THOMAS DIMUZIO – MONO:POLY (2CD by Asphodel)
REGIS BUNEL – BLAUER SALON (CD by Vert Pituite la belle)
BENJAMIN RENARD & FABRICE EGLIN – W/T (CD by Vert Pituite la belle)
PROTOTYPE (CD compilation plus book by Laton)
TU’M – BLUE IN GREEN (2×3″ CDR by Aesova Records)
TWIN – THEATER/THEATRE (3″ CDR by Aesova Records)
V.V. – THE ANIMALS IN THESE CAGES ARE INJURED IN SOME WAT AND WOULD
PROBABLY DIE IF RELEASED (3″ CDR by Aesova Records)
MOU, LIPS – PEANUTS AND SHELLS GEOMETRIA (CD by List)
TETUZI AKIYAMA – RESOPHONIE (CD by A Bruit Secret)
HULK – FIXED STAR DAY/THE SEA IS MUTE, THE WAVES ARE HYMNS (7″ by
Static Caravan)
DOBOSKY – THE BEST OF DOBOSKY (7″ by Static Caravan)
THE HAFLER TRIO – LA CHANSON DADA (10″ by Raft Records)
CATCH 20-22 (onesided 12″ by Raft Records)
THE VITAMIN B12 – 68×32/SYSTEM SIX (7″ by Raft Records)
ROEL MEELKOP – FAVORITES (LP and CD by V2_archief)
LANDFALL – BEACONS AND BABY ELECTRICITIES (CD)
Reading about the background of each of these artists who are behind
Landfall, I ANTHONY PATERAS – MALFUNCTION STUDIES (CD by Synaesthesia)
MONOS – SUNNY DAY IN SAGINOMIYA (CD by Edition…)
THE HAFLER TRIO – WHISTLING ABOUT CHICKENS (Double CD by Fire Inc.)
BLOKE – MUSIC FOR ELECTRIC LOBE (12″ by Digital Kranky)
THOMAS DIMUZIO – MONO:POLY (2CD by Asphodel)
More work from Thomas Dimuzio (after his recent discs with David Lee
Myers and Chris Cutler), and this one might serve as a good
introduction to the uninitiated. The first CD is filled with a
selection of pieces Dimuzio had on compilations (although the cover
is not very detailed as to which compilations, labels etc. This is
surely an omission), whereas the second disc is a collection of
material Dimuzio recorded in improvisation with others.
The disc of solo works is what Dimuzio’s solo work is all about:
sampling. Taking both electro-acoustic elements, aswell as sounds
plundered from various media, he crafts some fine pieces together.
Unlike the Lopez/Gunther posse, Dimuzio doesn’t like silence very
much, it seems. Every blank hole in the music is filled with a sound,
a sample or a sound effect, as Dimuzio uses that a lot. No silent
moment around. In that sense Dimuzio’s work is much more a
continuation of 80s industrial music, upgraded with new technology,
but not a radical break. But great stuff anyway.
The second disc turned out to be a pretty wild collection. From
Zipperspy to Anna Holmer from Fred Frith to DJ Qbert. Some of these
people are regular pals for Dimuzio, like Illusion Of Safety (Thomas
recorded a disc with Dan Burke some years) and Chris Cutler. It seems
to me that Dimuzio is best in those collaborations with are explored
more indepth in the past, rather then the one-off works. Like with
all improvised music, it works or it doesn’t. His piece with The Jet
Black Hair People didn’t do much for me. The slow crescendo of the
piece with Illusion Of Safety works great. Other nice pieces are
those with Zipperspy, Wobbly and Yasuhiro Otani and Kadet Kuhne. Both
CD’s in this package are good showcase for the man’s capacities.
Subsequent tracks can be found at www.gench.com/mono-poly, to which
new tracks will be added every month until september 2003. (FdW)
Address: www.asphodel.com
REGIS BUNEL – BLAUER SALON (CD by Vert Pituite la belle)
BENJAMIN RENARD & FABRICE EGLIN – W/T (CD by Vert Pituite la belle)
The first two cd releases from the Paris-based Vert Pituite la Belle
association. This association is specialized in organizing musical
events. It publishes the literature magazine ‘Phrênésie’ and by now
they also release cds. In cooperating with many artists the notion of
‘network’ is very important to them: “How to work together, to share
process, trying to make of this production and diffusion work,
something engaged, independant and alternative”.
These two cds document two of their projects.
The first one is a registration of a concert by Régis Bunel on
saxophone plus preparations during the exhibition ‘Pink is not red’
in march 2001 in Berlin. The name of this exhibition is also the the
name of the duo that Bunel forms together with painter Aurore Marette
since 2000. So I suppose they have a multimedia project together. But
I do not know of what character: does Bunel ‘comment upon’ the
paintings? Anyway, this would imply that we have only half of the
project in our hands with this cd. So the question is if the music
can make it on its own. Also because it is a solo album and contains
three long pieces. Well, I must say Bunel does the job very good. Not
a dull moment in these long improvisations. Bunel is a dynamic and
expressive player. Inventive and effective use of extended techniques
and electronic devices make it a worthwhile experience. A creative
work that makes me curious after the paintings of Aurore Marette.
From the south of France (Grenoble) come Fabrice Eglin and Benjamin
Renard. In seven pieces they demonstrate their version of
electro-acoustic music. Eglin plays amplified guitar, Renard does the
electro-acoustic devices. They learned the job in playing with Jerome
Noetinger, La Cellule d’intervention Metamkine, the Dust Breeders and
the Bole duo. Concrete sounds, radiosounds, etc. make up the sound
material that is used here. The noisy improvisations are well done
and should interest anyone who is into extreme sound improvisations
(DM).
Address: <http://vertpituite.multimania.com/>
PROTOTYPE (CD compilation plus book by Laton)
This is the catalogue of a festival held in Austria earlier this
year, in which the ‘prototype’ was the central theme. The prototype
is an one-off machine that is built before the real production of a
machine is started. People that participated in this festival are
used to building their own machines and software, and by that they
have their own unique voice in music, simply because they are the
only one using the prototype. Well-known of course, and included
here, is Pan Sonic, who have some self built synthesizers, which they
use in addition to ‘regular’ synthesizers. Radical electronic music
is found here, played on weird machinary. The oversized paper
catalogue doesn’t display these instruments and prototypes which is a
pity. Instead there is just text on prototypes, historical references
and information on each of the artists. Besides the well-known
persona like Pan Sonic, Alva Noto, Mira Calix, C.M. von Hauswolff and
Terre Thaemlitz, there are also lesser known ones such as Udo Wid,
Benzo, Auxpan, Thilges 3, Fon and Alexei Borisov. Sometimes it’s hard
to recognize the new and wild instrument, but overall the music is
pretty radical, in it’s crude presentation of techno and electronic
music, with strong dynamics (the whole frequency spectrum is used of
course), such as in the piece by Pomassl – also the curator of this
event. As said, for a documentation on prototypes as such it’s a pity
that we don’t get to see any of the machines (and makes one of course
suspicious wether they really exist, or maybe they are just all
laptop performances), but from a purely musical perspective, this CD
is quite alright in serving you with some of the more interesting
names around. (FdW)
Address: <buero@redaktionsbuero.at
TU’M – BLUE IN GREEN (2×3″ CDR by Aesova Records)
TWIN – THEATER/THEATRE (3″ CDR by Aesova Records)
V.V. – THE ANIMALS IN THESE CAGES ARE INJURED IN SOME WAT AND WOULD
PROBABLY DIE IF RELEASED (3″ CDR by Aesova Records)
Three lovely small new releases on the Aesova imprint, and one is a
double pack. Let’s start with that one. It’s by Tu’M, whom you might
know from their webactivities, aswell as releases by Cut and ERS.
Their improvisational music is all generated from laptop, in a cut up
‘n paste style. The influences run from Mego to TV Pow and back. It’s
hard to say that Tu’M play something great and new, because much of
what they do is said and done before. But I assume for the die-hards
who adore the genre of microsound, I am sure this goes down well.
Twin is a trio, or maybe it is a twin actually. It’s duo consisting
of a duo and solo. Confusing? It’s Howard Stelzer and Jason Talbot,
who are from Boston with roots in the lively improvisation scene over
there. They play as a duo, improvising on analogue cassette tapes and
a turntable: the very basic of instruments. But over the last few
years they have played a lot and their skills are refined. In Twin
they improvise with Brendan Murray, who released a much underrated CD
a while ago. He plays the sampler here. I assume he’s responsible for
the ongoing, droney sounds that hum so nicely in the back. On top, or
rather in front of those sounds, the other two set their crackles and
scratches in an improvised way, but that work together quite well.
The third one is by V.V. which stands for Ven Voisey, who has some
releases before on Crippled Intellect Productions. This is the one
that was not generated from improvisation, but from composing. The
basic material of V.V. is recordings he makes outside and then
processes them via the computer. He does this with great care and
love for the detail. His work can be set along those of people like
B. Gunther, F. Lopez or R. Meelkop, but overall his sounds are more
blurry while still using strong dynamics. Maybe like a missing link
between those aforementioned three and older work by The Hafler Trio.
From these new three, the one that I liked best. (FdW)
Address: www.aesova.org
MOU, LIPS – PEANUTS AND SHELLS GEOMETRIA (CD by List)
Mou, Lips is an off shoot of Tu’M. They started out as a trio, but
Andrea Gabriele left and together with Emanuela De Angelis, they are
now a duo as Mou, Lips. They recorded a well received demo, and now
List in France releases ‘Peanuts Ans Shells Geometria’ as their debut
CD (despite the fact that they have various MP3 releases on the net).
But a full length that doesn’t last thirty minutes is a bit short, I
think. Why not added some extra tracks, maybe of those many MP3
releases? I am not sure why Andrea left Tu’M, but if they were
differences of musical nature, I can see why. Whereas Tu’M hoovers
around in improvisation, Mou, Lips tries to find the element of song
writing inside the use laptops and plug ins. Small melodies spring
out of the cracks and guts of the electronics, which are still safe
enough inside the world of microsound (even including the use of
musique concrete like sounds, like a rusty bicycle wheel), but as
said with enough popmusic sensibility. In that sense Mou, Lips found
more a niche for themselves then Tu’M did. A very nice CD for sure,
but as said, with a mere twenty nine minute of playing also quite
short. (FdW)
Address: www.list-en.com
TETUZI AKIYAMA – RESOPHONIE (CD by A Bruit Secret)
The name Tetuzi Akiyama may not be very well-known, but he is part of
the large improvised music in Tokyo where he plays with Taku Sugimoto
(together they have new CD soon on Bottrop Boy, with a guitar
quartet, including Yoshihide and Nakamura), Utah Kawasaki, Sachiko M
and also various European people. Tetuzi plays mainly the guitar, the
one with steel strings and he explores the possibilities of creating
overtones within the metallic string sounds. In these eight solo
tracks, recorded directly to DAT he plays with a high end feedback
like sound, and indeed metallic scrapings, with microscopic changes,
but do be called minimal music this might not be appropiate either.
In some tracks the guitar sounds very much like a guitar (like in
‘Primitif’ for instance), but in ‘Disscociation’ the scrapings
prevail and the guitar sounds like so far away. In the longest piece
‘Lethargie’ he looses me somewhere, as I think this piece is a bit
overlong with it’s sixteen minutes of just scraping sounds, but
otherwise this CD is a fine example of the sheer unlimited
possibilities of using the six strings in yet another vein.
Address: <m_henritzi@club-internet.fr>
HULK – FIXED STAR DAY/THE SEA IS MUTE, THE WAVES ARE HYMNS (7″ by
Static Caravan)
DOBOSKY – THE BEST OF DOBOSKY (7″ by Static Caravan)
A Hulk, the Hulk, I presume? That was a long time ago, since that was
on TV. Good old retro. Love retro now I am getting older, now another
year has passed. Hulk is also one Thomas Haugh from Ireland who plays
two lovely little tunes on a Static Caravan single. Inspired by the
so-called intelligent dance music, he adds a dash of strange
windinstruments (or are they children’s toys?) and far away, remote
sighings. Could have been on any compilation by Morr Music, Neo Ouija
or City Centre Offices – or in fact some of these labels should offer
him a full length CD. But I am told this will come of Static Caravan,
so that ain’t so bad either. Retro in that sense that there is
nothing new under the sun, but still a nice piece.
Funny enough more retro but less interesting is Dobosky, also an
one-man band. More then the Hulk he seems to be inspired by cosmic
music of the seventies, but played on simply keyboards and likewise
simple rhythms. Very electro, very retroish. I am reminded of Solid
Space, a cassette release on In Phaze in the early 80s. It was said
that nobody would remind Solid Space five years after, but I still
play that tape. I doubt wether I will play Dobosky in five years, but
I am sure someone will do. (FdW)
Address: <geoffstatic@btinternet.com>
THE HAFLER TRIO – LA CHANSON DADA (10″ by Raft Records)
CATCH 20-22 (onesided 12″ by Raft Records)
THE VITAMIN B12 – 68×32/SYSTEM SIX (7″ by Raft Records)
Years and years of silence, but then ‘mood enginering’ band The
Hafler Trio returns with a 2CD, a CD and a 10″. Overkill one is easy
led to think. Not so, as they all sound distinctively different. This
10″ is clearly an odd ball in the catalogue of The Hafler Trio. For
those not aware, Andrew McKenzie wasn’t much of a singer on The
Hafler Trio records, but here he does actually sing. Like on his very
first record, which he released at the age of 13 – so many years ago.
Then he sang ‘My Boy Lollipop’ and he sings La Chanson Dada, by the
poet Tristan Tzara and music by Georges Auric (one of the ‘Groupes
des Six’, six young French composers, around their master Eric
Satie). Andrew McKenzie sings, a string quartet with harp and
harmonium adds the sounds. Nothing unlike so many recordings by The
Hafler Trio, and even the dadaist, absurdist text seems an unlikely
event for The Hafler Trio. Melancholically sung, it is a bit of sad
song. Unsettling for the true Hafler Trio fans, but certainly one
that fits the time of the year. The biggest surprise of 2002, I’d say.
A record like Catch 20-22 reminds me of the good old days of Ash
International, when they released Runaway Train, Blind/Fragment or
Mesmer. Records containing sound, maybe even music, but with no clear
artist that produced. It seems, so I am told, that this record was
recorded in 1997 by mistake. A compact disc (it is not told which
one) got stuck inside a CD player and skipped curiously back and
forth. The music on the compact disc contained some sort of loungy,
Esquival like music, but since it got stuck and found itself
repeating, repeating, repeating, there is a strange minimalist
quality, a hypnotic groove that keeps on playing, with random
changes. Maybe it was just a CD that a customer wanted to hear in the
shop of These Records, so maybe it could have been any CD, really.
Fascinating stuff, excellent for the more daring DJ out there, and
calls for a Mesmer like remix project. What do you think, Raft?
The Vitamin B12 is the name chosen by Alasdair Willis, out of
Brighton. In 1990 he released a limited 4LP box set which took him
years and years to sell. Later in the nineties he released 17 lathe
cut singles and a double LP. So maybe it’s fair to say that this new
7″ is the first commercially available recording in some while, or
maybe for the first time, and maybe people. The a-side, is ’68×32′
and is strange Musique Concrete, electro-acoustic demontage of
sounds. Strongely routed in the older work of Nurse With Wound, for
it choice of material and cuts. The b-side ‘System Six’ is all about
sampled percussion, which play apperentely random riffs, but which in
the long run make sense in their repeating patterns. (FdW)
Address: <raft@theserecords.com>
ROEL MEELKOP – FAVORITES (LP and CD by V2_archief)
Roel once told me, some time in 2002, that he was producing a series
of remixes of his all-time favourite hits. Old scratchy 7″s with
disko songs like Donna Summer’s I Feel Love. It appears that with
this release these remixes have seen the light of day in a broader
entourage. Remixes seem to have been en vogue in 2002. I have heard
Freiband tinkering with old skool stuff, Ekkehard Ehlers too, and
recently I have finished adapting some GOEM stuff myself (unreleased
as yet·). Is it a lack of creative ideas, so that the composer takes
refuge in the compositions of others? I don’t think it is always the
case. First of all, it’s sort of a challenge with one important
question: how much does one leave intact and how much is to be
adapted/corrupted/improved? In my GOEM adaptions I have gone through
all of the stages but the kernel of the original remained intact. In
Freiband’s rework the original sometimes subtly pops up, enabling the
listener to ‘connect’ the original to the new. In Ehlers’ Robert
Johnson reworks on the other hand the originals are hardly or
absolutely not recognizable. Roel Meelkop’s Favourites are in the
latter vein. Ten reworks are on CD, eight on vinyl. There is no
referal to the sources of the compositions. After my enquiry Meelkop
acknowledged that these are indeed the reworks of his favourite 7″s.
The originals are barely recognizable. The listener thus can only
deal with the compositions on their auditive level. The other,
deeper, level of the connection to some other audio work remains for
99% hidden. When I listen to the music, I only vaguely recognize some
originals. Here it’s riff that is slowed down, there it is a groove
or rhythm that passes by. The sound coloration of the compositions
themselves however and the structure (the originals must have had a
4/4 intro chorus solo chorus like structure) are completely abstract.
The length of the composition, too, are much longer than a
traditional pop song. Remains one important question: is what we hear
enough to end this review with a positive note? Yes! Roel Meelkop is
very capable in producing interesting compositions. And so this
series of reworks have a lot of quality on their own. (IS)
Address: www.v2.nl/archief
LANDFALL – BEACONS AND BABY ELECTRICITIES (CD)
Reading about the background of each of these artists who are behind
Landfall, I am quite surprised by it’s outcome. Landfall is a Dutch
consisting of Phil Mills (from Nerve, once with that Junkie XL guy),
Peter Sijbenga (of It Dockumer Lokaeltsje and Dish Hunt) and the
avant-garde drum & bass player Andrew Cornelis. With a varied
background like this, one wouldn’t expect Landfall, which is all
about ‘ambient that relies entirely on improvisation’. Two days of
recording and three days for mixing the whole lot and using no
samplers and computers, but each player has a bunch of synths. The
ambient format is well suitable for some improvisation, but it isn’t
done very often (or at least so it seems), but if one thinks about
it, it is even easy to do. One player plays a few repeating chords,
the other one adds another similar key and then the third adds the
weird sounds, which are carefully mixed in. Carefull is a keyword for
this kind of music. Everything happens on a slow and careful level,
sometimes a bit too careful and they seem to be holding back and not
go all the way forward. Also at times they seem to fall in some of
the cliche’s that ambient is notorious about. Overall this is a
pretty much ok CD, with some nice moments and some weaker brothers.
(FdW)
Address: <landfall@philmills.com>
ANTHONY PATERAS – MALFUNCTION STUDIES (CD by Synaesthesia)
Pateras is a composer from Melbourne working in the contexts of film,
improvisation, theatre, extreme performance and new music. As a
player he has been playing drums in experimental groove/noise/ambient
trio Flubb. One of his soundstracks for a short film made it to
Cannes 2001. Very recent is his collaborating with Robin Fox on
improvised electro-noise-art.
It is always quite a job for a composer to have the music performed.
To have it recorded is still another question. So if you the luck to
have a compostion performed, this is also an oppurtunity to record
it. This is the case with the compositions we hear on this cd of
Anthony Pateras. 5 compositions that were all recorded during
concerts in 1999-2001. This implies that the soundquality of these
recordings is mixed. But what is more important, we have here a mixed
bunch of compositions.
Two works (‘Santa’s Bells’ & ‘Trace Emission’) were composed for
amplified violin, played by Tom Chiu, and slave Piano (mechanical
piano). A combination that I only know from some works of Conlon
Nancarrow. Both works were recorded in New York, december 1999.
One work ‘…silit….’ is in fact an improvisation, and not a
composition. It has four parts, played by Pateras himself on piano
and Helle Thun (voice) in Copenhagen, 2001. This work is the most
introspective work here.
Two other works are composed for small ensembles: ‘Systems Collapse’
and ‘Malfunction Studies’. “Both works use a sectional form that
feature steady, repated motives with distinctive and highly
contrasted textures, set against each other in rapid juxtapositions,
disappearances and recurrences” (from the liner notes).
‘Systems Collapse’ is a work for three voices (Justine Anderson,
Emily Hayes, Kathy Cameron), clarinet (Jane Burnside) , cello (Jeremy
Collins), violin (Matt Dowling), percussion (Luke Fitzgerald )and
turntable (Luke Peyton). A powerfull and punky piece for a very
unusual instrumentation. It’s like Spike Jones doing New music. Very
nice.
‘Malfunction Studies’ is a piece for 9 percussionists & 75
instruments. Here it is performed by the VCA Percussion Ensemble. It
has 7 short movements. Together they show a broad spectrum of all
kinds of sounds evoked by percussion instruments.
To conclude I must say that the pieces are mixed in both quality and
style. This may guarantee that you like some of the works, but others
not…(DM)
Address: <inevitableplasma@hotmail.com>
MONOS – SUNNY DAY IN SAGINOMIYA (CD by Edition…)
Monos is the trio of Daisuke Suzuki (field recordings), Darren Tate
(electronics/guitar) and Colin Potter (electronics/mix). Sunny Day in
Saginomiya consists of two pieces, each of which is over twenty
minutes long. The first track is clearly based on field recordings:
one can hear the screeching of birds on what is probably a sunny day.
On top of this there are several other layers, one with a phaser type
of effect, another with almost synthy sounds, but all of a very
subtle kind, adding ambience to each other and blending very well.
The second track sounds very different, with bells and crackling
sounds in the center of attention, but also accompanied by other
layers, just as gentle as in the first track. And although this
sounds like a very different track at first, in composition it is
much like the first one: an ongoing piece without noticeable
fluctuations, a flow of sounds with a dreamy atmosphere, if not a
pleasant one. (MR)
Address: http://editionellipsis.hypermart.net
THE HAFLER TRIO – WHISTLING ABOUT CHICKENS (Double CD by Fire Inc.)
The new Hafler Trio at last. And a double one as well. This is one of
those to get a hold of: it’s been a while that I’ve heard such
quality. What we have here is The Hafler Trio in their best way:
working on sounds in a multitude of ways, combining everything in an
excellent way. All this comes in a very dandy cover with a booklet,
the texts of which elude me, as always with The Hafler Trio. But who
needs text if the music is like this. It takes you away and drops you
when it’s done: sheer abuse (and don’t I love it!). So what can I
really tell about this record? Well, for one it sounds more
electronic (as in: computer edited) than others I know by the Trio,
and secondly there seems to be more time in this release, more rest,
maybe also a darker mood, some gloom……Then again, the listening
experience is still what it should be. And in the end, that’s what
counts. (MR)
Address: http://www.fire-inc.demon.nl
BLOKE – MUSIC FOR ELECTRIC LOBE (12″ by Digital Kranky)
The bloke behind Bloke (sorry couldn’t resist that) is Yaniv Navot,
who is, I believe from Berlin. With his 21 years of age, he is quite
young but playing around with electronics since his mid-teens. His
techno influenced music is rather raw and untamed – must be his age.
Five tracks in total of a true rocking techno spirit. Tinkling
piano’s and ambient synths open ‘Walking Armchair’ but don’t let this
misguide you. Using besides the usual electric gear, also a guitar
and a distortion pedal, he crafts some nice true underground tunes.
Melodic like Aphex Twin, with a healthy dose of popmusic influences
and a nod to Morr Music. Nice one. (FdW)
Address: www.digitalkranky.de