Number 350

ERNESTO RODRIGUES & GUILHERME RODRIGUES & GABRIEL PAIUK & JOSE
OLIVEIRA – Ficta (CD by Creative Sources)
ERNESTO RODRIGUES & JOSE OLIVEIRA & MARCO FRANCO – 23 Exposures (CD
by Creative Sources)
ERNESTO RODRIGUES & GUILHERME RODRIGUES & JOSE OLIVEIRA – Multiples
(CD by Creative Sources)
ERNESTO RODRIGUES & ANTONIO CHAPARREIRO & JOSE OLIVEIRA – Sudden
music (CD by Creative Sources)
Here we have 4 of 5 cds released on a new label from Portugal. The
fifth releases is a solo album by guitarist Pedro Chambel. But I
don’t have this one here, so I concentrate on the four already
mentioned.
The label is founded by violinplayer Ernesto Rodrigues in 2001.
Thinking of improvised music from Portugal it is only the name of
that other violinplayer, the well-known Carlos Zingaro that comes to
my mind. But here we have a very impressive outburst of new talent
from Portugal. All four cds reflect an improvised music that is very
rich and of considerable standard.
All four cds were recorded within a short period or time: ’23
Exposures’ was recorded on november 6th by Ernesto Rodrigues (violin,
viola), José Oliveira (percussion, acoustic guitar) and Marco Franco
(soprano saxophone) at Exit Studio, Lisbon. ‘Sudden Music’ was
recorded on december 9th 2001 by Ernesto Rodrigues (violin, viola),
Antonio Chaparreiro (electric guitar) and José Oliveira (percussion,
inside piano) at Tcha Tcha Tcha Studio, Lisbon. ‘Ficta Music’ was
recorded on december 19th 2001 by Ernesto Rodrigues (violin, viola),
Guilherme Rodrigues (cello, pocket trumpet), Gabriel Paiuk (piano)
and José Oliveira (percussion) at Tcha Tcha Tcha Studio, Lisbon. The
last one ‘Multiples’ was recorded on december 27th 2000 and has
Ernesto Rodrigues playing violin, viola, soprano saxophone; Guilherme
Rodrigues on cello and José Oliveira on percussion and acoustic
guitar.
Three cds have the nucleus Ernesto Rodrigues and José Oliveira in
three different trio line ups with – in order of appearance – Marco
Franco, Antonio Chaparreiro and Guilherme Rodrigues.
The trio with Guilherme is extented to a quartet with pianist Gabriel
Paiuk on ‘Ficta’.
So there is a great unity here in several respects: in time, in
musicians involved. All four cds engage in a microtonal
improvisation. Music with great sense for detail and nuance. With my
view on european improvised music I would say that they are most
close to the english school.
A non-idiomatic kind of improvised music. Abstract but coloured.
Silence is also important here. Much pianissimo, often spaced out,
but always intense. Investigating the world of sound and texure. Of
all four cds it can be said that they try to make a group sound. To
establish the individuality of an instrument or player is not what
they are in for. The interplay between the musicians is often great.
All in all, it is difficult to say anything negative about these
records. They proof that european improvised music is still very much
alive since it originated in the sixties. The four cds make up a very
enjoyable and rewarding course in active listening (DM).
Address: http://www.geocities.com/creativesources_rec

ROEL MEELKOP & TORE HONORE BOE – SOVERACHT (CD by Staalplaat/Extrapool)
This is the latest one in the ever expanding BromBron series
organized by Extrapool in Nijmegen and Staalplaat in Amsterdam. The
two artist, just like the ones before them, spend some time in the
sound studio at Extrapool and make a CD. Sort of an artist in
residency for electronic music production. This CD is thus, just like
the other ones in the series, a unique recording that would not
otherwise have happened as it did. There is no real musical trademark
for this series, only for the packaging and design. Anyway, given
away all that let’s see what we’ve got. Hmm quite subtle, yet not.
Actually this is hard to describe, extreme sounds presented in a
subtle way… if you can make any sense out of that(?). Very
manipulated and dynamic sounds for the most part put together in
quite abstract compositions… some classic examples of fade in fade
out, cut, left + right stuff going on, all very well done and making
this recording full with strange characters. I close my eyes and it
sounds like a car tire garage that nobody is working in, I can even
smell it. Before I know I am high up on a mountain side and the wind
just almost knocks me over to a dangerous fall… yes it is wild
romantic stuff, and I love it! (HB)
Address: www.staalplaat.com
Address: www.extrapool.com

FOURFOLD SYMMETRY (CD compilation by Nexsound)
Let the good times roll. A project like this finds it’s origins in
‘Distruct’ by P16.D4. Various bands mailed their sound material to
P16.D4 who built a new piece of music from those sounds, by combining
the various inputs. ‘Distant Structures’ it was called. A project
that took some time to realize, since everything was done on cassette
tapes and reel to reel tapes send back and forth. How unlike today,
when you put your sounds on an IP server and someone else downloads
it and uploads his results in a matter of seconds. The number of
exchange levels increase by factor uncountable. So ‘Fourfold
Symmetry’ is one such meeting of two Russian guys Andrey Kiritchenko
(who runs the label who released this) and Kotra (aka Dmytro
Fedrorenko) and Norway’s Andreas Berthling and the grandfather of
microsound Kim Cascone (who seems to having a lot of fun doing
projects like this). These four people exchange their digital sound
files through the net, and from probably the smallest sources they
re-create their own new works. I am wondering however about the
result, which is not a bad one, but maybe also a bit faceless.
Everything hisses and scratches and the Max/Msp software works well
for everybody. No matter what the input is, the output sounds the
same altogether, even when this set has fourteen tracks, which may
sound all a bit different. Cascone’s pieces may be more along the
lines of ambient and Kotra more along the lines of rhythm and loops,
but in the end it’s all digitalia. With a project like ‘Distruct’ one
had the oppurtunity to recognize the various bands’ inputs (ah that’s
the Nurse With Wound bit), which is entirely gone here. That is a bit
of a pity. Otherwise it’s just a nice CD that goes down well with the
current microsounders. (FdW)
Address: www.nexsound.org

CONSUMER REPORT (CD compilation by Consume)
NO REWIND (CD compilation by MRW44)
Two compilations from Glasgow and they are closely related. The first
is by Consume, a label and a promoter of concerts in Glasgow. They
have put up shows in such places as the 13rd Note and by local,
national and international people. So one finds here known people as
Brain Lavelle, Antenna Farm, Diskono (who dj at most of the
evenings), Goem and Alejandra And Aeron. Musically it finds itself in
various places, from the singer songwriter known as Pie ‘N Ears Of An
Aesthetic to the minimalist beats of Goem and the laptop workers as
Antenna Farm, Brian Lavelle and Alejandra and Aeron and from there to
drum & bass with Duplo Remoto and the ever so wacky techno inspired
music of Randon Number and Frog Pocket. The fun here lies in this
wide variety, a showcase of alternative music of whatever kind. It’s
like tuning into to alternative radio, which I never do, but I can
imagine it sounds like this.
The second compilation CD focusses more local talents from around
Glasgow and seems to be style-wise more into alternative music of
people playing guitars. March Of Dimes, HexMilgram for instance are
such bands with a traditional line up and rock song structures. More
experimental are Opaque (who released their stuff before on Consume)
Fiend and Serious Naan, who either operate on the fringes of noise or
drone stuff. Even there the elements of rock come to the surface. Not
entirely my thing this compilation, mainly because alternative rock
is not my interest. As far as I judge these affairs it’s all pretty
played and some of these bands definetly could become something
bigger. (FdW)
Address: www.consume.freeserve.co.uk
Address: <claire@mrw44.freeserve.co.uk>

GEN KEN MONTGOMERY – PONDFLOORSAMPLE (2CD by XI Records)
It seems as if things go well for Gen Ken Montgomery. Running his
Generator Sound Art label, seeing his music being published more and
more and now this overview of works from the last 20 years. Gen Ken
founded the Generator, a gallery for sound in New York in the
eighties, started also back then record labels as Generations
Unlimited and Pogus and also played music, sometimes in close
association with Conrad Schnitzler. The work of Gen Ken has two
distinct areas. The first one is his use of synthesizers in his early
work and the second is his interest in sound generated from machines
(an ice-crusher, a lamination machine etc.) in his later work. Per
track one gets a detailed description in the booklet (which is always
nice if you are looking for nice ideas to explore yourself – do try
this at home would be a good motto for this CD) and on the first CD
one gets mainly his studio work, although the second piece on disc
one (‘Father Demo Swears’) is a ‘live in studio’ piece. Gen Ken sets
his concept and then explores the possibilities of his concept and
records the execution of the concept. That makes up the soundpiece.
The live CD has a strange opening track, which last 30 seconds of
inaudible material, but is followed by a lengthy piece
‘Droneskipclickloop’, a highly minimal pulse piece. If you think Goem
is minimal, then I wonder what you think of these fifty minutes. I at
least love it. The second piece uses an aquarium pump, a fish tank
with plastic fish, a fisher price sewing machine, an eggbeater and an
ice crushing machine. A nicely intense piece which shifts around with
the various sound sources. The lamination of crisp bread in a live
action closes of the last track. In all a very nice anthology of one
of the more interesting composers of every day sound. (FdW)
Address: www.xirecords.com

ANTHONY GUERRA – SPPOL [#2] (CD by TwothousandAnd)
Guerra is one of the two founding fathers of the label TwothousandAnd
and was born in Sydney, but currentely residing in London. There is
actively involved in the field of improvised music as a guitarist.
“Spool [#2]” is his second solo album and he explores the guitar
beyond the way guitars normally sound. The five untitled cuts open
with a static sine wave piece, followed by a more drony cum click
electronics piece. Like many others, the name of Kevin Drumm pops up,
Guerra is mainly interest in the guitar as the source of sound, and
not the guitar as the source of songs made with strings. I think if
you play this to anyone unattached to this kind of music, and tell
them it’s a guitar (and to some extent also a drumkit), they would
either laugh or walk away. Both wrong things to do, as Guerra may not
be a very original voice in this field, he sure has his own in regard
to what he is doing. Faults in the sound, hum and hiss, feedback and
cable defaults, are all integrated in the music, via the use of
sampling and sound effects. The drumkit comes around in the fourth
piece, which is terms of free improv is the most common piece around
here and maybe falls a bit out of place with the rest. (FdW)
Address: www.twothousandand.com

ACTIVE SUSPENSION VS. CLAPPING MUSIC (2CD compilation by Active Suspension)
It’s good to receive a press text along with CD’s otherwise I would
be puzzled like hell to find out what this is all about. My first
reaction was that this was compilation (and put aside, because I find
compilations not easy to review), but after reading the text more
closely examination of the press text, which starts out with ‘this is
not a compilation’, I learned that this is a compilation. Crazy
isn’t? This double CD is the result of a collective project between
Active Suspension and Clapping Music and two designers, Event 10 and
Pixel Crap. They have all various interests, ranging from hip hop rap
songs, to electronica and then to instrumental rock. In the labels’
catalogues these are tracks that appeared on small edition releases,
or were just previously unreleased. As you may know the hip hop raps
are never spend on me, but luckily for me these kind of tracks are in
a minority. For me the more interesting pieces are those by Active
Suspension bands like Encre and Odot.Lamm (whose ‘She’s A Jar’ has
Reichanian Come Out influences). Some of the rock bits sound a bit
too naiv for my taste, like Quasigital Love, whose addition of voices
sound too much like Godspeed, but oddly enough it’s a short track. A
track by Yann Encre vs. Sonia is in this respect maybe also borrowed
from the Constellation catalogue, but at least it’s a great piece of
acoustic guitar playing with cello’s. This CDs limps on not two but
more feet, which certainly becomes more lively, but maybe the
selection criteria should have been stronger and one long CD would
have been enough. (FdW)
Address: www.activesuspension.org

FIBO TRESPO – ASKEL OIKEAAN SUUNTAAN (CDR by Musically Incorrect Records)
RATS WITH WINGS – CDR RWW (CDR by Musically Incorrect Records)
CLAY FIGURE – ILLUSION OF PERMANENCE (CDR by Musically Incorrect Records)
Musically Incorrect Records is a small CDR label from Finland who
just send me a whole bunch of their releases. The looks of these
releases remind me very much of the eighties cassette movement:
xeroxed info, wallpaper covers, plastic bags etc.
Fibo Trespo are Sindre Bjerga and Kjetil D. Brandsal, who I believe
don’t make any music together anymore, because all the CDR releases
we reviewed in the past where re-issues of cassettes and lathe cut
releases. This is no different. A lathe cut 10″ and 7″, plus two
tracks from a compilation cassette. All from 1997 and 1998. They
improvise their way with detuned and distorted guitars, feedback and
organ sounds and metallic percussion. It’s all in their usual style
of lofiness.
Rats With Wings are I believe from New Zealand, and I heard their
music before. I remember it as a pretty lo-fi affair too, but the
five lenghty pieces on this disc, sound a little bit different. Much
more electronical improvisation, with backward guitars, shortwaves
and synths, the sound itself is quite full, loaded with effects and
small things happening anywhere. Unlike Fibo Trespo, whose sound is
more empty and open ended, Rats With Wings’ are thick and loaded, and
sound more ‘professional’ in their approach of recording techniques.
Needles to say that much of this was generated through improvisation,
but no doubt computer editing did their bit too.
Also in a rather lo-fi mood is Pekka Pera-Takala, who is Clay Figure
(not a) and also the labelboss of Musically Incorrect Records. Taking
his inspiration from various styles and improvisation, it’s rather a
mish mash of all sorts of obscure recordings, with various
instruments, small ideas and various outputs. Sometimes he stumbles
on a great idea and that sounds nice, but also it’s a hit and miss.
Things work best when he tries to attempt real music in a rather
unreal way.
The next one is a compilation CDR of various bands that have no other
release yet on Musically Incorrect Records. Overall the music is more
in free rock style, with punk influences. I liked the more
experimental Micheal Knight Ensemble (also because they have a great
name) and The Human Neutron Missile Squad, who operate in a more
collage style, blending rock elements with more musique concrete
outings. Major Volcanics are worth mentioning for bringing some
quieter moments in the compilation. Overall a nice compilation of
rock and beyond. (FdW)
Address: <pekper@utu.fi>

ANGEL – NR.1>NR.10 (CD by Bip Hop)
Unlike his Pan Sonic partner Mika Vainio, the solo career of Ilpo
Vaisanen never took off, apart from some nice bits here and there
(his contribution to ’20 to 2000′ and his Mego CD). Maybe at least
not for me. In 1999 Pan Sonic’s European tour was supported by
Schneider TM, aka Dirk Dresselhaus, whose releases I never really
heard, I must admit. But I believe he is somewhere in the borderlines
between rock and techno. Ilpo and Dirk got along well, and they
played once a concert in Berlin under the monniker of Angel. I
believe that this CD is a recording of that concert. Despite the fact
that the press release sums up various influences (drone, ragga,
industrial, surf or noise rock), I hear mainly the influences of
noise and industrial in these 45 minutes. Dirk plays here a very
distorted guitar and Ilpo plays around on his cd player and his
analogue synth (announced a typewriter on the cover). The whole thing
is heavily influenced by Merzbow and not at all by Pan Sonic or
Schneider TM. Stepping outside the routine is of course a nice thing,
but I must admit I prefer Merzbow over this. Too much of the music
sounds like a bang around noise routine, and even in an
improvisational concert situation, this could have been worked out
better. A chance missed. (FdW)
Address: www.bip-hop.com

SCANNER & TONNE – SOUND POLAROIDS (CD by Bip Hop)
From the ever active Scanner front a new CD, this time in
collaboration with Tonne, who is one Paul Farrington, a designer,
musician and software developper. This joint work started out as an
installation at the ICA in London and delt with life in cities. City
life in London was recorded in sound and image and then transformed
in a sound and image piece. Later on this was repeated in various
other cities, like Milan, Tokyo and Montreal. Including a Stephen
Vietello mix of New York City and a Tonne mix. The music however is,
much to my surprise, not a plain mix of the ambient sounds of the
city, but incorporated inside a whole bunch of layered ambient sounds
– maybe the kind of music Scanner is best known for. In the Tokyo Mix
this results in a strong, floating piece which reflects the lively
aspects of that city. I can imagine however that if one isn’t aware
of these implications, it’s hard to recognize any Tokyo sounds in it
(which I remember as both a very loud and very quiet city). One could
think that it’s just a nice new kind of glicthy ambient pieces. Just
like soundtracks to films, it’s hard to have the whole picture if an
element (in this case the installations) is missing. The Vietiello
piece is more of an industrial nature showing the hectic of Manhattan
and also Tonne throws in more city sounds then Scanner. But with the
added software (mac only) things to make sense. Nice work overall.
(FdW)
Address: www.bip-hop.com

RM74 – INSTABIL (CD by Domizil)
Behind RM we do not find Radboud Mens or Roel Meelkop by Reto Maeder,
a swiss composer who is also a member of the Ohne group who recentely
released on Mego. This CD is his second one for Domizil, a label that
specializes in modern day electronics. RM74 is no different. In his
twelve, relatively short pieces he explores all the sound files on
his computer, while Norton Utilities is defragmenting and
speeddisking at the same time. Or so it seems at least. Sometimes
file finder stumbles upon an aiff file which contains piano or
orchestral sounds, but most of the times the sound is too distorted
to recognize anything. Sometimes sounds loop and wait until somebody
hits the ‘enter’ button. Welcome to the world of digital pleasure,
but be careful: it’s a cold world, a world with zeros and ones
fighting over their existence, or otherwise they will be lost and end
up in the trashbin. Life is hard-disk. No music to play around the
campfire, but in the world of RM74 there are no more campfires: the
lcd screen glows warmth, until the instability of electricity ends
it. (FdW)
Address: www.domizil.ch

TAPE – OPERA (CD by Häpna)
This is the ninth release on Häpn, and it can be said now that Häpna
is not a label with a narrow view. With people like Tsunoda and
Sundin and bands like Sheriff and Tape they seem to cover a very
broad range of musical expressions. Tape makes music that could have
originated at the campfire and ended up at the studio: soft melodies
on acoustic guitar, accompanied by harmonium and strange noises. Very
gentle stuff that goes quietly beyond the fire and into a realm that
one would not expect here. That realm is the digital; all tracks have
a certain layer of sounds that are of electronic origin or were
treated that way. And that gives the album its true catch. Within the
warm and dreamy melodies of the acoustic instruments, there is room
for unexpected digital pleasure. This will do ever so well on a cold
winter night, under a blanket and with a steaming hot drink. Enjoy.
(MR)
Adress: www.hapna.com

V. – PA USA TURNEE 2002 (CDR by The Locus Of Assemblage)
Earlier this year V. toured the USA with the Ultra Milkmaids. As you
may know, should know, V. is an extension of v…l, who had a couple
of releases before on Bake Records and their own Zeromoon Records
label. V. has two members, J. Guggino and J. Surak. The latter may
also be known from his previous works as 1348, New Carrolton or the
legendary Watergate Tapes. Live wise they use drums, autoharp, home
built devices and glitch electronics. Unlike some of the recent
studiowork which I heard, this live CD is much more industrial,
abbrassive and much less refined and less towards digital glitch.
Slowly vibrating sound, hoovering at the deeper and darker end of the
spectrum. They obviously play the drone trick, but in the variety of
sources we hear an interesting interplay between the acoustica and
the electronica. Although this is a welldone CD, I must admit I
prefer the recent studio sound by V. better. Maybe seeing them live
would convince me of the opposite. (FdW)
Address: www.assemblage.freeuk.com

PASKA – CHRISTMAS ALBUM (7″ by Meeuw Muzak)
TITAN KATZEN – ACHTUNG DEBAKEL! (7″ by Meeuw Muzak)
For some, me included, the worst time of the year. All this cozyness
and happiness is not spend on me. Period. Luckily I am not the only
one. Meeuw hates christmas, but at least he finds a way to unload his
hatred via his annual christmas 7″. I believe this is the third in a
series, and he found one Paska from Finland to shout some of his
favourites… that is to say, if I understand shitmass correctly. All
your favorites are included: White Christmas, Rudolf The Rednose
Reindeer, Jingle Bells, Santa Claus Is Coming To Town and more! Nine
in total, spinning on a 45 rpm disc – hey man this sounds like punk
rock. And maybe it is. Packed in the usual lo-fi cover of cover, this
is the sort of record lonely people give themselves and share their
misery over christmess with Paska. Naked girl on cover. What more
could you possibly want?
The other new release on Meeuw Muzak falls in their category of
sleazy popmusic (Meeuw strongely divide his interest between art
records and wacky electro pop tunes). Titan Katzen are trio from
Germany (I think) and they have two heavy tracks of pounding
rhythmboxes and rather heavy sort of grinding voice by Andre Butzer.
Here too everything breaths retro, from cover to music. This could
have been released easily twenty years ago, but it still sounds fresh
in 2002. Meeuw knows how to keep history alive… (FdW)
Address: <laridae@xs4all.nl>

RAYMOND DIJKSTRA – DADAPHON (10″ by Le Souffleur)
This is one of the more stranger records to land on my desk. Under
the monniker of Raymond Dijkstra we hail the return of Raymond
Dijkstra, who in the past worked as Razoul Uzlu, Ky Sync Pulse and
was once a member of Indra Karmurka. By now he has a small
discography with as many releases as monnikers. This new 10″,
released on his label, sees him return to his Razoul style. Scraping
sounds, metal on glass that sort of thing, backed with a variety of
drony sounds that have gotten a nice bath of reverb, which
occassionally leap into feedback. It’s an odd mixture of sounds that
are far away and very nearby. It’s a sound that reminds me of old,
very old Merzbow, circa Ecobondage or Disclosure. Strangely continous
movements, very raw and minimal, but a strongely captivating sound.
Loaded from bottom to top, from deep end to high end, every gap is
filled. It unfolds it’s beauty after repeated listening. (FdW)
Address: <dijkstradr@hotmail.com>