SSSD – HOME (CD by Grob)
EFZEG – BOOGIE (CD by Grob)
ANDREW DUKE – SPRUNG (CD by Bip Hop)
JOSCHA OETZ – VIELES IST EINS (CD by Accretions)
CARLOS ZINGARO – CAGE OF SAND (CD by SIRR)
TORE HONOR BÿE – ZENOGRAPHY (CD by Jazzassin Records)
M. BEHRENS – ARCHITCTURAL COMMENTARIES (CD by CMR)
KALLABRIS – SHANGHAI DORTMUND (12″ by Genesungswerk)
DJ MINSTER – PROMOTIONAL SAMPLER (CDR by Pink Dot)
GLUESNIFFER – TELL YOUR DEALER (CDR by Pink Dot)
JEAN-LUC GUIONNET – PENTES (CD by A Bruit Secret)
CLAUDIA BONARELLI – EVERYTHING HAPPENS ONLY A CERTAIN NUMBER OF TIMES
(CD by Mitek)
HAKAN LIDBO – 6/10/60 (CD by Mitek)
LOST AND FOUND (2CD compilation by The Foundry)
KEVIN DRUMM – SHEER HELLISH MIASMA (CD by Mego)
BRUTUM FULMEN – FLESH OF THE MOON (CD by Crippled Intellect Productions)
CENTROZOON – THE CULT OF: BIBBIBOO (CD by Burning Shed)
VEHICULOS DE OCASION – WINTER SMOG II (CDR by Humbug Records)
OFF SITE (2CD compilation A Bruit Secret)
LIAM GILLICK – CAPITAL (miniCD by Semishigure)
SSSD – HOME (CD by Grob)
EFZEG – BOOGIE (CD by Grob)
An improvising quartet of guitarists, three guitars and one electric
bass. All four (Martin Siewert, Burkhard Stangl, Taku Sugimoto and
Werner Dafeldecker) have an extensive background in improvising music
and duets, trios etc. Here they play mood music, with softly tinkling
guitars, with a strict minimum of electronics. It seems to me that
Taku Sugimoto is the boss here, in a sense that it’s his style that
prevails in the seven pieces. There is no noise, no outbursts,
nothing. Me think with the titles in mind (reading all seven titles
as a sentence, will bring: ‘Home Is Where My Hard Disc was’) that all
of the music was recorded on a harddisk and carefully edited in to
these works (otherwise I can’t explain the title, because I don’t see
were the harddisk fits in really). When playing this very nice, very
soft and moody release, I kept thinking: why is this on Grob? That
struck me as a bit odd – although I’m not complaining. It makes a
nice addition to their catalogue.
A while ago I had the pleasure of see Efzeg (which includes Burkhard
Stangl and Martin Siewert) perform live. A large table covered with
guitars, laptops, turntables, a saxophone and what else. They played
for over an hour, and although the concert was alright, I thought
that especially in the first half they took on a long course to get
somewhere. Their improvisations were very densely layered, but a
little more tension was most welcome. Getting their new CD made me of
course curious. They have 4 audio pieces and one quicktime movie plus
sound on this CD. Pieces are long (between 8 and 15 minutes) and show
us their interest in working with small sounds, but all densely
layered. Everything seems to operate on the same closed level, and
occassionally one or two sounds jump out of the swirling mass. I must
say listening to this in a home situation works much bettter then in
a live setting. It’s possible to soak every sound much better and
concentrate on the smaller details. The video soundtrack with it’s
high end sounds works together with the visual part quite well.
Abstract layers of images which go by in a rapid movement. (FdW)
Address: www.churchofgrob.com
ANDREW DUKE – SPRUNG (CD by Bip Hop)
Watch this name. Andrew Duke may not be so known, but he has been
creating music since 1987, and released mostly on his Cognition
Records, and none of which I heard before. This year will see various
releases on other labels, such as Phtalo, Dial and Bake Records. This
CD on Bip Hop is the first release on another label as Cognition
Records. Andrew plays techno music. Period. But his music, so it
seems to me, is not intended for the dancefloor, but rather for home
listening. Forcefull rhythms, filled with samples and darker
undercurrents, mostly samples that sounds like heards of insects. I
think it appeals more to the fans of Lustmord and Lagowski then to
the DJ inspired masses. Although the tracks are quite ok, I think the
album as a whole is a bit too long. With it’s eleven like minded
tracks, it’s maybe 3 or 4 tracks too long. The whole thing would
probably have more power if it was a bit shorter. Now the album
collapses after a certain point, and that’s a pity, because, as said,
in itself the pieces are quite alright. (FdW)
Address: www.bip-hop.com
JOSCHA OETZ – VIELES IST EINS (CD on Accretions)
One could ask if improvised music works out on cd? Is it not live
music par excellence? If you are critcial about this, the second
question is what to think of the great amount of cds with improvised
music that come out. Personally I often conclude that I can’t find
any ‘necessity’ for the release of cd A or B. But once in while there
is a cd with improvised music that really has an great impact on my
as a listener. ‘Vieles ist eins’ belongs to this category.
Joscha Oetz is originally from Cologne, Germany but moved to San
Diego in 2000. He studied with bass legend Bertram Turetzky. He
quickly assimilated with the music community of Southern California
and joined the Trummerflora Collective. His most recent project is
the group Perfektomat that works on an new blend of lyrics and never
heard before sonic vibes.
Recently a cd came out by his Europe based quartet The Loonators.
They play compositions by Oetz of contemporary jazz and improvised
music. Oetz as a musician has experience in playing improvised music,
jaz, hiphop, cuban and turkish music.
‘Vieles ist eins’ is his first album recorded in the States that
gives evidence of his musical activitity there. It is a very well
recorded and produced album of solos and duets. It documents his work
as an improviser on contrabass over the last two and a half years.
The oldest piece is the one recorded with Andreas Wagner (tenor sax)
in Cologne (1998). Other duets are played together with Barre Philips
(contrabass) and Greg Stuart (percussion).
All pieces are of high quality improvised music. Very insprired
music, rich in texture. Hope to hear more of him (DM).
Address: <http://www.accretions.com/>
CARLOS ZINGARO – CAGE OF SAND (CD on SIRR)
Well-known improviser from Lisboa, Portugal. Violin and electronics
are his instruments. He studied classical music in Lisboa. Performed
with many improvisers like Derek Bailey, Jon Rose, Ned Rothenberg,
Peter Kowald, Roger Turner,G¸nter M¸ller, Andres Bosshard, Jean_Marc
Montera, etc.
He made his first appearence on vinyl in 1978 on a Kent Carter album.
Many records and cds followed since.
‘Cage of Sand’ is his most recent solo effort: “Pieces for violin and
electronics in ‘real time’ with very little editing and remixing and
where all the base elements are originated in the violin.”
It is a very enjoyable cd that made me think of Jon Rose and
Agencement. The way Zingaro uses electronics the music becomes very
polyphonic. The music is very lively and poetic. Zingaro is a true
master (DM).
Address: www.sirr-ecords.com
TORE HONOR BÿE – ZENOGRAPHY (CD by Jazzassin Records)
Zenoagraphy is basically a series of recordings of pure piano
strings, played with e-bow. The recordings were made in a small
gallery during a couple of days, with cars passing in the street and
kindergarten kids barging into the space. Be did hardly any editing,
just some stereo enhancement to recreate the sound of the original
space. It figures that the tracks are basically drone pieces, with
some outside interference now and then. The main point of (my)
interest would be the overtones and harmonics created by the use of
the e-bow. They are quite subtle and change very slowly and gently,
sometimes more or less interrupted by the outside sounds. The
drawback of this record is that it has been done quite a lot of times
before. I know that that is a bad excuse, but it does seem to limit
my appreciation…..(MR)
Address: www.apartmentrecords.com
M. BEHRENS – ARCHITCTURAL COMMENTARIES (CD by CMR)
The second CD by CMR from New Zealand is by busy bee Behrens (this
must be his fifth or sixth release of this year). Behrens’ subject of
this release may not come as a surprise, regarding pictures on former
releases and remembering his first release on trente oiseaux. This
disc contains five tracks, of which the first three use basic
material recorded in several countries. The last two tracks are a
rework of the RLW remix for Tulpas and a soundtrack for a video by
Torsten Grosch. The first track has an almost organic feel to it, as
if a building has come to life, breathing, squeaking and maybe even
moving slowly from one spot to the other. A rest is taken every so
often. The second track is in a similar vein, but instead of the
building moving, it seems as if someone is moving through it, going
from one space into the other. All around, ‘machines’ are buzzing and
rumbling and doors and windows seem to open and close. The third
piece goes even closer into the buildings intestines, focusing on the
machines themselves and all their strange behaviour. Now these
descriptions may give the impression that these pieces are made by
using pure field recordings, but that is certainly not the case: many
sounds have been edited (stretching, filtering and so on) and the
compositions are very apparent. There is simply a certain lyrical
quality to these works, that balances very well with the material
used. Track four is the RLW remix and seems to be a little out of
place here. It sounds more electronic and more subdued. However, a
spatial quality is certainly there. Track five dates from 1992 and
that can be heard quite well. It is very different in structure from
the others, dronier and noisier. And surpirse: there is rhythm
sometimes. FX are more obvious and the time signature is quite a bit
faster. I would have to say the the first three tracks are defenitely
my favorites. (MR)
Address: www.cmr.co.nz
KALLABRIS – SHANGHAI DORTMUND (12″ by Genesungswerk)
Kallabris is one of the more obscure bands that is far outside any
scene or hype (just like their brother/sister band Cranioclast).
Kallabris have released a small number of records since 1987 (8
including this one) and deal with mystical theme, such as submarines
or travels to the east. The piece ‘Shangai Dortmund’ is present on
this 12″ in 2 versions, which only differ on a minor level. A slow
rhythm, a bass loop and voice which is hard to understand, reciting a
text in German. Hypnotic piece, really.
‘Valse Brute’ is indeed a waltz, based around a harmonium sample,
with the addition of percussion, guitar and samples. This piece is
cross-faded with ‘Pasteuse Elegiaque’, which has the same harmonium
sample but far more in the back, with bird sounds in the foreground
and towards the end a rhythmbox that seems recorded from another
room. Kallabris, in all of their obscurity, take us again by
surprise, with a record that is much more poppy then we would have
expected. Great record. (FdW)
Address: www.genesungswerk.de
DJ MINSTER – PROMOTIONAL SAMPLER (CDR by Pink Dot)
GLUESNIFFER – TELL YOUR DEALER (CDR by Pink Dot)
Two obscure looking CDRs from Australia. DJ Minster has a short,
three track, release with crude techno beats, from the old analogue
equipment. The music itself is not really danceable, for it has more
inspiration from industrial and noise music, but then backed with a
techno beat. Nice stuff, that reminded me a bit of the good ol’
underground workings on Bunker Records.
Even shorter is the release by Gluesniffer. They proclaim sniffin’
glue to be the drug of the new century. I always associated sniffin
glue with punk rock, but the music by Gluesniffer has nothing to do
with punk. Their sound is much more 80s electro (and so the drug
should be cocaine? well according to the liner notes), using the good
ol’ analog machines. This too finds themselves in a true underground
style. Nice works… (FdW)
Address: www.djminster.home.dhs.org
JEAN-LUC GUIONNET – PENTES (CD by A Bruit Secret)
Music that is played on a church organ always has a certain mystical
aspect, and it is almost impossible to see it disconnected from the
relgious aspects. Jean-Luc Guionnet however recorded five works for
church organ (with the help of Eric La Casa) using the bellow and the
mechanisms of the church organ and arrives at a form of musique
concrete. It’s difficult to say whether he played all of this live on
a church organ, or whether he processed these recordings later on. In
either way, Guionnet plays around with minimal sounds, in which the
traditional sound of the church organ almost disappears and pure,
sustaining sounds make up the pieces. Except in the final piece,
‘Portevent’, the organ is a such to be recognized. Each of the pieces
is minimal in tone, with slowly envelopping sounds, resemble indeed
Francisco Lopez’ works (as the blurb rightly suggests) and lesser
that of Charlemagne Palestine, as also suggested, but the minimalim
of Guionnet lies more in the limitations of the sounds used, and not
in the wall of sound approach by Palestine. As said, the religious
undercurrents of the church organ have been removed and a strong
statement about using sounds like this in a new context have been
made. (FdW)
Address: <m_henritzi@club-internet.fr>
CLAUDIA BONARELLI – EVERYTHING HAPPENS ONLY A CERTAIN NUMBER OF TIMES
(CD by Mitek)
HAKAN LIDBO – 6/10/60 (CD by Mitek)
It seems if Mitek doesn’t know who Claudia Bonarelli is; first she is
said to be from Sundsvall, Sweden, now living in Malmo, Sweden. But
then she is suddenly born in Genua, Italy and an artist, car thief
and a cultural terrorist. She studied art in Milano, “joined a group
in Paris”, and then started to do electronic music. But the press
blurb ends with the fact that Mitek doesn’t know themselves: “Is she
one person with multiple identities? A female Italian artist, a male
Swedish musician or Eastern European collective conspiracy?”. Why not
from Mars? Upon playing his or her CD, I think Claudia Bonarelli is
just another name for Mikeal Stavostrand, the owner of Mitek, who
plays in disguise. The dubby rhythms, slow and minimal, with cracks
and glitches sound very much like Stavostrand’s own work, or that of
Andreas Tilliander (who mastered the CD). I am too unfamiliar with
puzzles, to see how the names of Andreas and/or Mikeal will fit
together to make up the name Bonarelli. I think the music is too slow
to dance to, but when playing this, I checked my e-mail, drank a cup
of coffee and read a bit in the newspaper. The music went by as a
nice audio wallpaper. Not boring, not disturbing, just a nice
background environment. And basically: who cares in this day and age
about the fake identity of a musician…
Hakan Lidbo is a well-known Swedish techno producer and apperentely a
big name. From his over 100 recordings I haven’t heard much, maybe
the occassional track or remix here and there. His new CD for Mitek
is one with a concpetual twist. Six tracks of roughly ten minutes
make up a sixty minute CD. His minimal style is kinda like Claudia
Bonarelli, but Hakan offers a bit more funky basslines and is overall
more groovy. However there isn’t much variation throughout this CD,
and half way through I realized that this is not listen but to dance
too. Ok fine, as a tool for groovy, dance floor oriented music, this
is probably very fine stuff. In the comfort of your home, it may work
a little bit less. (FdW)
Address: www.mitek-web.net
LOST AND FOUND (2CD compilation by The Foundry)
The Foundry exists now five years as a label, so calls for a little
celebration. These days they work along with Hypnos, whose
collaborative releasework can be found, along with recent music on
the second CD, which is called Found. The first disc, Lost, has
material that was released before that, and in some cases is an
alternative, previously not released mixes or just new pieces. I have
been playing both discs a couple of times over the past few days and
even when I enjoyed the music very much, it all went by without too
much notion. There is a constant flow present in these pieces, from
the deep washes of synths, to a sort of tribal rhythms, and tinkling
guitars, not of course all at the same time, but all as part of this
constant. It’s good music for sure, but what might be a pity is that
it’s also quite faceless. All of the musings on this disc seem
interchangeable. It seems like everybody is the same sort of game.
There is no one who sounds distinct different. As said, you may
wonder wether that is a problem, because in itself the music is among
the better experimental forms of ambient. For artist spotters, you’ll
find music by eM, The Apiary, Jonathan Hughes, Mollusk, Rhomb, Dean
Santomieri and Seofon. All have one or more CD’s on The Foundry. (FdW)
Address: www.foundrysite.com
KEVIN DRUMM – SHEER HELLISH MIASMA (CD by Mego)
In these pages a lot has been written already about noise music.
There is a lot of noise music around for a long time, and a lot of
people enjoy the fun of creating noise. Tweeking knobs on pedals and
using the violent distortion and feedback is great fun. But you could
wonder if there are enough people out there who might want to hear
the result. I’m sure a lot of people will grab any new CD by Kevin
Drumm, based on the man’s previous works. I wonder what they think or
feel? Great work? Inspiring new direction? Excuse me, but does Kevin
thinks he’s Merzbow? For almost an hour Drumm terrorizes your ears
with his onslaught of sounds, aiming for nothing less then a total
destruction of the senses. Is it a bad CD? No, not at all. The big
trick with noise music is to hold enough variation inside the ocean
of violence to maintain the interest. Kevin does this quite well. His
music changes all the time, shifting through all sorts of effect
pedals, computer processing and what have you. But I hope that noise
isn’t the next thing for Drumm and that this is category: “I’d like
to do one noise record too”. (FdW)
Address: www.mego.at
BRUTUM FULMEN – FLESH OF THE MOON (CD by Crippled Intellect Productions)
Over the years I have gotten more and more appreciation of a US noise
group called Brutum Fulmen. Using the most concrete sort of sound
elements (listed per track, such as manual typewriters, vacuum tube
amp feedback, 50 plastic forks or broken music box in a cardborad
christmas tree) they have over the years refined their sound more and
more. This is said to be “by my count, the fifth Brutum Fulmen
release” (cover text). By my count their best so far. They (although
it’s better to state ‘he’, as they are really one person, Jeff
Wrench) come up with noise pieces (processed feedback plays an
important role still) and electronically processed sounds, but they
are presented in a set of strong compositions. The noise element is
not lost anywhere, but on the other hand doesn’t play the usual
annoying role. The music by Brutum Fulmen of these days can easily
meet up with the like minded composers as Roel Meelkop or Marc
Behrens, but usually the Brutum Fulmen have a more present sound and
do not very often leap into inaudibility. At times Brutum Fulmen even
go into ambient areas, such as in ‘Amaerobe’, which consists of the
sound of a “vacuum tube amp feedback provided by D-503, mainly one 4
1/2-second clip”. The result is an Arcane Device like ambient
feedback piece with some rumblings below. I think that the future
will see that Jeff Wrench will get rid of the name Brutum Fulmen and
also the last bit of industrial music undercurrents (like the title
of the CD) and will settle himself as a more serious composer. This
work will be a good start for that. (FdW)
Address: www.crippledintellectproductions.net
CENTROZOON – THE CULT OF: BIBBIBOO (CD by Burning Shed)
The liner notes of this CD are written by King Crimson biographer Sid
Smith and the CD itself is announced to be the missing link between
Robert Fripp, Stockhausen and Boards Of Canada. So the obvious
reference to King Crimson/Robert Fripp is hard to avoid. Centrozoon
are two Germans: Markus Reuter (on touch guitar) and Bernhard
Wostheinrich (on synthesizers and percussion). I played this CD a
couple of times, but I find it very hard to enjoy it at all.
Everything is drenched in a bath of reverb, either the synths or the
guitars, the pieces themselves couldn’t bother me very much and are
way too long. After ‘In The Court of The Crimson King’ I left to
follow King Crimson so I can’t see any reference (let alone the other
two mentioned) but I peaked occassionally into a solo Fripp
experience, and see some points of reference there. Majestical loops
of e-bowed guitars, trying to play an ambient patterns, but with just
too much variation to drift away, and too minimal to be exciting.
Sometimes the sounds are all over the place and is it a hughly
reverbed free improv cum symphonica. Sorry, I pass on… (FdW)
Address: www.burningshed.com
VEHICULOS DE OCASION – WINTER SMOG II (CDR by Humbug Records)
Vehiculos De Ocasion are a Norwegian duo, who both play guitar. This
release, with the length of 21 minutes, consists of one piece of an
improvised guitar duet, which was used as the basic material for a
concert later that recording day. Which makes me wonder: why isn’t
there a recording of the concert on this disc? I mean, there is
enough space on it. What is there to say about this release? Lo-fi
recording of some randomly played sounds on the guitar, with some far
away voices (maybe they used an open microphone, and are these sounds
pouring in from outside?) and in the second half some more feedback
being used? Not bad, although not utter brilliant, but it makes me
curious enough to hear the resultant live remix of that evening. (FdW)
Address: <tchartan@yahoo.com>
OFF SITE (2CD compilation A Bruit Secret)
If I understand correctely, this double CD contains live recordings
made at the Off Site Gallery of a festival curated by Taku Sugimoto.
A lot of people from the world of improvisation are involved, but
‘composition’ is at stake here. Each piece lists performer(s), aswell
as soundsources and most important the composer (who not necessiraly
perform their own pieces). It would have been nice to see the scores
of the pieces that are performed, because even when one knows that
these pieces are composed, they still sound, at times, improvised
(but of course it’s always great to see scores of experimental
music). There are pieces for traditional instruments (acoustic and
electric guitar or accordion) but also contact microphones, paper,
radios, sinewaves and there is even a piece by the Portable
Orchestra, who play on wide array of electronic pieces from around
the home (food mixer, shaver, watch, camera etc.).
A great piece is ‘Two Of Them’, composed by Sugimoto, which has
Tetuzi Akiyama on turntables and Sachiko M on sinewaves, which is an
empty piece really, with occassional needle droppings and sinewaves
in a great wash of silence. Another favourite is ‘Paper Piece’ in
which Annette Krebs, Sachiko M and Taku Sugimoto play with just paper
and contact microphones, which consists mostly of dark rumble. In all
sorts of combinations music is performed that dwells lightly on the
fringe on improvisation but which is apperentely composed. So it’s
not just stuff for lovers of improvised music. Great music, however
it was conceived. (FdW)
Address: <m_henritzi@club-internet.fr>
LIAM GILLICK – CAPITAL (miniCD by Semishigure)
To many Liam Gillick is mostly known as a visual artist. He is one of
this year’s nominated artists for the respectable Turner Prize. Here
he is the composer of a filmsoundtrack for the film ‘Capital’ by
Sarah Morris. This film, which I haven’t seen, was shot in
Washington, the capitol of the USA. I think the film expresses the
thought that capital and capitol are closely related. Gillick uses
mostly samples, and most of the time it’s hard to recognize where
they originate from. At other times they seem to come from orchestral
works and techno. The whole thing clocks in at some 19 minutes and is
edited in a fast montage form and I assume they follow the edits of
the film. Some bits are really nice (such as around 9 minutes – me
thinks it would have been a nice to put index points for the seperate
tracks) and others are too simple to do anything at all. But as a
whole it’s quite nice, even when I have to state, of course, it would
have been good to see the film – maybe a quicktime could have fitted
easily on the disc too? It might even appeal to the fans of more
daring, experimental clicks and guts. Nice booklet too. The label is
another off-shoot of the expanding Bottrop-Boy label and the name
means the sudden outburst of cicades. More art related music to
follow! (FdW)
Address: www.bottrop-boy.com