CHAOS THROUGH PROGRAMMING – YOU BITREDUCED MY HEART (CDR by Push The
Button Records)
DUAL – PACE (3″CDR by Coombe)
DIETRICH (LP by Elevage De Poussiere)
JUNKO – SLEEPING BEAUTY (LP by Elevage De Poussiere)
ANTONIO FERREIRA – MUSICA DE BAIXA FIDELADADE (CD by Plancton)
JOE WILLIAMSON – THE UNGRATEFUL CARJACKER (CD by GROB)
TIGERSMILK – TIGERSMILK (CD by Family Vineyard)
THE UNSTABLE ENSEMBLE – THE LITURGY OF GHOSTS (CD by Family Vineyard)
SUB.TERRA (CD compilation by The Foundry)
FUJIYA & MIYAGI – REMIXES (CD by Massive Advance)
DIGITALVEREIN – INTERNAL COURSE (MP3 by Thinner)
INTERNATIONAL PEOPLES GANG – ACTION PAINTING (CD by T:me Recordings)
EKLEGEIN VOL.1 (CDR compilation by Eklegein Recordings)
DEAD LETTERS SPELL OUT DEAD WORDS – THIS CITY IS DEAD OR DYING (3″cdr
by Dreamland Recordings)
AIDAN BAKER – CICATRICE (3″cdr by Dreamland Recordings)
AIDAN BAKER – CONCRETION (CDR by DTA RECORDS)
DID YOU MEAN TO SEARCH FOR: CLIPART (CDR compilation by Slapart)
KIM CASCONE – BLACKCUBE (3″ by Anechoic)
VALERIO CAMPORINI FAGGIONI – MULTITEMPORAL SONGBOOK VOLUME 2 (7″ by
Unbearable Recordings)
BOOKS ON TAPE – HEY TYPICAL! (10″ by No Type)
JOYCE HINTERDING – SPECTRAL (CD by Antiopic)
DION WORKMAN – CHING (3″CD by Antiopic)
THE PHENOMENOLOGICAL BOYS – WHERE’S THE MAGIC IN THE MUSIC (3″CD by
Penthouse Hotplate)
TAMING POWER – FOR ELECTRIC GUITAR, CASSETTE RECORDERS AND TAPE
RECORDERS (10″ by Early Morning Records)
HOWARD STELZER & JASON TALBOT – SONGS (CD by Intransitive Recordings)
M. BEHRENS – SECURITY V. FREEDOM (Double Mini-CD by Edition …)
CHAOS THROUGH PROGRAMMING – YOU BITREDUCED MY HEART (CDR by Push The
Button Records)
It was very kind of Push The Putton Records to send me a floppy disc,
but unfortunally I have no drive to see what’s on the floppy disc.
Besides floppies they also release MP3s and CDRs, so now we are
talking. Chaos Through Programming are from Malmo, Sweden, and offer
eleven quite nice electronic tunes on a CDR with sometimes funny
titles as ‘I Hate Myself For Being Such A Narcissist’ and ‘How To
Complete The First Level Of Doom 2 In Seven Seconds’. Despite these
funny titles, musicmaking seems a serious business for Chaos Through
Programming. Taking their inspiration from anything on Warp to
anything on Mille Plateaux, from jumpy techno bits to parts that use
glitched bass tones and ambient piano’s (like in ‘I Know Buffer
Overflow (Better Than You Do)’. Chaos Through Programming does all
the style variations considerable well, but he doesn’t seem to make
up his mind which style suits him best. I think it’s the IDM/Warp
style that he works best in, and if choosing is something he wants to
do anyway, then I ‘d say he should explore that. (FdW)
Address: http://www.pushthebutton.tk
DUAL – PACE (3″CDR by Coombe)
Primarily a solo project by Colin Bradley (one time member of
Splintered), Dual was on the occassions that involved the recording
of this 3″ CD a duo, aided by Sean Reynard. This CDR, the first in a
series of archival digging, features tracks from Dual as a duo,
recorded in 1997. Usually I put Dual in the same corner as bands like
Main or Troum: exploring overtones via the use of guitars. Large
clouded fields of drones, drenched in effects. This might be the case
for the third and final track ‘Pyrrhic’, a twelve minute piece of
nicely flowing Fripp-like guitar patterns (that could easily be
mistaken by a synthesizer really). But the two shorter tracks that
open up this release, show more interest in rhythmical textures,
especially ‘Chpst:k’ have more percussive sounds, the guitar used as
the source for drumming This is a side of Dual that we didn’t hear
much of before, so that’s always nice. Three nice pieces, which
should not just appeal to drone-heads. Dual is about to play four
shows in Japan, so if you happen to be out there, go catch them. (FdW)
Address: http://www.dual.co.uk
DIETRICH (LP by Elevage De Poussiere)
JUNKO – SLEEPING BEAUTY (LP by Elevage De Poussiere)
I don’t like noise. It’s all the same and everything seems to be
repeated all the time. Boring, tedious, pathetic. I do like noise.
The loudness, apparent aggression, the live situation. Merzbow, Emil
Beaulieu and Borbetomagus. They all capture that feeling. When I saw
Borbetomagus live, they were the best noise act I ever
heard/saw/experienced. It’s quite around the two saxophone players
and guitarist, but out of the blue this solo LP by saxophone player
Don Dietrich appears. You may recall my aversion against saxophones?
Alright, that does not include such crazy playing at Don Diettrich
does. Six tracks, recorded live in his bedroom, on july 14th, 2002.
The cover lists tenor, gadgets and peavey. So I know what the first
and last are, but gadgets? What gadgets? Effect pedals maybe? There
are moments on this record where his saxophone sounds like the
rewinding of poorly recorded cassettes with the playback heads
against the tape. A dirty sound. A loud sound.This is a loud and
obnoxious record, with the only trouble that the pressing is not
really top.
The name Junko may not ring immediate bells, but she is/was the
singer of the Hijokaidan. This is the first time I hear her solo and
she uses voice, microphone and amplification and arrives at pretty
radical stuff. Junko doesn’t sing nor recite, she screams her poetry
in what may be japanese, but maybe is no language at all. At times
reminding me of Yoko Ono or maybe Diamanda Galas, Junko however takes
the proceedings a bit further. Solo scream voice. Almost like an
orgasm. The black label side sounds like the white label side, but
then reversed. Certainly, in terms of noise and otherwise, one of the
most radical records I heard in a long time. (FdW)
Address: <dustbreeders@libertysurf.fr
ANTONIO FERREIRA – MUSICA DE BAIXA FIDELADADE (CD by Plancton)
A CD by portugese composer Antonio Ferreira, with 8 of his
compositions, all recorded in 1988 in his own studio. Except for two
works: ‘More adult Music’ and ‘This is music as it was expected’ that
were both composed and recorded at the Sonology Institute in the
Hague (Netherlands). All tracks were restored and remastered for this
cd-release on Plancton Music.
Must of them were in 1988 on LP. Ferreira tried his luck first in
chemistry, but after hearing a record of Bernard Parmegiani he
discovered music was his thing. He started studies in 1986 at the
Sonology Institute in the Hague with Paul Berger, Konrad Boehmer,
a.o. Here he met american composer Rodney Waschka II who lend his
voice for several of the compositions on this cd: ‘More adult Music’
and ‘This is music as it was expected’. Ferreira uses computers,
samplers and synthesizers. In ‘More adult music’ spoken word is
prominent. Waschka reads or ‘performs’ a text that slowly gets
incorporated in an electronic context in a counterpoint way.
Other works on this originate from different ideas and concepts, that
makes this CD a varied one. All is done skillfully and with
dedication. It did not really appeal to me, but it will surely
interest those who are into the INA-GRM type of electro-acustic
music. (DM)
Address: http://www.planctonmusic.com
JOE WILLIAMSON – THE UNGRATEFUL CARJACKER (CD by GROB)
Williamson is a bassplayer from Vancouver (1970) now living in
Berlin. You may have come across his name on one of his many
cooperations: he played with Kletka Red, in several projets with Tony
Buck. With Sven-Ake Johansson, Evan Parker, Jon Rose, Steve
Beresford, The Ex, Tobias Delius Quartet, etc. One of his recent
participations is with the Boom Box of Thomas Bergmann. With vocalist
Alex Nowitz and violinist Jon Rose, Williamson has his own trio. So
he works in a great diversity of musical surroundings. He developed
himself into a much asked bassist on the continent for his unique
style. Williamson thought it’s time now for a solo-effort. Seven
improvisations that are all played in the lower and darker registers
of the bass. The improvisations are investigations into sound and
texture. Noisy drones are repeated in the third piece. Slowly
progressing patterns continue for 10 minutes here. It didn’t make me
very happy. The last piece on this cd nerves you for about 17 minutes
with very short notes and chaotic playing a la Agencement. A very
nice piece. For me it is the ‘tour de force’ of this cd. In his
technique Williamson leaves behind traditional techniques and he uses
a scala of new and alternative techniques. Does this guarantee
interesting music? No, other bassplayers do this as well. The
greatest difficulty with this cd for me is the fact that the
recording is not good. It could and should be better. Especially this
kind of music needs to be enjoyed live, but if put on cd, a very
clear recording is necessary in order to pick up everything what is
happening. And because Williamson plays dark and low notes, this
makes that the music is not so transparant for my ears. Alas. (DM)
Address: http://www.churchofgrob.com
TIGERSMILK – TIGERSMILK (CD by Family Vineyard)
THE UNSTABLE ENSEMBLE – THE LITURGY OF GHOSTS (CD by Family Vineyard)
I’ve said it in earlier reviews, but in my perception much is going
on in the USA considering improvised music. Many musicians practise
this kind of music, many labels release it. And Family Vineyard is
one of them. But my perspective on this is too limited to state with
great certainty that indeed the States are experiencing a great
creative uplift of improvised music. But if you force me to make a
statement, I would say it is indeed the case. Just give a listening
to the cd’s of Tigersmilk and The Unstable Ensemble and you ‘ll know
what I mean.
Tigersmilk is trio of Rob Mazurek (cornet, electronics), Jason Roebke
(acoustic bass) and Dylan van der Schyff (percussion). Van der Schyff
originates from South Africa but has his base in Vancouver now. He
played with Mark Dresser, Rene Lussier, Cor Fuhler, Dave Douglas, to
name a few. Clearly he belongs to the international community of
improvising musicians. Both Mazurek and Roebke operate in Chicago and
played with local and international improvisers as well. Mazurek is
leader of the Chicago Underground, in association with post-rock
groups like Tortoise and he is very involved in exploring
electronics. Their music has echoes of traditional jazz playing, but
moves definitely into new areas. We hear short but heavy eruptions by
the cornet. A very busy percussionist, using all kinds of little
percussion. Sobre and effective use of electronics sometimes in
combination with the cornet, sometimes resulting in a free form of
electronics. In ‘The Soft Releases’ we hear strange rhythmic patterns
by percussion and electronics. It is difficult to determine who is
doing what here. There is also humour in their music. Listen for
instance to the opening of ‘Secret and Mask’. The cornet plays a
theme in a humorous ‘wrong’ way.
The Unstable Ensemble present their second cd: ‘Liturgy of the
Ghosts’. What to think of a title like this…? This group from
Bloomington was formed in 1999 by Jason Bivins. Over the years
several musicians were part of the group. For this new cd the
ensemble is a quintet: Jason Bivins (guitar), Marty Belcher (soprano
sax), Joe Donelly (Baritone sax), Matt Griffin (percussion) and Eric
Weddle (no-input mixing board). Three more guests participate in some
of the tracks. All pieces were recorded live during the summer of
2001 in churches and libraries. The opening piece has some great
guitar work. Very nice sculpting in sound. Leaving space, room for
silence. Sparse playing, but speaking with a clear voice. The music
is also rough in a way. All this characterizes the music in general
on this cd. It’s a sort of chamber-impro music. Sometimes I imagined
it was Univers Zero improvising here. A rock-background is suggested.
Both groups are not involved in virtuosic and exhibionistic playing.
Both take their time in painting long and rough lines with sparse
playing. They are interested in investigating texture and sound. Both
offer some fascinating moments for those who are interested in new
developments in improvised music in the tradition of AMM and the
likes. (DM)
Address: http://www.family-vineyard.com
SUB.TERRA (CD compilation by The Foundry)
This is just one track, Sub.Terra, and remixes by four musicians
aswell as one remix by the artist of Sub.Terra. This is one John
Koch-Northrup, aka Interstital. He creates Sub.Terra by processing
his trumpet playing. It’s a nice, a bit jazzy piece. Not spectacular,
but the remixes take the track into a new territory. Vir Unis for
instance adds a nice dose of hypnotic ambient rhythms to the playing
and offers a nice trance like piece. Vidna Obmana, who has been a
keen collaborator with various musicians (such as Willem Tanke on
church organ or Serge DeVadder, a guitarist), knows how to expand a
single instrument into a rich tapestry of ambient sound. Majestic
atmospheric drones is his trademark, and his trumpet processing
aswell as the addition of other flute instruments work great here.
More beats are to be found in Saul Stokes’ piece, who, more then Vir
Unis, attempts at ambient techno. Beats and bass synth lines with the
trumpet being slightly remotely away. The most experimental take on
the material comes from M. Bentley (The Foundry label chef), who
takes the material apart and stretches it out. Here to ambient
prevails, but works in a lesser way then say the Vidna Obmana piece.
In the last piece, Interstital, takes the original again and the four
remixes and takes the whole thing further. All the elements return
but somehow this is the weakest piece of the lot. Too much of a
patchwork I guess and not taking it further. But all in all a nice
work overall. (FdW)
Address: http://www.foundrysite.com
FUJIYA & MIYAGI – REMIXES (CD by Massive Advance)
In Vital Weekly 320 I reviewed a 7″ by Fujiya and Miyagi, which was a
forecast of their debut album. I haven’t encountered the album yet
(which seems to be released however), but the 7″ has received some
extensive remixing. It all started by Andrew Weatherall and Keith
Tenniswood of Two Lone Swordsmen fame, doing some remixes and thus a
whole project was started. It’s hard to compare the remixes with
originals if one hasn’t heard the originals. Some well-known people
are involved, such as Christian Vogel, Wevie Stonder, Smylglyssna,
Chungking aswell as the Swordsmen of course. The sound of the total
remixes is surprisingely coherent, and almost sounds like an album by
one artist. Mostly downtempo songs, with lyrics that are hard to
follow (and act more like an instrument of their own) and
melancholical lines on keyboards. Not as popmusic inspired as the
Morr Music catalogue, it stays more in trip-hop cum krautrock
(krauttechno? if that would exist) areas. No particular standout
tracks here, just that they are quite nice. Lazy summer music in
general. (FdW)
Address: http://www.massiveadvance.com
DIGITALVEREIN – INTERNAL COURSE (MP3 by Thinner)
If you think that MP3 labels only consist of highly experimental
music that is so experimental that nobody dares releasing it, one is
wrong. Thinner is a label that focusses more on techno music and the
release by Digitalverein, aka Joerg Schuster, is both available as
download and as a limited CDR. Ten lenghty pieces of Chain Reaction
influenced minimal techno, with vocals… whispering vocals that is.
In ‘Face The Horizon’ the voice whispers ‘You Show Me The Way’
against a laidback dubby Detroit techno sound. Apperentely this is
Schuster’s first work with vocals, and I must say as a non-lover of
vocals, the way it’s done here it works quite nice. The dubby sound
is quite nice, but one may wonder if at ten tracks which are mostly
in the range of six to seven minutes it’s a bit of a overlong
release. Six of these (at any choice really) would have made a very
nice release, but now maybe it’s just a little bit too much. Let’s
hail that as the big advantage of downloading music: one can always
delete the ones that one doesn’t like and compile their own favorite
CD. (FdW)
Address: http://www.thinnerism.com
INTERNATIONAL PEOPLES GANG – ACTION PAINTING (CD by T:me Recordings)
You may or may not remember a label called T:me Recordings? At one
time – 1994-1997 – when ambient house was big big big, a high quality
label. Loads of good compilations and interesting albums by Woob and
Qubism. The label went brankrupt in 1997 (as far as I know), but
recentely re-surfaced and releasing a new album of the International
Peoples Gang. Their previous CD is something I can’t remember, nor I
don’t have anymore. The Gang are Martyn Watson and Ric Peet, plus
other musicians. Their new album is almost like a time machine back
to the big days of ambient house. The sampler is loaded with weird
samples, mainly vocal stuff, and the beats sound laidback and lush,
at times rocky (as in ‘Kids… Be Free’). Occassionally a real singer
is employed, as in ‘Fireworks’. This is not the sort of ambient that
labels like Hypnos or The Foundry are known for. This has too much
rhythm, coming techno and down tempo hip hop areas, but the emphasis
lies on the overal production. Samples play an equally important role
as the rhythms. Every hole of the sound spectrum is filled with
sound. There isn’t really much progress made here since 1997, but
hey, those old albums are hard to get, so why not continue? (FdW)
Address: http://www.internationalpeoplesgang.com
EKLEGEIN VOL.1 (CDR compilation by Eklegein Recordings)
Artists from Mexico, Spain, Ecuador, and Puerto Rico are represented
on this compilation of electronic music from the Mexican label
Eklegein. With a few exceptions most of the artists on this cdr are
new to me. All of the tracks have their own sonic personality, as the
compilation does not suffer from the common affliction of
indistinguishable tracks and poor programming. The compilation has
several stand out tracks. Vegetal Is has two tracks, one soft and the
other harsh, focusing on rhythm and noise similiar to Esplendor
Geometrico. Francisco Lopez untitled track is a sheet of reverbated
sound recorded in an underground water resevior, the ends suddenly
with a humorous answering machine message commenting on track.
Minuit’s composition is a pleasant blend of loops, abstract noise,
and guitar with an introspective feel. The cd ends with a massive
slab by Cornucopia of tones and pulses that move through space with
precision, and slowly arrive to a crescendo. A professionally
packaged and well organized cdr, reflecting a lot of care and thought
that no doubt went into its production. Recommended. (JS)
Address: http://www.geocities. com/eklegein_rec
DEAD LETTERS SPELL OUT DEAD WORDS – THIS CITY IS DEAD OR DYING (3″cdr
by Dreamland Recordings)
One would think from the title that the music on this ep would be
dark ambient. The music is very bleak, but it is a wonderful and
fascinating bleakness that Dead Letters conjures in this sonic
journey through a decaying city. Using atmospheric drones and organic
sounds of an indiscernible origin the music goes beyond standard
drone music due to the strength in its ability to suggest visual
imagery. The 20-minute composition is divided into 3 sections that
flow into each other, but are entirely distinct. Sounds akin to
descending down a sewer on an old trolley car, ropes dragging across
the rickety pulleys, mechanical insects crawling along concrete. Each
sound forms a vital component of the whole, with nothing superfluous.
Dead Letters succeeds in leading the listener through a cavern of
sounds that leaves you holding your breath. (JS)
Address: http://www.dreamland.antisound.net
AIDAN BAKER – CICATRICE (3″cdr by Dreamland Recordings)
AIDAN BAKER – CONCRETION (CDR by DTA RECORDS)
Another release from the growing catalog of Toronto-based guitarist,
writer, and drone meister Aidan Baker. Four tracks of ever shifting
drones, skillfully layered. The guitar-based drones are processed
almost beyond recognition while still retaining a hint of the metal
buzzing of the strings. Think of a softer version of Organum as a
reference point. The last track hints at melodicism, as the drones
come together and reach a tonal focus. As much can be said about
Baker’s full length release Concretion, which continues in the same
manner of skillfully layered guitar drones that have been processed
to remove any of the percussive strumming and picking sounds normally
associated with guitars. But here Baker also provides vocals,
blending in slowly enunciated texts to produce a wash of vocalized
drones. This is pleasant music to fill your environment. (JS)
Address: http://www.dreamland.antisound.net and http://www.dtarecords.com
DID YOU MEAN TO SEARCH FOR: CLIPART (CDR compilation by Slapart)
Slapart is mainly a MP3 label (aswell as movie files and pdf files),
but they also have some CDRs to sell. This one features musics from
Brooklyn (aswell as some from Cleveland and Saskatchewan) of artists
that are at least unknown to me. Most of these people operate in what
could be easily defined as ‘crude techno’ or ‘lo-fi techno’.
Technoids and breakbeats, all in a similar minimalist (meaning not
much melody) style. Towards the end the rougher edges of ambient
music is explored. Artists include people like N.Kra, Nicholas
Kramer, Made Not Found, Paradiso Rock, Hearts Of Darkness, Jon
Vaughn, Micheal Berk, V. Stevenson, So Red, Clone and Glomag. The
quality ranges from ok to good, without a track being outstandingely
good. (FdW)
Address: http://www.slapart.com
KIM CASCONE – BLACKCUBE (3″ by Anechoic)
The sixth square release by Kim Cascone, by now the leading man in
the world of glitch music and beyond. For this new work he uses a
Max/MSP software application made by Arun Chandra called ‘Wigout’.
While experimenting with that, Kim found out he had a nice bunch of
sounds to use and here are the six resultant pieces. Cascone’s music
is on a nice edge of ambient and rhythm, but doesn’t trap in
well-known holes of either of them. The music is mostly based on
loops, but isn’t really made as ‘dance music’, and these loops make
nice drones, which aren’t really made to chill out too. It rather
hints towards ‘musique concrete’, but the repeating character of some
of the sounds is probably something that wouldn’t come down very well
in the areas of serious avant-garde composing. The six pieces are
short and to the point, with nice small structures and never gets
boring (unlike so many others ‘who have a laptop and gonna use it
because we don’t care that much about ‘composing’). Like so many of
his previous releases in this series, this is like a snapshot, a work
in progress, exploring new areas. Nice work, as usual. (FdW)
Address: http://www.anechoicmedia.com
VALERIO CAMPORINI FAGGIONI – MULTITEMPORAL SONGBOOK VOLUME 2 (7″ by
Unbearable Recordings)
In Vital Weekly 371 I reviewed a 7″ by Valerio Camporini Faggioni and
hot on those heels, he offers a second 7″. Like the first 7″ he has
computerized voice and fucked up harpischord playing, and yes, it’s
still a novelty act, but at least the two tracks on this 7″ sound
more like a poptune. A novelty at that, but at least it’s slightly
more bearable then the first one. (FdW)
Address: http://www.unbearablerecordings.co.uk/html.gs.html
BOOKS ON TAPE – HEY TYPICAL! (10″ by No Type)
A previous release by Books On Tape was reviewed in Vital Weekly 361
and here is it’s follow up, a blue vinyl 10″ on the No Type label.
Books On Tape is Todd Matthew Drootin from New York and sometimes
works as/with Click Tracy, Dewey Decimator (with Kerrie KJerrang),
Sluts On Tape (with Eryk Salvaggio), Tape Science Version (with
Dustin Craig, who is also Headphone Science, see our last week’s
issue) and Box Social (with David Klotz of Fonda). As Books On Tape
he works in the realms of dance music, but always with a very healthy
dose of punk rock inspiration. The three tracks on this 10″ are up to
the expectations: a driving rhythm, packed with voice samples and
police siren like synths. Music for the rougher edges of dance
floors. The b-side ‘Track & Field Song’, which takes up the entire
side might be a bit long, and maybe it would have been better to do
four tracks instead of three on this record, and it would have kept
the energy level higher. (FdW)
Address: http://www.notype.com
JOYCE HINTERDING – SPECTRAL (CD by Antiopic)
DION WORKMAN – CHING (3″CD by Antiopic)
So, as far as I understand this, ‘Spectral’ is the sound element for
an audio/video installation by David Haines. Recordings were made in
the isolated wilderness of Bruny Island, Tasmania using custom built
antennae, recording magnetic fields, VLF recordings and weather
satellites. This sounds all quite interesting, at least on paper. The
VLF recordings are clearly recognizable (if you are familiar with
Stephen McGreevy’s work), but there is also buzzing of the kind that
you hear when you haven’t plugged in your equipment right. The third
sound element that is used is a kinda of short, looped sound, that
works like a sort of rhythm. Ok, these are the main ingredients for
your next hour. I have the strong impression that I have listened to
the same piece at least three or four times. VLF and humm fade in and
after a while the short, looped sounds come in, and then the latter
disappears. Fine, if this is installation music, then fine. But why
repeat it for the sake of filling an entire CD? A 3″ (like the Dion
Workman CD, see below) would have been equally great and certainly
enough.
Dion Workman has a 3″ CD with one of those transparant outer rings,
so it looks like a real, big CD. In a big jewel case, one could
easily be mistaken in the shops… Dion comes from Australia, but is
now a laptop nomad. His new piece ‘Ching’ is a typical Workman piece:
austere and radical. It works, what seems to me at least, mostly with
sinewaves. Starting somewhere below where no ear can hear, gradually
going up to the spectrum which makes your cats and dogs run from
house (luckily I have neither). To play this at a regular volume,
which is something I always do when playing music, is already asking
something of one’s tolerance. Imagine this loud and it will a
deafening experience. Once it reaches it’s peak, say after fifteen
minutes, one thinks it’s over, but the last five minutes are likewise
high pitched sounds, and it seems all the bass sounds have
disappeared. In all it’s simplicity and austerity with regards to the
use of sound sources, a very radical work. Like I said, a very
typical Workman piece… (FdW)
Address: http://www.antiopic.com
THE PHENOMENOLOGICAL BOYS – WHERE’S THE MAGIC IN THE MUSIC (3″CD by
Penthouse Hotplate)
A while ago I wrote about ‘outsider music’, in Vital Weekly 359 in
reviewing a record by The Hitmachine and something similar can be
said of The Phenomenological Boys. This trio from Boston operate, I
think outside rules of making music. Even when they have drum,
keyboards, guitar and vocals, they play their own version of
popmusic. Angela Alden’s singing is not entirely perfect (to say the
least) and sometimes the melodies are also a bit false. They easily
go from punk to West Side Story to Beach Boys to electronic music. In
some seventeen minutes they play seven songs. Seven short songs, each
which it’s own unique character. ‘I Stab Girls’ could be punk, but
isn’t. ‘What Makes A White Man White?’ ends with some Mary Ford (from
Les Paul that is) singing, but out of tune. Quality or perfection are
not words that apply to this, but words as originality and weirdness
do. The magic in the music lies in self-expression, against all
current trends or hypes. Nice printed cover by Knust (from Nijmegen
and not Nijmegan as the blurb says!) and designed by Mr. Meeuw and
part of a whole series. Look out for more weirdness on this label.
(FdW)
Address: <penthouse_hotplate@gmx.net>
TAMING POWER – FOR ELECTRIC GUITAR, CASSETTE RECORDERS AND TAPE
RECORDERS (10″ by Early Morning Records)
This is the third and final release by Taming Power that deals with
the sound of electric guitar and magnetic tapes. I assume this is a
kind of system that was developped by Robert Fripp. You start playing
some tunes, the reel to reels pick them up and repeat them. When you
continue to play the sound will accumulate. The side long piece on
side a is an example of this. The piece slowly develops in a
hurricane like mass of swirling sounds, with towards the end phasing
sounds in Steve Reich style. The guitar sounds like a lot, but not
really like a guitar. It’s quite distorted. Compared to the records
reviewed in Vital Weekly 372, this is a much better work. The piece
is nicely structured and works nice. On the b-side we find three
pieces that are loosely improvised. The pieces on this side are
almost ambient like in approach, with delays and reverb. The guitar
tinkles away and simple treatments on the sound do a nice job.
Probably the best Taming Power record so far. (FdW)
Address: <earlymrecords@yahoo.no>
HOWARD STELZER & JASON TALBOT – SONGS (CD by Intransitive Recordings)
As many of you probably know, Howard Stelzer is the Man behind
Intransitive Recordings, a very fine label with a good catalog. Jason
Talbot is also a label boss: he runs Kissy Records. So these guys
know what they’re doing ou there. Their music may not be as familiar
to many of the readers of these electronic pages and thatv should
change. Stelzer and Talbot play tape players and a turntable and use
these machines distinctly as instruments, not only as sound
generators. Stelzer is able to generate the craziest sounds from
small tape players, simply by pressing the tape or the heads. Using
this and other techniques, he creates a rich palette of sounds. In a
similar way, Talbot uses his turntable not only to play records, but
as a body that generates sounds when (mis)treated in different ways.
The eight tracks on this CD vary in length from almost three to six
and a half minutes. They are all succinct, well structured and most
surprisingly: they are noisy and silent at the same time, allowing
for space and good timing. This is a weird but good experience, one
to be shared and one to be cherished. Good stuff. (MR)
Address: http://www.intransitiverecordings.com
M. BEHRENS – SECURITY V. FREEDOM (Double Mini-CD by Edition …)
A second release like this for Behrens, again with photographs by the
artist. And again there are two little discs with several pieces: two
older tracks on the first and four recent tracks on the second. The
older two tracks have a strong computer composition sound: sliding
effects and a certain glitchyness. I was rather surprised by the way
they sounded, not exactly what I would have expected from Behrens.
The compositions are strongly affected by the material itself and
therefore not entirely convincing. On the other disc however, Behrens
shows himself from his best side: simple and elegant pieces with low
drones and high feedbacks, mesmerizing tracks that make one forget
oneself, were it not for the subtle changes and manipulations. It is
quite strange how these tracks seem to be so much more simple whereas
they are in fact way more interesting and compelling. The fourth
track is especially interesting with its noise and bells. Almost
abstract pop……. A strange combination of music on this double
release, probably due to the seven year interval in its inception.
The second disc comes recommended! (MR)
Address: <fenton@stonehenge.wrek.org>