ELEKTROLOT – ELEKTROLOT (CD by Teeto)
THE EVOLUTION GARDEN – 180902 (CDR)
IAN NAGOSKI – VIOLETS FOR YOUR FURS (12″ Picture Disc by Edition…)
JLIAT – NOISE (CD by Edition…)
DAVID LEE MEYERS/THOMAS DIMUZIO – UNCERTAIN SYMMETRY (CD by Korm Plastics)
TIN.RP – ABS.NCE (CDR by Burning Emptiness)
RETRO SEX GALAXY – MISTAKES IN GEOGRAPHY (CDR by Mik Musik)
8ROLEK – DZIEWIATA GRATIS (CDR by Mik Musik)
GAMEBOYZZ ORCHESTRA PROJECT – LAJV AD HOM (CDR by Mik Musik)
BARTWEBA – SUPPERRITYN (BAA)REMXS (CDR by Mik Musik)
KOJI ASANO – SUITE FOR ORGAN AND RECORDERS NO. 1 (CD by Solstice)
X (CDR by N.A.D.)
KINETIX – POSSIBLE FORMS (2XCDR by N.A.D.)
IPECACUANHA_5-HT DRONABINOL (CDR compilation by Digital Kranky)
THOMAS DIMUZIO & CHRIS CUTLER – DUST (CD by ReR Megacorp)
JGRZINICH & SETH NEHIL – CONFLUENCE (CD by Intransitive)
TOSHIYA TSUNODA – EXTRACT FROM FIELD RECORDING ARCHIVE #3: SOLID
VIBRATION (CD by Intransitive)
ELEKTROLOT – ELEKTROLOT (CD by Teeto)
Elektrolot is the collaboration-project between Marcin Zietek, Daniel
Pigonski and Bartosz Weber. It is not easy to categorize their style,
which musically crosses many territories, retrospective as well as
modern. Remarkable though is the improvisational expression, which
first of all is created with the help from electric guitars as well
as classic synthesizers, analogue drum machines and fretless bass.
Opening with dark low-frequency drones, the album slowly evolves into
the retrospective borderlands somewhere between prog-rock and funky
jazz. After the occasionally cool trips back to the 1970’s scene of
improvised experimentation, the drones of dark ambience come back and
remind us that we are actually dealing with the modern sound of
today. In such way we have a great mixture of old and new sounds on
this fine debut album that should be able to make the
Elektrolot-project becoming known abroad the Polish border. (NMP)
Address: www.teetorecords.com
THE EVOLUTION GARDEN – 180902 (CDR)
The concept might be known by now: The Evolution Garden, a three
piece group from the very far south of The Netherlands offer a whole
bunch of raw and improvised recordings, while still working on their
next studio CD. The material on this CDR (and it’s previous volumes)
is recorded in the rehearsal room. The mainly go about on three
guitars and backing sounds and bass. The backing tapes consist mainly
of rhythm sounds.The first piece sounds like very old Durutti Column
influenced, but that is a compliment. The next two tracks are
faceless and structureless. But the fourth, fifth and sixth are
rocking pieces, with an uptempo rhythm and here the constant
overdriven reverb units are not a real big problem (which they are in
most of the other pieces). The closing piece is so short that it’s
over before one knows it. It seems to me that The Evolution Garden
evolves into a new direction, which is good. But I must say I rather
hear that new CD and see where all this experimentation brings them,
then another prelimary result from the rehearsal room… (FdW)
Address: <sounddesigner@zonnet.nl>
IAN NAGOSKI – VIOLETS FOR YOUR FURS (12″ Picture Disc by Edition…)
A very handsome release this: one side has some sort of op-art design
(by Daniel Conrad) that swirls before your eyes when you spin it, the
other side merely holds the information. The music is of a similar
kind really: pretty drony with very slow developments in sound colour
and space. The raw material sounds like humming machines of some
kind, air conditioning systems or similar constructions (just a wild
guess, but it may convey some of the nature of the sound). The two
sides are very much alike, using the same material with slight
differences, so basically it compels me to regard it as one piece,
divided in two. As I mentioned before, developments are slow and
subtle, so it takes some time to become aware of them. The strength
of this record therefore is not so much in the composition, but more
in the quality of the overall sound and its changes. And that is
surely okay, but not overwhelmingly so. (MR)
Address: http://editionellipsis.hypermart.net
JLIAT – NOISE (CD by Edition…)
Black, black, black, some silver and transparencies. Jliat’s ‘noise’
is a conceptual piece about the ultimate noise event: the explosion
of an atomic bomb. Let’s face it: recording this will never ever
reveal the true power of the event itself and that’s why the disc
with its four tracks of two and a half minutes each is more or less
redundant, except for the fact that the sleeve info states that these
pieces of noise are recordings of four different nuclear tests. Which
turns the whole thing into the conceptual art piece. And of course, I
for one could not imagine anything noisier than the explosion of an
atomic bomb, resulting in probably the greatest silence ever: death.
Yeah, you read it right in the beginning: black, black, black. As
with all conceptual art, this work makes one think about the issues
raised and ponder such things as absolute noise (and silence, for
that matter), but it doesn’t actually seem to go very far beyond
that. No real questions are raised, no real comments are made, just
the sober facts about the tests. And of course the recordings. It
seems to make me chase my tail…….(MR)
Address: http://editionellipsis.hypermart.net
DAVID LEE MEYERS/THOMAS DIMUZIO – UNCERTAIN SYMMETRY (CD by Korm Plastics)
Now this sounds like a very interesting collaboration: knowing
Meyers’ work as Arcane Device and Dimuzio’s more ‘composed’ work I
was pretty curious as to how these two would work out things. As far
as I can undertand from the liner notes, the original material was
recorded by Meyers, who then handed it over to Dimuzio for
(re)sampling, (re)processing and (re)contextualization. Dimuzio also
added feedback sine waves. My first impression was one of surprise
really: gentle feedback sounds, layered and with strange beeps here
and there, even sound sounding like basslines. Not quite what I had
expected, knowing some of these men’s work. But the surprise is
certainly one of a positive kind: there is actually something light
and funny in this music, it’s far less serious or gloomy than I had
anticipated. Matter of fact is: this could well be sold in the more
experimental techno shops. I am sure that some DJ’s would have great
fun with it. This doesn’t imply that this is merely another techno
record, far from it. It is too acclomplished for your average 4/4
stuff, and way too weird. But still, the more adventurous ones will
like it. So, back to the disc: it contains twelve tracks of varying
lengths and sound pallette. From more drone/ambient works to beepy
pieces with pretty high-strung energy. And even melodic ones
(although very odd), that somehow seem to hold my favour most. Who
would have thought? A very varied CD, both in style and in
atmosphere. Recommended. (MR)
Address: www.staalplaat.com
TIN.RP – ABS.NCE (CDR by Burning Emptiness)
Music from the bunker disco. Somehow I also think that the music of
Tin.RP (or indeed anything released on their label) fits the raw
concrete of an underpass techno party, but maybe I am highly
mistaken. From the raw, almost gabberesque of releases ago, Tin.RP
have evolved into something that can also do well on your home disco
system. It seems that they had a good listen to the entire Mille
Plateaux catalogue and sourced out the best possible sounds and
references to create their own work. Deep end, sine wave beats, with
an occassional techno stab. It takes the rawness from the said
catalogue and builts something out of that of it’s own. Having said
that, I don’t think that what they do is necessarily something
outstandingely original or new. Therefor this is too loaded with
obvious references, like Alva Noto or Ryoji Ikeda. But as it stands
by itself, it is a nice disc of, again, underground music. (FdW)
Address: www.burningemptiness.fr.st
RETRO SEX GALAXY – MISTAKES IN GEOGRAPHY (CDR by Mik Musik)
8ROLEK – DZIEWIATA GRATIS (CDR by Mik Musik)
GAMEBOYZZ ORCHESTRA PROJECT – LAJV AD HOM (CDR by Mik Musik)
BARTWEBA – SUPPERRITYN (BAA)REMXS (CDR by Mik Musik)
More newbies from the true underground lands of Poland. Retro Sex
Galaxy, aka Wojt3k Kucharczyk (he who brings you these beauties), is
a solo project and this guy works here solely with electronica, in
addition to flute sounds. Or maybe the flute sounds formed the basis
of this, as I had a hard time recognizing any flutes in here – only
vaguely familiar. Sound effects, either analog or digital run amok on
the source material. The music itself breaths the atmosphere of
clicks and cuts with regards to it’s use of rhythm, but the whole
thing is rather loosely structured (as in ‘rather improvised’). There
is also a film on this CDR with, I think, the same music, which is
nice, but couldn’t bother me that much.
In their search for new talents, Mik Musik found 8Rolek, who presents
here his second release. 8Rolek is Bartek Kujawski, playing around
with software which is not always easily available in Poland. There
are eight (of course, with such a name) untitled tracks on this
album, plus a live cut. Like so many others, Bartek collects his
influences from the vast Mille Plateaux catalogue, but his take on
clicks and cuts is quite nice. Not just a bunch of plug ins and
software, but a rather intelligent and structured work and pretty
much worked out ideas. Nice work, and a talent for the future.
Of course you are aware that Gameboys aren’t just toys for kids, but
they can also be used as musical instruments. The Nanoloop
compilation that was reviewed a while ago featured music that was
made with a special cartridge containing a sequencer based programm.
I am not sure if the Gameboyzz Orchestra Project uses that one too,
or if they have some self-made applications. This debut release came
right after their appereance at the Ars Electronica festival of this
year. Computerized bleeps, hooky bleeps and what sounds like a bunch
of old casio’s is what comes forward on this CD. All five tracks were
captured during improvisations and are rather noisy, but to be very
honest their excursions couldn’t bother me that much. Despite the
input, the overall noisyness of the total, made this into a lesser
interesting item.
The last release is a short one, thirteen or so minutes and is a
continues mix release from Mik Musik. This is number four remixing
number three, which was a remix of number 2 etc. Five tracks, mainly
about rhythm in a sort of decent alternative techno version. Quite
alright but nothing great. It’s funny to see how this series evolves
and that it goes into many different directions. Curious to see what
the next stage will bring.
All of the Mik Musik releases are limited, so act fast, I’d say. (FdW)
Address: www.molr.terra.pl
KOJI ASANO – SUITE FOR ORGAN AND RECORDERS NO. 1 (CD by Solstice)
Koji Asano comes around again, now with an entirely new thing, at
least if you look from his recent releases. This time he is not
concerned with laptop dabblings, but works as a ‘serious’ composer,
this time composing a work for ‘organ and recorders (soprano, alto,
tenor and base recorder). These are performed by Ayumi Matsuda
(recorders) and Isao Otake (organ). There is also some bit and piece
of environmental recording in there, probably mixed in by Asano. This
work was recorded in a church in Amsterdam, but I missed the event. I
expected an full hour drone like musics, with such a line up, but
none of that. The work, subtitled ‘The Alien Power Plant’, is rather
soft, with occassional clusters, and occassional blowings on the
flute, and sound sometimes totally alienated to eachother, whereas in
other occassions they seem a perfect pair. Vaguely oriental
influenced with zen-like qualities. Quite a step aside (away?
forward? backward?) from his other recent works, and I must say it’s
quite a relief to hear something nice and interesting again from
him… (FdW)
Address: www.solstice-europe.com
X (CDR by N.A.D.)
KINETIX – POSSIBLE FORMS (2XCDR by N.A.D.)
Two more releases from N.A.D., Nova Ars Digitandi from Italy. ‘X’ is
the extension of ‘K’, which was reviewed in Vital Weekly 239. Again
not much info here, except that behind both is one Gianluca Becuzzi.
‘X’ limps on two feet: one is rather straight minimal techno, albeit
packed with some vaguely experimental sounds in the background, which
is nice, but not more then just nice. The other foot is more
experimental click n cut style, which is something he is capable of
doing much better. Glitchy electronics, deep drone bass and high end
modesties, which are way more interesting in hearing – at least on
the home stereo of course (maybe the dancefloor stuff works better
elsewhere).
The other one is a kind of do-it-yourself box. It has two discs of
tracks of equal length, which one can mix at random, by playing both
CDRs at the same time, at random. For this a whole bunch of sounds
were used by him (and this time I am pretty sure no permission was
given, but I’ll save him by not mentioning any names, but they are
all on the cover) from a whole bunch of well-known microsounders. But
even without the list of names, I think one could easily recognize
some of them, just by the tone of it. In that sense, I don’t think
Kinetix did a lot on those pieces. Me no DJ, so no home setup to try
out a supermix, but I am sure it would work fine. Maybe it’s even
open for further remixes – who can tell. (FdW)
Address: www.microsuoni.com
IPECACUANHA_5-HT DRONABINOL (CDR compilation by Digital Kranky)
More underground, this time from Berlin’s Digital Kranky, who release
of and on real CDs, CDRs and vinyl. This compilation is all aboit the
Ipecacuanha and Dronabinol. A plant and a drug – I am to neither of
them very familiar, but apperentely the label relates the medical use
of plants and the hallucinatory aspects of drugs to music. So I
probably never feel what they feel, since I never do drugs and never
eat plants. The press message says: “Drugs lead to nowhere, but it’s
the scenic route”, but I’ll have a safe drive without. Overall these
tracks are fairly long and by four different artists, over seven
tracks in total. New artists that have their works spread on CDRs
through the world of wacky techno music. People who work at home on
their computers, working with the raw basics of techno music, but
with a total lack of dance floor interest. Music that I like to hear
so to say, as it has that sense of experimentalism to it. The
influences are sometimes obvious, like the Fennesz inspired piece by
Antonio Ferrigno or the Aphex Twin on Chris Cotton’s piece, aswell
as on Tremor. But these influences do not extend to a mere copy.
Devious Behaviour, present with three tracks, harked together a whole
bunch of influences which are not easy to recognize, but then becomes
the most original artist on this release. After playing this a couple
of times, I still can’t say wether I am lifted off the earth, but the
ride was nice enough to stick it on again. (FdW)
Address: www.digitalkranky.de
THOMAS DIMUZIO & CHRIS CUTLER – DUST (CD by ReR Megacorp)
This is the their second collaborative work, after ‘Quake’ (see Vital
Weekly 195). I am, I must admit, a great fan of Dimuzio’s work (more
to review next week probably) and never much of Cutler’s work, but
that might still be just me and my ignorance. Like ‘Quake’ this new
work was captured in concert, two of them. One in front of a live
audience and one inside the studio, and that one of course has
overdubs. Not that it’s really to say the difference between the two.
Both artists employ micro tonalism, each in their own way. It results
in densely layered music, in which it’s hard to recognize the
sampling of Dimuzio versus the drumming of Cutler. Percussive sounds
float by, but wether they are the result of drumming or processing
it’s hard to tell. The whole improvisational aspect is both very much
present, but at the same time it’s also so far away, just because of
the denseness of the recordings. That makes this into quite a
captivating recording. New elements seem to come from nothing and
they disappear as suddenly as they arrived on the scene. Overall the
first piece, which is titled ‘Requiem’ (6 parts) is more dark and has
certainly those edges that belong to a requiem. The other piece,
which was expanded with studio techniques has no real theme, and is
more complex, as well as obscured sound elements. A very fine disc
that leaves lots and lots to hear and will grow everytime hearing.
(FdW)
Address: www.megacorp.com
JGRZINICH & SETH NEHIL – CONFLUENCE (CD by Intransitive)
TOSHIYA TSUNODA – EXTRACT FROM FIELD RECORDING ARCHIVE #3: SOLID
VIBRATION (CD by Intransitive)
Seth Nehil and John Grzinich are part of the group of young composers
from the USA which have a strong interest in drone-related music.
Micheal Northam, Jeph Jerman and Olivia Block belong to this group
too, they sometimes play together. JGrzinich and Seth Nehil already
released a CD on Erewhon before and ‘Confluence’ can be regarded as
the companion CD. I never heard the Erewhon CD, but if it’s along
these lines, I should be. These two guys play on a variety of sources
by rubbing their hands, playing with bows etc, and create a rich
pattern of overtones. But that’s not it. They also add a bunch of
outdoor sounds on various occassions – not throughout a piece, but
they drop in and out. Especially in the third long piece ‘Lohme’ this
works very well. It’s twenty minute piece that seems to exist of one
long note being played, but in which one can recognize very subtle
changes and which leaves one wondering what its sound source is.
Strings, motors of refrigators, sheets of bowed metal, or just too
much reverb? None of these really matters as the outcome is very
nice. Like their UK counterparts Mirror, Ora and Jonathan Coleclough,
these musicians have refined their techniques to quite an extent.
On a totally different level we find the work of Toshiya Tsunoda.
He’s a member of Japans WRK collectiv, who explore and investigate
sound related events. Each of the nine tracks on this CD is described
by Tsunoda on the cover. Everything about the pieces is there: what
he did, and where. Usually he attaches sensors to tubes, iron plates,
doors etc and records the vibrations of those objects, the wind that
shakes the object. Sometimes additional other sounds drop in like sea
sounds in the nineth piece, where the sounds are recorded from a
scrap drum on the beach. Minimal pieces in which nothing seem to
happen, really, but displaying a great beauty. The role of the
composer here is nothing else then going back to his archive and
select the recordings from a larger body of work and compile them.
But Tsunoda has a great ear for choosing the nicest piece out of a
larger work. He may not be as known as Francisco Lopez and have
slightly different interests, I think he’s one of the best in this
field. (FdW)
Address: www.intransitiverecordings.com
Correction: in last week’s review of Andrew Duke’s release ‘Highest
Common Denominator’ it said that all remixes may have been ‘bootleg’
remixes. Andrew Duke informs us that all of these remixes were
commissioned by an artist or a label, even including the Aaliyah and
Pink Floyd one. Sorry about this mistake!