JOHN LUTHER ADAMS – THE LIGHT THAT FILLS THE WORLD (CD by Cold Blue Music)
COMPILATION – DE LA ARTEFARITA NATURO DE LA LUMO (CDEP by C.A.M.P.)
REYNOLS/NO REYNOLS (2CD by Freedom From)
JIMMY T – BASS PROJECT 1 (CD-R by Musikexperience)
TLONE – TRANSIT (CD-R by Musikexperience)
THE LEGENDARY PINK DOTS – BASILISK (CD by Beta Lactam Ring Records)
THE LEGENDARY PINK DOTS – ALL THE KING’S MEN (CD by Roir)
THE LEGENDARY PINK DOTS – ALL THE KING’S HORSES (CD by Caciocavallo)
TAYLOR DEUPREE – STIL. (CD by 12K)
SAFETY SCISSORS VS KIT CALYTON – PING PONG (CDEP by Carpark)
AUTOPSIA – COLONIA (CD by Staalplaat)
CHRISTOPHER WILLITS – FOLDING, AND THE TEA (CD by 12K)
JOHN LUTHER ADAMS – THE LIGHT THAT FILLS THE WORLD (CD by Cold Blue Music)
Would you be happy if your name was Micheal Jackson and wanted to do
some music, in order to find that there are more Micheal Jacksons
doing music, and some of them are famous. If you’re lucky and have a
middle name, attach that. John Luther Adams is not John Adams, but
they operate in similar musical territory (to make life more
complicated). Adams composes since some twenty five years for
ensembles like Bang On A Can, the California EAR Unit and many
others. This is my first encounter with his music. The three lengthy
pieces here are performed on bass clarinet, vibraphone, marimba,
piano, electric keyboard violin and doublebass, plus extra credit for
sound design. It’s dreamy music that have a great sense of landscapes
around them. One envisages icy fields, stale blue air and water
running through it. Not much happens during these pieces, but that’s
entirely his intention. It’s almost kitchy new age music, but I think
John Luther Adams deserves the benefit of doubt. It’s much richer
then just new age, and much better too. (FdW)
Address: www.coldbluemusic.com
COMPILATION – DE LA ARTEFARITA NATURO DE LA LUMO (CDEP by C.A.M.P.)
Here Stephan Mathieu becomes the teacher. This CD is the result of a
workshop by Mathieu in Saarbruecken for a bunch of design students
and the subject was artificial light, and the presentations were
either music and/or visual. In a tight schedule these people worked
together under the supervision of Mathieu, resulting in what I am
told was a brilliant opening party. The title is esperanto in case
you were wondering (I was and I had a 2 hour course umteenth years
ago!) and is the result of reworking the installation soundtracks
into musical pieces by themselves. It seems to me that Mathieu is an
enthusiastic teacher, but maybe he is also an overenthusiastic
teacher. If you wouldn’t know any better, you would maybe think that
this is another fine Stephan Mathieu CD. Scratches, clicks, soft
ringing tones, embedded in a wealth of string sounds, sometimes with
a darker edge. All of these classic Mathieu sounds are present here.
These people didn’t just get a basic introduction into the wonders of
Pro-Tools, they also got every trick by Mathieu. Almost all of these
tracks are great, but some are outstandingely good, like ‘Mi Vidi
mallumo’ by Miriam Rech, with sort of processed guitar sound and the
clicky and lenghty piece ‘Griza’ by Anette Peter. One of the lesser
pieces is ‘Skemoj Variado’ by Carsten Feil, which hoovers too much
around in industrialism. Mathieu’s own hissy piece is almost acoustic
in approach and points back to his ‘Wurmloch’ CD. Great stuff. (FdW)
Address: lumo@bitsteam.de
REYNOLS/NO REYNOLS (2CD by Freedom From)
Somehow, somewhere Reynols are a very active tour de force, but they
always seem to escape me. Maybe their releases come just in too
limited runs, or maybe I’m not paying the right amount of attention.
So a project like this is maybe my first introduction into a world of
Reynols I didn’t know. I heard and liked the ‘Empty Tapes’ release,
but I understood Reynols are more, and with this double CD even more.
Reynols and No Reynols. As many will know Reynols are a three piece
group from Argentina, fronted by Miguel Tomasin, who has Down’s
Syndrome and now there is also No Reynols, also with a Down’s
Syndrome guy as singer-drummer Juan Manuel Acevedo. The reason? “We
started with No-Reynols project when we discovered that there is no
human posture (intelectual or non-intelectual) that can fight against
Tomasin. So we decided to do something about it; create our own
competence with the idea of not leaving Miguel so lonely.”
The Reynols disc is a very free form music played on a wide array of
instruments, such as drums, bass, keyboards, more percussion and
above all the voice of Tomasin. He shouts, whispers, moans and maybe
even tries to sign, and certainly has a good time doing his thing.
Certainly very free music!
The No Reynols disc seems almost of a more ritualistic kind. The
wordless chanting of Acevedo, with the tribalistic kind of drumming
and the dark atmospheres hoovering the guitars and it’s effects, it’s
captivating strange music. In terms of music, I think I liked the No
Reynols more then the Reynols CD in this package. (FdW)
Address: www.freedom-from.com
JIMMY T – BASS PROJECT 1 (CD-R by Musikexperience)
TLONE – TRANSIT (CD-R by Musikexperience)
Two CD-R’s from the French label, “Musikexperience” that were
established somewhere in Paris two years ago. The label doesn’t stick
to one certain style. Instead it focuses on a wide spectre of
experimental electronic music. A fact that comes clear as you listen
to the present two albums. First album comes from an artist calling
himself Jimmy T, which in shortage means JT as the mathematical
symbol “Pi” (representing the ratio of the circumference of a circle
to its diameter). Jimmy T composes a sort of experimental ambient
based on micro sounds and glitches. Apparently the main source of
sounds are based on recordings of concrete sounds. The atmosphere
around the album reminds me a lot of the excellent “At home with
Alp”-album which were a side-project of Roger Horberry (member of O
Yuki Conjugate) released on Soleilmoon in 1999. Concrete appliances
sing in their own strange languages as Jimmy T reprocesses and
arranges them into an unusual electro-mechanical chorus that will be
fascinating to the adventurous enjoyer of found sounds. Final track
titled “Another natural be life” takes a few steps off the path with
the addition of rhythmic textures. The soundscapes never gets catchy,
more likely it seems alienated in its low frequency buzz drones that
rumbles through the 70 minutes journey of intense microscopic
listening. Second “Musikexperience”-release is quite another gem.
Elric Menant calling himself Tlone works in soundspheres not too far
away from Warp-acts like Autechre and Aphex Twin. Sounds from
analogic synths, circulating glitches, clicks and beeps creates a
complex textures swallowed into a world of algebraic rhythms.
Underneath the sonic abstractions, layers of beautiful melodies
function as a nice and simple contrast to the cold unpredictable
sound textures. Overall to nice albums by two quite different sound
artists making the future seem
bright for “Musikexperience” as a label. (NMP)
Address: www.musikexperience.com
THE LEGENDARY PINK DOTS – BASILISK (CD by Beta Lactam Ring Records)
THE LEGENDARY PINK DOTS – ALL THE KING’S MEN (CD by Roir)
THE LEGENDARY PINK DOTS – ALL THE KING’S HORSES (CD by Caciocavallo)
Maybe superfluous seen everything that the Legendary Pink Dots ever
did was already re-issued on CD and LP, but hear hear, there is still
a few cassettes to be re-issued on CD, which is good news for old
twats as I am. I got familiar with the Dots in the very early 80s,
when their contributions to cassettes and LP’s were not just
numerous, but also different from the usual indistrial hardcore
noise. Ka-spel’s singing, embedded in a strange mixture of rock
psychedelics and electronica: maybe it was just the Legendary Pink
Floyd, but hey at least it sounded different. From that era is the
‘Baslisk’ release, which I found even back then a strange release.
Lengthy improvisations of rock and electronica, unearthing in a nice
intimate love song. They are kept here on the CD re-issue as they are
as on the original C60 cassette: two lengthy pieces, unindexed. Plus
nice bonus material, such as ‘The Ocean Cried Blue Murder On A Ferry
In A Storm On A Walkman’, which is indeed recorded on a walkman in a
very intimate session on a ferry.
At the same time there are also two new studio CDs available from The
Legendary Pink Dots. Both albums were inspired by September 11th but
then seen from the mystical perspectives of Ka-spel. I think in the
last 10 or so years there haven’t been that great Pink Dots CD’s but
some were ok, some had a great tracks and some were filled too
lengthy experiments. That’s what can be said from these two new CDs:
they have a great tracks and some of the experiments are just
lengthy, such as the last two pieces of ‘All The King’s Men’, with
overlong guitar solo’s. Maybe the combination of these two CD’s would
have been one great CD, but still I’m not sure. The Legendary Pink
Dots should bring back experiment into their music, and throw out the
psychedelica/krautrock elements. A bit like they do in their
solowork, were each of the members should their interest in
experiments. (FdW)
Address: www.blrrecords.com/teka
Address: www.roir-usa.com
Address: www.soleilmoon.com
TAYLOR DEUPREE – STIL. (CD by 12K)
Taylor Deupree becomes more and more a man of minimalism. On his
latest CD ‘Stil.’ (he has a fixation with periods…) he contiues
were he left with ‘Occur’ but now in a more rhythmical context and
thus becomes the opposite of ‘Occur’. Deupree works with a relatively
simple set of sounds, looped of course in this case, which move in
and out of phase, and can easily be compared with Steve Reich’s phase
shifting techniques. It works well in the first three pieces of this
CD, but unfortunally the longest piece of the CD ‘Stil.’ is the
weakest brother here. It all becomes a bit of blurr and some of the
tension of the other pieces is entirely gone here. Which is a pity
because in the other three pieces things worked out well. These
pieces have a lot of tension and fragile beauty. Things move with not
much speed, but they move around majestically. It’s almost a new
definition of ambient music, with lush textures but also with sound
material borrowed from click and cuts. It’s a pity that the last
track sort of ruins it for the CD. It could have been a great CD, now
it’s sort of alright. (FdW)
Address: www.12k.com
SAFETY SCISSORS VS KIT CALYTON – PING PONG (CDEP by Carpark)
The third installment of Carpark’s ‘sports-FAN’ series seems to be
the most conceptual, yet. The previous two releases in the series
by Jake Mandell and Kid 606 simply had conceptual packaging. On ‘Ping
Pong’ these two creative and diverse producers recorded themselves
playing ping pong, and then processed the source material. The sounds
of the ball have been converted into tight, crisp beats, which weave
through chaotic may lays of static, white noise and unhappy
machinery, which creates a nice balance with the ‘gameboy-esque’
melodies and up-beat tempo. Some of the tracks clock in at 4 seconds
divulging quick bursts of energetic, processed field recording from
around the ping pong table, gymnasium or wherever they set up the
intense match, which one of the artists wins. Aspects of both
musicians’ styles can be heard on ‘Ping Pong’. The most entertaining
part of listening to the Ep was trying to discern which sounds were
coming from what artist. Kit Clayton’s signature dub stabs are few
and far between on ‘Ping Pong’, as are Safety Scissors’ minimal
techno beats. There are samples of Safety Scissors’ vocal styling,
which create a pop feel in the midst of digital noise. Safety
Scissors brings some guitar and organs to the table as well. For
those of you curious to hear these artists’ work outside the realm of
their other material should check out ‘Ping Pong’, as well as fans of
conceptual pieces. Will there be a Ping Pong II to even up the match
at 1-1? You must check out ‘Ping Pong’ to see who win the first
match. (GK)
Address: www.carparkrecords.com
AUTOPSIA – COLONIA (CD by Staalplaat)
Quite dramatic sounds come from this latest release by Yugoslavian
artist calling himself Autopsia. Autopsia already began his
explorations into orchestral music in the late 80’s. Dealing with
orchestral tunes from the 19th century that have been sampled, he has
created a quite unique sound expression. “Colonia” is a collection of
earlier works by Autopsia; works that originally was released on
Hyperium back in the mid-nineties. The atmosphere of “Colonia” is
dark, in a way that makes the black days of middle age visualize as
the album progresses. Associations first of all point towards
Laibach, Death In June and Fire+Ice but also elements of Dead Can
Dance seems to float somewhere in the Autopsian sound-space. Pounding
rhythms that sound like a hammer hitting barrels and wind instruments
assisted by pipe organ, move along with choir and narrative voices.
The compositions move somewhere in-between Neo-Folk and Modern
Classical with elements of Gothic and Industrial. “Colonia” is a nice
collection of works from Autopsia, who might get some more attention
with this successful release on Staalplaat. (NMP)
Address: www.staalplaat.com
CHRISTOPHER WILLITS – FOLDING, AND THE TEA (CD by 12K)
“The Fold is a pleat, or demarcation in a continuous form. It implies
continuity, not discrete parts. A folded line never dissolves into
striated points, it retains the fluidity of the wholeness” said
Gilles Deleuze. I have no idea who Christopher Willits is or
something about his background, but apperentely he plays guitar,
which, if I understand correctely, is being processed in real time,
so that there is a strange sense of continuation and fragmentation at
the same time. There are sixteen, relatively short tracks on this CD,
which all share the same Ovalesque interest: a kind of cut up sound,
but not digitally distorted but rather warm, delicate and intimate.
It’s a great CD for sure. However… however… but in terms of new
music, I must honestly say that this CD is also a bit outdated. It
takes the best moments of Oval’s ’94 Diskont’ and ‘Systemisch’ into a
more ambient area and shorter time frames, but it’s well taken path.
That is not a bad thing per se, also since Oval didn’t do much right
after that, me thinks, but still it’s not a very innovative CD in
case one is looking for such a thing in music. Having said that, I do
think it’s a great CD in terms of the music. What a strange paradox!
(FdW)
Address: www.12k.com
correction:
From: Antimichael@aol.com
“I don’t know if you can mention in the next issue that the label is
actually called TwoThousandAnd, not 2++2 (that is actually a
catalogue number, as Noise Flamenco is 2++3, and Joel Stern is 2++4
— Broken Hands is 0001 because it is not part of our subscription
series), and our web address is www.twothousandand.com, not just
www.twothousand.com.”