (FdW)
Address: www.croutonmusic.com
EYE MAN – FUCKER (CDR by Mouthmoth)
I have no idea who Eye Man is, but he has one piece to offer
‘Fucker’. This track is then being remixed by Random Number, Peter
Percept and Neck Doppler. All remixers hail from Schotland (at least
as far as I know), so maybe Eye Man too. The original is very noisy
and rhythmic piece with massive beats and massive shouts for the
title. Neck Doppler starts adding more elements from techno the
platter and makes it less noisy. The samples swirl down under. More
techno, but also more wicked is Peter Percept’s mix, which goes for
the heavy distortion over a rather minimalist beat. And the crazy
weird out mix is by Neck Doppler, with his strange keyboard melodies
and sped up rhythms. There is a fifth, unknown mix enclosed, but
probably only on the promo’s – maybe you should bug the label to copy
it for you too as it’s not a bad one either. True underground music
at work here. (FdW)
Address: www.mouthmoth.go.to
SCOTT ARFORD/RANDY H.Y. YAU – EDIT FOR UNCONSCIOUSNESS (CD by Auscultare)
These two don’t play together on this disc, but each offers two
tracks. Scott Arford is founder of the the 7Hz warehouse performance
space and does music and video. This release is my first encounter
with his music. The two lengthy pieces (11 and 22 minutes) show an
interest in heavy electronic sound, that is kinda related to
industrial music, with it’s low end machine drones, mechanical and
machine hum sounds. The longer piece of the two, ‘Drift Counter’
seems to be made entirely with the use of insects sounds, and is
almost ambient, if it wasn’t operating on a disturbing level. R.H.Y.
Yau, who is the vice president of the 23five Incorporated (organisers
of concerts and a label) has one long piece and one short. The long
one starts out with likewise insects sounds, but they are more
presented in the form of a tapeloop. Gradually the piece is faded
over into a low end synth hum drone, which at the very end is
interrupted by machine being shut of. The short piece is more a
collage of various sounds (probably traffic lights) in a short and
abrupt way. For both of these people it’s the first time I hear their
music, and I must say that it’s quite ok stuff. Not brilliant,
earthshaking new, but solid experimental music. (FdW)
Address: www.groundfault.net
MATTIN & ROSY PARLANE – MENDIETAN (CD by W.M.O/R)
Mattin is a composer living in London but with Basque origins.
Together with Rosy Parlane (from Sigma Editions fame) they went on a
tour through the Basque mountains (‘Mendietan’ is Basque for ‘in the
mountains), together with a microphone, computers and a minidisk. The
processed recordings are to be found on this CD, which also contains
texts (by others) and photographs. If you hear the music without
knowing it’s background then wouldn’t be able to tell. But I believe
that’s what this is all about. Only the CD tells the story, the rest
is all fiction. Unlike many other works by Mattin I heard, this is
actually a very refined work. It’s less noisy and haphazard then his
previous work, and great care has been placed upon the dynamics of
the pieces. Low end sounds, crackles and hums are presented in a way
that reveals that they have been structuring their pieces. It’s all
in a highly dynamic way, going from sheer inaudibility to loud,
almost Merzbowish noise. This goes in the ways of Roel Meelkop, Crawl
Unit or Marc Behrens. Powerful concrete music, presented as poetry.
(FdW)
Address: www.mattin.org
SUL – DEDICATED TO CHRIS MARKER (CD compilation by Sirr Records)
This compilation is dedicated to the work of Chris Marker, a French
director (born in 1921), who has also worked with photography,
writing, video and multimedia. “His constant feature in the last
twenty years is the Zone. That can be the given space, as well as the
more specific meaning of an abandoned urban area where the waste
products mount up.” Seven different composers pay hommage to Chris
Marker. People like Atau Tanaka (from the Sensorband), Eric La Casa,
M. Behrens, Vitriol, Pimmon, I.D. and Oren Ambarchi play with notions
of space, each in their own way. From low end rumblings (Behrens,
Ambarchi) to wether or not processed environment sounds (La Casa,
Vitriol) and more noisy outings (Tanaka, I.D.) and one that falls out
of these categories (Pimmon) – it remains difficult when one is not
acquinted with the visual work of Marker – and I am one, I must
admit. What remains is a nice compilation with interesting sound
works, by people who usually bring interesting work any way. Nice
compilation, really, but I sort of miss out on the theme. (FdW)
Address: www.sirr-ecords.com
MIKRONYTES (CD by Crank Automotive)
The spirit of early Cluster looms throughout this first CD by the duo
called the Mikroknytes, but the sound and feel is much lighter and
brighter, almost cheerful at times. Droning processed violin accented
with low grade electronics punching with swirls and oscillations. At
times the disk has an retro feel to it, almost archaic, reminding me
of hometaper electronic music from the early 80s. The compositions
have a loose improvised feel, and seem to forgot creating
rememberable melodies or passages, but focus more on mood and piecing
the parts together to create an overall patchwork of sounds. Not at
all a bad thing, as each piece has several components and the changes
frequently creating a shifting collage. Heavy with electronic
rhythms, the track “sawg_warz” is a shoe-in for late period Esplendor
Geometrico. One of the best tracks on the disk is “sub_tanner” in
which the Mikronytes leave the collage approach, and deliver a track
rich with violin drones and light electronic washes or in
“saint_on_voya”, a lengthy electronic drone work. I think this attack
shows them at their best. (JS)
Address: www.crankautomotive.com
MUM – FINALLY WE ARE NO ONE (CD by Fat Cat)
Some people think that whatever comes from Iceland is gold… Let’s
say it’s highly interesting to see that from such a small population,
so many people seem to be into doing art, music, writing etc. If the
Beuysian ‘Every man is an artist’ has become true, it must have been
in Iceland. Mum is one of those hip new names, and this their second
CD. Four members, two boys doing almost all the instrumental parts
and two twin sisters singing and playing keyboards and cello. Most of
the album is however instrumental… Mum plays the perfect soundtrack
for Iceland – or maybe they play the perfect soundtrack for Iceland
if you have only an idea of the island (and like me, never been
there). Dreamy pieces of electronic music, filled not just with
electronics, but also the warmth of cello, glockenspiel and
accordion. Pieces like ‘I can’t deel My Hand Anymore, It’s Allright,
Sleep Still’ sound like a Icelandic roadmusic (which is going on bike
to a geyser?), folkmusic inspired and filmic at the same time.
Although they seem to be rooted in the Morr Music sound definitions,
Mum adds a whole lot of their own flavour and create a very fine
album that lacks the melodrama of Sigur Ros, but makes it well up
with their intimate sound. Great stuff. (FdW)
Address: www.fat-cat.co.uk
BRAIN TRANSPLANT – LIVE AT THE PRAIRIE HOUSE (3″CDR by Absit Omen)
CHRIS SMENTKOWSKI – WORMS (3″CDR by Absit Omen)
DAVE STONE – SOLO (3″CDR by Absit Omen)
Three releases by a small label, Absit Omen, who present their
releases in true underground style. Apart from the labels name, the
catalogue and artist and title, no further information. Brain
Transplant are a duo with Ajay Khanna (IBM Thinkpad) and Chris
Smentkowski playing a Toshiba Satellite and a Fender Stratocaster.
This is a live recording and ‘those austrians better hide their
Powermacs because Brain Transplant is going apeshit’. I guess the
press blurb refers to the Mego posse? I see no reason for them to
hide. The overall recording level is quite soft, and Brain Transplant
play with sounds popping in and out and are not afraid of some
occassional silence. Occassionally they leap into noise. It’s not a
bad release, but I wish they had some post production, like editing a
proper master.
The second release is by Chris from Brain Transplant, but this time
solo. It’s more or less an extension of his work with Brain
Transplant, but at least the mastering is better, so that whenever
the music is supposed to be loud, it’s also loud. Chris works his way
through glitches and cracks and ends in the final piece in improv
mood, with a guitarist and a saxophone player. This is definetly more
Mego terrain then the other one, but not necessarily adds much to
what has been done already in that field.
The last release is by Dave Stone, the saxophone player on the
previous release. In his two lengthy pieces he plays saxophone as if
he was a student of Borbetomagus. Loud, dirty noise in which the
saxophone is not always to be recognized. If you like noise played on
an acoustic instrument or if Borbetomagus are not releasing enough
music, this is the next best alternative. (FdW)
Address: www.geocities.com/absit4040/
ULTRA MILKMAIDS/TELEPHERIQUE/INOX KAPELL – NAN TIKUM REMIXES (CD by Ignis)
How much I study the cover of this release, it’s hard to figure out
what the thing is. I think (! mind you) that the first six tracks
were recorded by all three bands in a concert in March 2000 and that
the three tracks after that remixes are of the live recordings that
are not on this CD by each band respectively. But maybe the live
recordings itself are already remixed, recycled or whatever one
wishes to call it. The first six tracks are best described as warm
glitchy popmusic, processing the existing material in warm, lush
ambientesque textures. Kinda remembers me of the Ultra Milkmaids
‘Peps’ CD of some back. The influence of the Milkies in these six
tracks is big, and nothing refers to the other two (with maybe the
sixth one the odd exception). The seventh piece is a reworking by
Telepherique, who use sampling to create a slightly disturbing sound
pattern. The Ultra Milkmaids piece is again similar to the first half
of the CD, whereas Inox Kapell uses conventional electronics (synths
and rhythmboxes) for their sturdy, 80s influenced remix. Despite the
somewhat unclear setting of this CD, the material is strangely enough
coherent and offers a nice, yet chaotic project, of music that is
never free, and always subject to remix. (FdW)
Address: www.ignisprojekt.com
INTONARUMORI (CD by Unit Circle Rekkids)
Derived from the 20s Futurists comes the word Intonarumori, meaning
‘noise intoners’. It’s also the name chosen by Kevin Goldsmith to
perform music. Kevin has also been a member of such groups as Filet
Of Feedback, Stem, Vassily and The Felline Outtakes and currentely is
a member of Sil2K Ensemble, Intoning Silence and Transatlantic
Icefloe. Not that I know any of these really… On this CD the first
three pieces are performed by Kevin solo. Since the cover doesn’t
list any instruments, it’s kinda hard to tell what Kevin does.
However it’s clear that he uses a massive amount of reverb, thus
blurring all the detail that could possibly reveal any source. Dark
and minimalist, with an occassional voice or radio snippet rising
from the swamp. The other four pieces are based on texts by Paul
Celan and the music is by Kevin, Ray Hodder, DB Lawrence, Eveline
Muller-Graf and Harry Owen. These pieces are entirely different. They
go more in the fields of improvised music, and is performed on bowed
instruments (a la Organum at times, but less harsh) and toy piano’s.
The vocal part is half sung, half spoken and the texts are not easy
to understand – but maybe that’s the idea? These pieces, which form a
distinct break with the first three, are nice, but make this release
as a whole, into a less coherent CD. I can imagine that one either
likes the first three, or the last four, but to enjoy them throughout
is a bit difficult. (FdW)
Address: www.unitcircle.com
V.A. – e- 1999:1
JENS HEDMAN & PAULINA SUNDIN – CURRENTS
BJELKEBORN – PAST TIME
V.A. – EIGHT TIMES FALLING
(All CD’s by Elektron)
Elektron is a relatively new Swedish label, so far releasing works by
members of the Swedish electroacoustic community. Their first CD is a
compilation featuring pieces by seven composers. They are all
relatively short and quite different from each other. ‘Rubber’ by
Palle Dahlstedt is a composition based only on the sounds of
balloons, manipulated in various ways. There is hardly any editing,
only a little pitch shifting here and there. The piece is structured
very well and is over before you know it, even though it lasts over
eleven minutes. The second track is ‘Traces’ by Anders Blomqvist and
has a pretty gloomy atmosphere, but also a certain quietness, that go
together very well. ‘Optica II’ by Rune Lindblad was concieved on
film, covering the material with black coating wax and recording the
result directly to tape. The austere and pretty noisy sounds are very
similar to the sound of older analogue synths and the piece is a
blast. It is almost unbelievable that it was made this way. Excellent
stuff. ‘Les sabots du bouc’ by Sten Hanson is a totally weird piece,
following the pattern of a medieval morality and using sounds of
voices, bells and animals to tell a story about the devil winning for
a change. Very funny indeed (when you’re in the mood). ‘Prequel’by
Sten Olof Hellstrm is part of a trilogy of acoustic cinema, in which
he tries to contruct three ‘worlds’ with different physical
characteristics. The result is a dense composition with a strong
physical tension, mostly due to the use of more or less harsh
concrete sounds, embedded in washes of treated material. A short, but
strong piece. ‘Schon wieder diese weissen Muse’ by Lidia ZieliÒska
is based on the fact that in the eastern part of Europe people tend
to see white mice, rather than pink elephants, after a long night
out. It is stated in the text that this is not a hangover piece, but
that the idea of gaps in our perception (like the ones we have when
we have a hangover and see these unlikely animals) are a metaphor for
the piece. Now that seems to be an overstatement, because the piece
is not that quiet as indicated. Instead it’s a very clear and open
work, that disappears slowly in a wash of subtle delays, almost like
a hangover disappearing……but this is way more fun. The last piece
is ‘Ma’ by Patrik Thorell. ‘Ma’ means something like ‘between’ and
Thorell tries to convey this meaning through the use of concrete
sounds and poetry. The voice reciting the poem is thereby seen as
concrete material as well. With these ingredients, Thorell creates a
strong atmosphere without losing his grip for once. A wonderful
piece. As a whole this is a very good collection of works, despite my
briefness per participant. And besides, the booklet contains
descriptions of the composers and the works, which add more to my few
words.
The second CD is partly a collaboration by Jens Hedman and Paulina
Sundin and partly features solo pieces. The first track by Sundin is
called Cris·lida and is inspired by the surroundings in the south of
Spain. In a sense one could say that this piece is a musical
interpretation of Sundin’s memories of the place. The piece has a
pretty ambient character, with concrete interpolations that take one
away from the dream and into ‘reality’. Very well done and gently
beautiful. The second track ‘Relief’ is by Hedman and is of a more
electronic nature, although one can clearly hear intruments as well.
This sounds more like a ‘traditional’ electroacoustic work, with
stereo flutters and reverbs ending abruptly. A little too clean for
my taste, but certainly a good piece. The third track is the first
collaboration. It’s called ‘Currents’ and is divided into four parts:
Traffic – Water – Nature – City. It is intended as a tribute to the
composers’ home town Stockholm, seen from four different
perspectives. It may not be difficult to guess what source material
they used for the work, but it is not that obvious in the result. The
result is actually what one would expect from listening to the two
first solo tracks: a combination of concrete field recordings and
electronic sounding material. And this combination works very well.
Sundin and Hedman blend their material without noticeable traces and
add to each others’ flavour. The next two works are solo pieces
again, the first by Sunidn, called ‘Clandestine parts’. And surprise:
this sounds way more electronic than the first work. This one is
inspired by childhood nightmares, but doesn’t sound very scary (at
least not to me). Nevertheless it’s a good enough piece with a good
sense of atmosphere. Hedman’s ‘Mix-up’ is a mixed collage of 500
fragments of his favourite music in 500 seconds. Most of it sounds
edited, which assures an overall sound aesthetic. For a collage, this
one is very coherent and very well thought out, but I seem to miss
the funny stuff somehow. The last track is a collaboration again,
called ‘Reflections’. It is ‘a symbolic journey through life,
travelling from birth to death and disappearing into a tranquil
pureness….’. And, maybe not surprising, this is the most forceful
track of the CD, combining high tension with deep rest.
Bjelkeborn’s Past Time is Elektron’s third release. It contains six
tracks, but unlike the other releases, they go without any additional
information. So we might infer from this that we’re dealing only with
the music and nothing else. With an average length of about twelve
minutes, these works clock in at the more or less standard length of
an electroacoustic piece. And indeed, the vocabulary is exactly what
one would expect from such works. The washes of manipulated sounds,
the fluttering, the sudden cuts and yes: the abruptly stopped
reverbs. Yet, listening beyond this style, there is a strong quality
to the sound spectrum and to how Bjelkeborn deals with the material.
There’s a lot of space and sounds are being played out against each
other, thus creating the necessary tension in the music. There is
enough space for quiet parts to evolve into louder parts and vice
versa. The thing that struck me most in Bjelkeborn’s work is the
extensive use of gliding drony sounds in combination with short
sounds, cutting into these drones. The overall atmosphere is one of
dreamy alienation with a sudden wake up every now and then.
Eight times falling is another comipilation, this time by eight
composers of a new generation, all graduates from the year 2000. The
liner notes (by the director of the EMS) state that what can be seen
as the common denominator in all these tracks is their aesthetic
diversity and a relaxed attitude towards art. And the diversity is
indeed quite big. ‘To John’ by Niklas Peterson is a more or less
traditional electroacoustic piece, staying well within the wellknown
aesthetics of electroacoustic music. ‘The Arkham Quartet’ by Jan
Liljekvist is a ‘remix’ of a string quartet in five (very
traditionally named) parts. aside from the string sounds themselves,
he uses manipulated versions as well. It is unclear if the string
quartet plays live to a recording or that the whole piece was
recorded and edited later. ‘Voice of Eye’ by Daniel T Eideholm seems
to be based mostly on strings (including string synths) as well, but
is one whole piece. It is very rich in texture and gesturality and
has a quite romatic touch and a very cinematic appraoch.
‘Pulse/Breathing’ by Bo HalÈn sounds a lot more conceptual, as if a
pulse is generated by breathing (of course, this is a reconstruction
by looking at the title). The piece slowly develops from sparse
pulses to more pulses. A pretty enigmatic work, but not bad at all.
Next is ‘Saw Octet’ by Johannes Bergmark and the title is very aptly
chosen I guess: the sound of singing saws is obvious. Another guess
of mine would be that only one saw was recorded and that it was
layered on hard disk to form an octet. Besides the unmistakably funny
aspect of the work, it doesn’t really seem to catch my attention very
well. ‘Sweden’ by Lennart Westman has a hilarious side: some men are
singing “sweden” in belcanto, others sounds accompanying this. Later
they add remarks about the country. The political charge is made
obvious by the occasional “j’accuse”. However, this ‘funny’ political
attitude does not help the artistic very much. ‘Fall’ by Paul Savage
is a piece combining electroacoustics and poetry with the sounds of
saxophones. The result is very expressive and gestural (not
surprising with voice and sax), and actually quite too much for me.
But I am sure that this is only a matter of taste and nothing else.
The last track is called ‘Untitled’ and was composed by Mikael
Konttinen. This track is the best of the CD, as far as I’m concerned.
Konttinen combines the traditional vocabulary of electroacoustics
with that of cheap software and plug ins. The piece is very sober,
but has a distinct quality of its own and is very rich in texture. I
would say that this is what the future sounds like. (MR)
Address: www.elektron.nu
DAVID MARANHA – NOE’S LULLABY (CD by Rossbin)
After a period of silence, David Maranha comes along with a new CD.
In case you don’t know: David Maranha was once a member of Osso
Exotico, a Portugese trio that started out as a sort of ambient
industrial group, but who quickly moved over to playing minimal music
on a variety of sound sources, from guitars to glass harmonica. David
went on to write pieces for small ensembles (sometimes the
continuation of Osso Exotico) and further exploring the depths of
minimalism and drones music. ‘Noe’s Lullaby’ is one piece, of 52
minutes and played by Andre Maranha, Bernardo Devlin, David Maranha,
Luis Desirat (the only one which says: plays with Paiste cymbals),
Manuel Mota, Patricia Machas and Rordrigo Amado. From the instruments
I could discover, I heard guitars, cello’s and drums. The string
instruments are bowed and produce small sounds too, but the leading
part is played by the cymbals. It sounds like the score was a very
limited one. “Play cymbals every now and then”, “produce a drone note
every now and then”, and the intervals at which these happen are not
clear. Although this release can indeed be classified as
‘minimalism’, I must say I am disapointed. It seems to me that there
is a too limited score available, and it can’t hold the
tension/attention required. At the same time, the cymbals constantely
crush by, thus preventing you from lulling asleep, which might have
been the idea behind a lullaby as this is supposed to be. ‘To Play
Loud’ the cover says… whoever goes to sleep with music on a loud
volume…?
Address: www.rossbin.com
FRANCISCO LOPEZ – UNTITLED (2000) (CD by Ignis Projekt)
The enigma Francisco Lopez is not solved by this CD, and will
probably never be solved. Here we have 5 lengthy pieces from the year
2000, which give at least some overview of his work. The first piece,
“Untitled # 107” is low end machine like hum buzz that is pretty much
out there, volume wise, which can not be said of the second piece
(“Untitled # 100”), which is sheer inaudible. The third piece is
“Untitled # 101” consists of loops of insect and bird calls – I
probably get hanged for saying they are loops and no doubt it’s real
time… But on the other hand it sounds like shortwaves and number
stations. The fourth piece (“Untitled # 102”) is all about soft
static sounds and the fifth (“Untitled # 103”) is alike the first
again, thus completing the circle. Lopez never offers easy music, but
only music that requires much attention. It’s also music that allows
the listener to adjust whatever in his equipment to make it sound the
way he thinks best (hence the usual softness, you can bring up volume
and highs and lows and make it sound the best for you). Not an
innovation in the Lopez sound, but an extension to what we know and a
good introduction in case you want to check out what he is about as
it contains various of his approaches. (FdW)
Address: www.ignisprojekt.com