RALPH STEINBRUCHEL – CIRCA (CD by Line)
LES POULES – Prairie orange (CD on Ambiances Magnétiques)
JGRZINICH & SETH NEHIL – STRIA (CD by Erewhon)
ANCHOR (CD Compilation by Saag Records)
MOTOR – HORSE TRAX (CD by Top 40)
VIDNA OBMANA – SPORE (CD by Relapse Records)
SKOZEY FETISCH – SPECTRAL FREIGHT (CD by Crippled Intellect Productions)
RESEARCH CENTER FOR THE DEFINITION OF HAPPINESS (CDR by Absurd)
MIKA VAINIO – IN THE LAND OF THE BLIND ONE-EYED IS KING (CD by Touch)
TERRE THAEMLITZ – LOVEBOMB (CD by Mille Plateaux)
CODE ONE – Fourteen Parts (CD by Cloudfish Music)
JANEK SCHAEFER – BLACK IMMUNE (MUSIC FROM THE CASA DE SERRALVES IN
TWELVE PHASES) (CD by SIRR.ecords)
THOMAS KONER – ZYKLOP (CD by Mille Plateaux)
EPY – AHEAD OF THE WAV (CD by 2.nd Rec)
FORMATT – EXTENDED (3″CD by Robo Records)
LIONEL MARCHETTI – RISS (L’AVALANCHE) (3″ CD by Erewhon)
SOUN (7″ by Gameboy Records)
RALPH STEINBRUCHEL – CIRCA (CD by Line)
Ralph Steinbruchel is someone who still moves along side line of
electronic music. Hailing from Switzerland, he has been actively
involved in producing experimental music since many years, mostly
through obscure, self-released vinyl. Last year’s miniCD
‘Zwischen.raum’ (on Domizil) even won the prestigious Max Brand
prize. This new CD, for the likewise prestigious Line label, is based
upon a sound installation “zeit=”, meaning ‘at the same time’. All of
the sound sources are derived from rain sounds, but then heavily
processed. In the installation he used sixteen speakers spread
throughout a park. I am not entirely sure how these sixteen speakers
translate to the twelve, six minute tracks on this CD. Things hum and
crackle, like rain falling on a roof, on the windows or just on the
ground. With sound processing creating smaller and thicker clouds of
sounds, this work is surely one of the better inside the Line
catalogue and most defintely the best work of Steinbruchel to date.
Quite synthetic, but also quite warm at the same time. Highly
recommended laptop ambient. (FdW)
Address: www.12k.com
LES POULES – Prairie orange (CD on Ambiances Magnétiques)
In 1986 Les Poules debuted with the lp ‘Les contes de l’amère loi’.
This lp was rereleased in 2001 on cd and maybe it is because of this
that the members of Les Poules thought by themselves: ‘Why not make a
second work?’ Anyway Les Poules had some reason after an interval of
some 15 years, for sticking together again.
Of course differences between two albums are obvious and big. There
are more differences then similarities in my perception. The first
album has song-structured pieces. The music is extravert, loud, often
melodic. Quirky and jumpy saxplaying. Electronics are played by
keyboards. They sing self written texts.
‘Prairie orange’ shows in some aspects an opposite face: the music
now is very introvert, abstract and reflective. It has a non-verbal
use of voice.
Comparing both albums it is also possible to demonstrate or
illustrate a development that has taken place in the more
experimental regions of jazz and rock in the last 20
years.Conventional musical forms and techniques have been left
behind, due to integration of what radical improvised music and noise
music has brought to us. The focus is more on texture, colour,
musical potential of sound. For this purpose all kind of extended
techniques are discovered and used.
Another point is that the pool of Ambiances Magnétiques musicians has
many women amidst them. It is an important characteristic for this
scene that women form a considerable part of this family. Some groups
or projects have – intented or by coincidence – an all-women line up
(Wondeur Brass). This is also the case for Les Poules. In 1986 and
now in 2003 Les Poules is formed by: Joane Hétu (alto sax, voice),
Diane Labrosse (electronics, voice) and Danielle Palardy Roger
(percussions, voice). Together they succeeded in this fase of their
careers and development in making an interesting album again. In 9
pieces they evoke what they experienced being in a desert, a ‘prairie
orange’.(DM).
Address: http://www.actuellecd.com
JGRZINICH & SETH NEHIL – STRIA (CD by Erewhon)
This release is not really very fresh, but only arrived after I
reviewed it’s counterpart ‘Confluence’ on Intransitive Recordings,
which was reviewed in Vital Weekly 353. Grzinich and Nehil work
together since 1994 as Alial Straa, with various people, like Olivia
Block (apart from collaborations with others and solo work). Like
‘Confluence’ we are offered three lenghty pieces of drone music. In
the first two pieces they work together with a large group of people
producing resonating sounds, which were afterwards retransformed in
the studio. There the final work was conceived, by transformating and
layering of the sounds. The results are thick masses of music, which
in ‘Tome Gather’ reminded me of Cornelius Cardew’s ‘The Great
Learning’ (less the whispering voices). A massive choir of sounds,
rich of humming sounds of a hard to define nature – voices, sounds,
electronics? Who knows? The second group piece ‘Arboreal’ is more
crackling, of sounds being played by rubbing them, scratching etc.
The use of reverb on the individual sounds, gives a droning effect.
‘The Mirrored Corner’ is a strict drone piece, which include wire
drones from ‘the biotope installation’. Here the pure drones work
best, and remind me of the best Alan Lamb work. Together with
‘Confluence’ this makes a fine overview of their joint work. (FdW)
Address: www.radiantslab.com/erewhon
ANCHOR (CD Compilation by Saag Records)
Japan appears to be a hotbed of emerging, young talent in abstract
electronic music these days. Saag Records is an upstart label by 16
year old, yes I repeat, 16 year old Toshiaki Ooi that just released
its first album/compilation, “Anchor”, which contains artists from
around the globe. Several of the artists are affiliated with some
well know labels as M3erck, U-Cover and Schematic Records to name a
few. The compilation ranges from melodic and dark idm to beautiful
sound collage and textural ambient pieces. Some of the artists on
Anchor that have made an impact in the industry are Proswell, Ilkae
and Sense. Don’t let Ooi’s age fool you because his composition,
“energy in woods”, is one of the standout tracks on Anchor. “energy
in woods” is a well constructed folk/electronic track reminiscent of
the crispness of Gel, the playfulness of Takagi Masakatsu and the
folkness of Gel’s newest project, dorine_muraillee on Fatcat Records.
“energy in woods” contains filtered piano and bells, which float
around pleasant clicks and pin pricks that tickle the ears. Kiyoshi
Ono’s “rcta” contains tight and gritty beats that help mold his dark
melodies. Anchor’s monster track is Sense’s “simple jam”, which is
anything but simple. The track is filled with clusters of tones
weaving through thick, muddy dubscapes, piled on top of rigid beats.
Toshiaki Ooi seems to be doing everything right, as if he has been
making music and running his label for years. Saag is a label to
watch, as there will be more interesting releases in the future. Be
sure to check out Saag’s Mp3 label as well at
<http://www.deskelephant.org/>www.deskelephant.tk. Saag Records
should be placed in the record bin near labels like Active
Supspension, Progressive Form, Carpark and of course M3rck. Pure ear
candy! (GK)
Address: www.saagrecords.com
MOTOR – HORSE TRAX (CD by Top 40)
Maybe you, a dancehead, know Motor? That Russian guy who produced a
couple of great 12″s on Audio.NL and a self-released CD ‘Hexen’ which
the danceheads at Kompakt called ‘the most euphoric record on earth’.
Throughout his four 12″s for Audio.NL he slowly changed his style
from ‘Cologne’ to ‘Berlin’ techno. From Kompakt to Chain Reaction.
Then he announced he wasn’t into doing more techno music and did a
small 3″ CD of radio and TV cut-ups, which was a nice item, but an
entirely different world. Now Motor returns to the world of dance
music and continues where he left off with his fourth 12″ for
Audio.NL – Chain Reaction inspired techno but he adds a great amount
of musique concrete elements to his music – cell phones ringing,
sounds from the metro and what have you got (that I didn’t
recognize). He does this in quite an intruiging mood – very crude
fadings, completely changing the track either in favor of a more
dance rhythm or a sound collage. I am sure that this will be
upsetting the ‘Hexen’ lovers, but maybe will appeal more to the
Monolake fans, circa ‘Hong Kong’, but with the big difference that
Motor’s sound collages aren’t that ambient. It’s good to see this guy
back in the field of techno music, which is something I think he can
do better then just the radio and TV cut up (which was nice, but
rather mediocre) work from the last two years. ‘Horse Trax’ may not
be ‘Hexen’, but I like it. (FdW)
Address: www.top-40.org
VIDNA OBMANA – SPORE (CD by Relapse Records)
You know how these things go: you pop a CD into the player and it
starts playing. After a while you think: what did I pop in? This
happened to me while playing the latest Vidna Obmana. The forceful
rhythmpiece ‘Through The Collective Pain’ sounds so unlike Vidna
Obmana, that I realized much throughout the second track that I
actually was playing Vidna Obmana – most curious indeed. ‘Spore’ is
the second part in a trilogy of works dedicated to Dante’s Inferno.
Rhythm and guitar seem to be playing a big part here. Later on, as
the CD progresses, the more known ambient elements of Vidna Obmana
start pouring in, but I have the impression that Vidna Obmana
delivered his most forceful work since years (his very early hardcore
industrial days are not very well known, but maybe should be
re-investigated via a CD release?). Ambient industrial with a touch
of (pseudo) ethnic percussion, harking back through the entire career
of Vidna Obmana, including his work with people like Steve Roach,
make ‘Spore’ into one of the best works I heard by him. Vidna Obmana
doesn’t necessarily renew his sound, but combines his various
interests and matures from that. (FdW)
Address: www.releaseentertainment.com
SKOZEY FETISCH – SPECTRAL FREIGHT (CD by Crippled Intellect Productions)
I am sure I heard Skozey Fetisch’ (otherwise known as Mark C.
Jackman) 1991 release ‘Momma:key’ which was released by Silent
Records, but I must admit I totally forgot what it sounded like.
Skozey Fetisch has released more works on CDR, but none of them were
ever heard by me. So this new CD comes as a bit of surprise. On
‘Spectral Fight’ Skozey works a diverse palette of sounds, including
analog synths, radio, feedback, field recordings and even ‘a reworked
acapella performance’. Despite his love of analogue synths, I find
this album a good example of computer treated music, because I think
that all of his sounds might be analog, but they were treated on the
computer. Not that this is a problem or a negative qualification.
Skozey Fetisch’ work is much inspired by the more serious noise
artists, even when he doesn’t go all the way – luckily. There is a
certain abrassiveness in these tracks, crude elements, that even when
the overall sounds is collage like, and shifts back and forth in
volume, it’s still pretty much an industrial affair. It harks the
good ol’ 80s tradition of industrial music aswell as the
Oval/Fennesz/Pan Sonic influence (in for instance ‘Structures
Fandangled’) and he combines into something of his own. It’s a nice
album throughout, but maybe a bit over long. A track like ‘Solar
Fibrillation’ for instance drags on for some seventeen minutes, but
it makes it’s point in no more then five. Even when a CD can hold so
much music, it is not said that it should be filled throughout. With
a little more critical ears and a selective mind, this would have
been a great CD. (FdW)
Address: www.crippledintellectproductions.net
RESEARCH CENTER FOR THE DEFINITION OF HAPPINESS (CDR by Absurd)
This CDR compilation deals with the short-lived activities of the
“Research Center For The Definition Of Happiness”, back in july 1998.
For several days, various Greek composers and artists held various
art-activities, exhibitions etc. which also included the appearance
of CM von Hauswolff and Leif Elggren aswell as a contribution send by
Ralf Wehowsky (RLW). It would take too much space here to re-collect
everything they did back then, so let’s just stick to the
documentation – or at least the documentation of the audio part – on
this CDR. Most music come from Greek composers, such as Costis
Drygianakis, who has a loud acousmatic piece, or Nicolas Malevitsis
who pushes back and forth pieces of metal. On a likewise conceptual
level is Tiina Aste, who plays along a tape of the Sons Of God, and
he/she is also in a metal scraping mood. The Chonaros/Katsiani piece
is a collage of music – and it surely comes off as one of the more
musical pieces on this release.
Ilios (whose latest release was reviewed last week) has a short
droning piece with some far away cries (birds maybe). Like a plane
taking off. Carl Micheal von Hauswolff does a strange piece of what
sounds like a guitar improvisation, drenched in a bath of echo and
delay machines. Quite a contrary piece to his recent minimalist
dabblings with pure tones. The Illusionist is also from Greece and
has a strange piece featuring the sounds of a burning machine, backed
up with feedback. Strange music, also on the conceptual side, but
surely captivating. RLW closes the CD-R, who goes back to his early
P16.D4 days and reworks that in the usual RLW fashion: computer
treatments, but with sounds still recognizable. A bit of nostalgia
(meaning: I have to play some old P16.D4 again!). In all a nice
compilation, documenting surely an interesting happening.
Address: <absurd@otenet.gr>
MIKA VAINIO – IN THE LAND OF THE BLIND ONE-EYED IS KING (CD by Touch)
“Generally speaking, contemporary musicians produce too much stuff.
It is easy to do. But if you feel like sighing, “Oh, it’s another
Mika Vainio CD” self has anticipated such sentiments with the opening
track, a 2 minute blast which sounds like an angry animal breaking
free of its cage” – it’s what Touch says. With just his third solo CD
for Touch, I don’t think one can say he produces too many. I have
been playing this new CD a couple of times now, and the material
starts to grow immensly. At first I thought it to be a quite boring
CD, with half-baked ambient ideas and likewise rhythm experiments,
but the more I play this, the better the material gets. Vainio is
more on the edge of sound collage then his previous solo efforts, or
his work with Pan Sonic. Sounds and textures of varying mood
(although they are mostly darkly coloured) go hand in hand on this
CD. Upon close listening this CD reveals more depth then
superficially seems present on this CD. In some of these tracks, the
old Vainio is still present, such as in ‘Lumisokea’, with it’s
staggering sine wave experiments in a repeating drone mood. It’s only
the natural link to his new work. A track like ‘Se On Olemassa’ could
be horror soundtrack straight away. A CD that grows infinitely. (FdW)
Address: www.touch.demon.co.uk
TERRE THAEMLITZ – LOVEBOMB (CD by Mille Plateaux)
Opening with what I can only gather as being a completely contorted
bullfight between some obscure 70s pop soul diva ballad and a
portioned piano theme with hints of traditional Japanese rhythm,
Terre Thaemlitz continues to amaze and baffle. Lovebomb is a
fermented marriage between stimulated electronics and foreign
belligerence. With overtures of war imagery, this is Thaemlitz’s
voice among the minions, during a time of real world threat, reality
sets in with a soundtrack bathed in asexual dissolution. The
extensive liner notes aside, I decided to focus on the sound
structures to allow for maximum clarity, non-biased reckoning, but
please note that this record is a doozie when it comes to conceptual
impact. In usual style, the themes here take dalliance from
runs-in-stockings-like staccato repetition and robotic meandering to
silent passages and classic reinterpretation. The title track is a
spaceage theme, time travel perhaps suggesting a safe haven for its
audience from insinuated unknown evils. This is uneasy listening,
hardened by its genreless candor. Various samples are used to help
illustrate a simulated, deconstructed “doom”. There is a raw nerve
cut in two here, a sensitivity to its time, a questioning of the
larger
world self. There are muffled dictators and barking leaders all
hidden in scratchy vinyl grooves of time. Virtuosic piano solos fade
in and out of these blips of encoded messages. This is a record for
our time, a time that we will hopefully soon forget. Thaemlitz
sanctimoniously puts the fear of god(dess) right between our ears.
The warning signs
are all collected seamlessly on Lovebomb. The tick-tocking Ai No
Bakudan (Between Empathy and Sympathy is Time) seemingly exacerbates
my asthma. This is a mindfu*k, a grande collision between our Jenny
Jones speed culture and the reality that we should start burrowing
our asses beneath our cities’ subways. (TJN)
Address: http://www.mille-plateaux.com
CODE ONE – Fourteen Parts (CD by Cloudfish Music)
This cd is a typical example of an album that falls apart from all
categories and that is deemed – because of this – to be an unknown
little treasure. Not that the music is radically new and beyond all
description. Far from it. But it is not idiomatic or easy to
categorize.
Well then, what is it? As the title says we have here 14 pieces,
experimental songs. A suite of songs sung by Cindy Lubar Bishop.
Electronics played by Peter Girard.
Cindy Lubar Bishop sings in english and/or some other – maybe purely
imaginairy – languages. The project is about “exploring the
combination of text, abstract vocalization and song with acoustic and
electronic soundscapes”. Her voice is given often treatment by the
electronic hands of Peter Girard. This way the acoustic voice is
integrated in an electronic environment.
Carefully and well done.
Cindy Lubar Bishop introduces herself on the cd-cover as “a veteran
of the New York avant performace scene”. With “Fourteen Parts” she
debutes as vocalist. I would situate her in the neighbourhood of
Meredith Monk, but not in the minimal music tradition. Also there is
a connection with the work of Nicola Walker Smith. In 1991 she
released ‘The Garden’. An album of songs for voice and electronics.
Cindy Lubar Bishop has a past in the world of performance and
theatre. For example, in 1973 she was involved in the 12 hour opera
‘The Life & Times of Joseph Stalin’. For many years she wrote,
directed and produced several performance art pieces. Most of them
were presented in New York
Can’t tell you much about Peter Girard. He studied composition and
electronic music at Oberlin Conservatory of Music. He produced music
for films, tv, theatre, etc. That’s it.
Not a radical master of sound and noise. His electronic music is in
some way related with ambient music.
To conclude, the album is made up of 14 friendly songs, that differ
in mood and style. They deserve a good listening (DM).
Address: cloudfish1@earthlink.net
JANEK SCHAEFER – BLACK IMMUNE (MUSIC FROM THE CASA DE SERRALVES IN
TWELVE PHASES) (CD by SIRR.ecords)
The latest on Portugese label, Sirr.ecords is Janek’s Schaefer’s
phonographic swansong. This live recording begs to be played in the
dark with its dramatic edges, dips and sparse dusty corners. If you
threw this disc into the ocean it would most definitely float to the
surface of the currents. It floats with an eerie determination.
Experiments with piano and other foreign sound samples, there seems
to be a wealth of gadgetry tossed about subtly herein. At times a
ghostly heirloom soundtrack to faded familial memories, contorted by
time, driven by the urgency of discovery to dig past the surface.
There is perhaps a parade that’s gone by, in its wake having left a
chronicle of its pomp and circumstance. We are only allowed to
experience through another’s memory. This recording could easily be
illustrated by the visual works of Christian Boltanski. Schaefer
builds a narrative for a world gone mad and salvaging its bare
remnants. It’s quiet here and for only the echoes of structure have
been illuminated faintly. (TJN)
Address: http://www.sirr-ecords.com/
THOMAS KONER – ZYKLOP (CD by Mille Plateaux)
Shrill birds, bugs, twigs, rainforest and fire counter the dark
ambient passages which intro CD 1 of this two disc set of
collaborations with Thomas Köner. These natural field recordings are
the base of this first one-hour long work by Köner and Yannick Dauby
called Une
Topographie Sonore: Col De Vence. Deeper into what can be described
as an aural rainforest more threatening flying insects make
themselves apparent in the foreground. Percussive crickets and
continuous white noise streams lay a foundation for the cool balance
of electronic harmony. In the delivery, it is a bit hard to
distinguish between animate and digital with created sounds preempted
from those found. The unknowns of process make this a curious listen,
an open air microphone or the roar of the wind or one in the same. A
Frenchman narrates Euclide’s Les Elements in a sultry, simple way.
Call it minimalist
mathematics with sophisticated, textured treatments allowing one to
hear a multi-tiered, voluminous amount of goings on. This could
either be a travelogue soundtrack or an isolation tank symphony. Disc
Two takes an immediate u-turn. Des Rives is an urgent piece by Köner
and yann beauvais taken from an installation piece presented at the
Georges Pompidou Center back in 1998. What a thrill to be able to
finally hear some of these original pieces constructed for a visual
context and feeling their weight out of such space. A mechanized and
repetitive set of perky blips and rounded pops with the addition of
the sounds of traffic make this a tense and compact eight minutes.
Horns are manipulated in the crossfire of virtual road rage. The
voice samples walk us through this sound tunnel. The title track is a
2002 collaboration with Jürgen Reble from a live performance at the
Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Zyklop is a burst of low-fi
energies, its like a symphony for underground dwellers. This title
track is a dramatic score, cinematic in its form. Its ominous and
unsettling with a distinct motorized meter. Its got the weight of the
darkest depths of any Philip Glass opera without all the added
plinkity plonk bells and whistles. Bare building steam sonic
vibration a go go. The second track by Köner and beauvais is Tu,
Sempre, a temporal divide of aural elements for installation. The
spoken word meets a snake-like percussive rattle with a burgeoning
swagger. Consonants are woven and stripped into an understated
bio-history. This was originally presented at La Criée, CAC Rennes in
2001. The track has a distancing presence, an aura. The final piece
is another take on the title track, this time recorded live in
Frankfurt with the addition of the portentous sounds of jumbo jets.
This time around the set seems much wider, larger scale, more
inebriating. There remains a gnawing percussive, almost nervous-like
sequence of various samples that mostly hang in the midground with a
locomotive meets laser surgery overtone. The sound of patterned
layers wash out at times and make way for vibrant and wired sizzle.
By the end of the track I am rethinking this as an experiment in
reprise, but its resemblance to the version earlier on the disc
cannot be immediately recalled. This is a complete reworking on a
theme, and an apropos
finale to an exquisite set. (TJN)
Address: http://www.mille-plateaux.com
EPY – AHEAD OF THE WAV (CD by 2.nd Rec)
Third release from Austrian project Epy, that in almost a decade have
been experimenting and developing its own software and thus ended up
in a style that is claimed dance music of the future or disco of the
next decade. Sure there are great tracks for some sort of physical
performance. Though this third shot from Epy offers more than just
plain workout on the dancefloor. Epy has a quite remarkable fusion of
many different styles of music. Most clearly comes a sort of funky
electro expression giving the album an overall groovy touch. Tracks
like “Phony bell” and “Cymp ryde reply” give me the picture of late
Kraftwerk (the “Electric Café”-period) meets electro-legend Afrika
Bambaataa, in the way that twisted electro-beats have been cut into
an almost militant sort of futuristic minimalism. Other tracks are
far too abstract for any physical performance and more expressional
chaotic with clicking and tickling beat pulses floating in strange
deep jazzy soundscapes. When the sonic abstractions reach its
climaxes associations of earlier Autechre penetrates the chaotic
sound-spheres. “Ahead of the wav” goes well beyond just being
labelled dance music of tomorrow, even though
there certainly does exist some serious floorfillers among the 14
nicely varied tracks. (NMP)
Address: www.2-nd.com
FORMATT – EXTENDED (3″CD by Robo Records)
After various CDRs and compilation appearances, Formatt enters the
real world of CDs, via this lovely 3″ format. Peter Smeekens used to
create microscopic rhythms, but it seems that for this release he
found some ancient drum machine, which was treated on the computer,
creating a little bit of feedback and using some software plug-ins,
but which still sounds like an ancient drummachine. It seems to me
like Formatt has interest in doing some techno related music, which
is albeit totally undanceable, but has hints towards it. I must say
after his two CDR releases, I think this is the weaker brother of the
lot. The tracks sound a bit dull, like they were not really well
recorded, the ideas per track are bit weak, the whole thing drags on
a little bit too much, the variation between the tracks is not really
great. A bit of a bummer, this one.
Address: <roborecords@pandora.be>
LIONEL MARCHETTI – RISS (L’AVALANCHE) (3″ CD by Erewhon)
By now the name Lionel Marchetti might be known, through his various
releases on Intransitive, Ground Fault, Metamkine or his ongoing
collaborative work with Metamkine’s boss Jerome Noetinger. ‘Riss
(L’Avalanche)’ is not a recent piece, in fact it dates to 1990. A
text is spoken by a female voice, but unfortunally my french is not
that good that I can tell you what it’s about. I assume it’s about
coldness, snow and avalanches. Bird sounds and electronic processings
of whatever sound roll to you, like an avalanche of snow. With speed
gradually growing faster and faster, this is an evocative piece,
building quite dramatic in tension. The tension builts throughout the
piece until the final climax. It’s kinda hard to say how the
avalanche ends: in death or savior. However the poetic nature of this
work, also because of the use of voices, reveal there are more
metaphores, then just the one revealled by it’s title. A powerful,
miniature work. (FdW)
Address: www.radiantslab.com/erewhon
SOUN (7″ by Gameboy Records)
This record (one side only) ‘is one track made of one-hundred
individual pieces. Tracks were randomly assigned numbers as we
received them” the cover says. I could write a nice lenghty review of
who is all present on this 7″ but instead I won’t mention any names.
I think it’s sufficient to say that it’s almost an encyclopedia of
noise artists, with some unlikely appearances aswell (Bjork
related…). The concept, however, is great fun. All of the small
pieces last four seconds and are stuck together in maybe a random
composition, or maybe not. He who compiled listened with great care
to the pieces before sticking them together. The whole thing breathes
the ghost of John Cage, even when the sounds here are twelve times
longer then in his famous ‘Williams Mix’. A small record like this
also reminds the listener of such luminary projects as The Mixed Band
Philanthropist LP or similar records by P16.D4. Therefore ‘Soun’ is a
project that fits a long tradition and maybe comes to a natural
conclusion. It’s about time that the internet takes over for audio
exchange. (FdW)
Address: <mshiflet@hotmail.com>