TIM HECKER – MY LOVE IS ROTTEN TO THE CORE (CDEP by Substractif)
RICHARD H. KIRK – TWAT V.04 THE WAR AGAINST TERROR (CD by Intone)
ANDREY KIRITCHENKO – BEES & HONEY (CD by Zeromoon)
GI JOE KILLAZ (CD by Cobra Records)
ORA – AFTER RAINFALL (CD by ICR)
PAUL BRADLEY – TWENTY HERTZ (CDR by ICR)
COLIN POTTER & PAUL BRADLEY – BEHIND YOUR VERY EYES (CD by ICR)
PHIL MOULDYCLIFF & COLIN POTTER – SHELLFISH IN KETTLEBLACK (CDR by ICR)
BIG CITY ORCHESTRA – MOISTURE (CDR by Reduktive Musiken)
TIM CAITLIN – SLOW TWITCH (CD by Dr Jim’ Records)
PLANKTON – CELESTIAL PAD (12″ by Digital Kranky)
DOUGHNUT DONGLE – FRESH FOR YOU (CDR by Digital Kranky)
JACKIE-O-MOTHERFUCKER – THE MAGICK FIRE MUSIC/WOW (2CD by ATP Recordings)
FREIE HAND (CDR by Reduktive Musiken)
JONATHAN WRIGHT – AI UI AI (CDR by Evelyn Records)
CULVER – METAL BREAST (CDR by Evelyn Records)
MINMAE – REMEMBER THESE CHORDS IN THE MORNING (CDR by Evelyn Records)
OPAQUE – COSMETIC (CDR by Evelyn Records)
STREETLIGHTUNIT – MERRY XMAS (CDR by Evelyn Records)
ID – FROM CAUSE TO EFFECT (CDR by Evelyn Records)
MIDWICH – NATURAL WASTAGE (CDR by Evelyn Records)
SON OF MUMRAH – SUCH A WASTE (CDR by Evelyn Records)
JAMES P KEELER – POLELIGHT (CDR by Evelyn Records)
PORCH – ][ (CDR by Evelyn Records)
POLMO POLPO – THE SCIENCE OF BREATH (CD by Substractif)
FHIEVEL – VERTRI DI CARTA (CDR by S’Agita Recordings)
KAR & TIZIANA LO CONTE – CHECK & SET (CDR by S’Agita Recordings)
ALESSANDRO FOGAR – TRANSMUSTATIONS (CDR by S’Agita Recordings)
CLAUDIO ROCCHETTI – BUT SPEAK FAIR WORDS (CDR by S’Agita Recordings)
DALE LLOYD – ELEMENTAL DIALOGUE (CDR by S’Agita Recordings)
FORMATT – EXEMN (mp3 by Earlabs)
POLYVOX POPULI 2 COMPILATION (mp3 by Nexsound)
ARC – FERAL (CDR by Arcolepsy)
THE BOOKS – THE LEMON OF PINK (CD by Tomlab)
MARKUS KUERTEN – SCHEUSALPUSIK (CDR by Bruit)
DANIEL MENCHE – BEAUTIFUL BLOOD (CD by Alien8 Recordings)
ILLUSION OF SAEFTY – TIME REMAINING (CD by Ossosnossos)
TIM HECKER – MY LOVE IS ROTTEN TO THE CORE (CDEP by Substractif)
The only previous work by Tim Hecker I heard was under his alter ego
Jetone, the Mille Plateaux release and I wasn’t blown away by it. It
was nice work of minimal techno, that lacked tension and originality.
His first album on Substractif, under his own name, I didn’t hear. I
must say it comes as a suprise this new CDEP. Hecker is not on his
minimal techno trip, but rather plays his own version of
plunderphonics. Apperentely he takes samples of popmusic from the
eighties and mixes them with other samples of interviews and concert
announcements. Guitar chords play an important role, but he processes
them into a loud wall of noise. It’s jagged music, distorted to the
bone, but still recognizable as a pisstake on popmusic. It’s a rather
violent version of Fennesz’ more poppy outings. This is music about
the sillyness of major popacts and the ludicrous behavior towards
their audience. It’s a pretty radical release, both in terms of music
and chosen subject. It makes me wonder about his other CD for
Substractif. (FdW)
Address: http://www.substractif.com
RICHARD H. KIRK – TWAT V.04 THE WAR AGAINST TERROR (CD by Intone)
It’s probably blasphemy, but I must admit I was never a big fan of
Cabaret Voltaire. There it is. During the last ten years I heard some
interesting works by Richard H. Kirk, such as his Sweet Excorsist and
Sandoz monnikers, but also works that didn’t much either. I think I
gave up a while ago, but upon the arrival of this new CD, I was quite
keen to hear what Kirk is doing now. The War Against Terror is of
course just another reason for more violence against innocent people,
more state control and more repression, if you are not with us you
are against us – that sort of thing. If I understand the cover
correctely this CD was recorded on may 21st 2002, probably in one go.
The six tracks flow into eachother. It works like many other Kirk
works: a voice sample starts, rhythm kicks in, more samples are added
(in similar tempo) and cross fades are made between the various
rhythms. Sometimes these rhythms are fed through some synths which in
return add a nasty, piercing sound. It’s good to see that Kirk still
holds on to this basic method, which probably didn’t change much
since the days of Cabaret Voltaire. It’s a crude, harsh and very
underground techno spirit he has. The rhythms are kinda slow overall,
and I don’t think this work is ment for a dance floor – unless maybe
a subterrean one. The homogenity of the sounds used, the same basic
idea throughout six tracks, almost fifty minutes in length, doesn’t
help much either. I think I still prefer Sandoz’ ‘Digital Lifeforms’
much more – light weighted, rich of sounds and ideas, whereas this is
crude, poor and distant. A good cause needs a good CD. (FdW)
Address: none given
ANDREY KIRITCHENKO – BEES & HONEY (CD by Zeromoon)
Now this is a really clever move: not so well-known artist releases
CD and to pitch sales he asks more well-known artists to send in
remixes of the material to be released…….This commercial angle
notwithstanding, Kiritchenko’s tracks (being the first five on the
disc) are not at all bad and they deserve the attention and the
company. I think his music can be described as ambient glitch:
washing sounds and clicks ‘n cuts on top. The atmosphere is pretty
relaxed but has a certain depth, so as not to get boring. There is an
interesting interplay between the sounds in the back- and foreground,
creating a rich texture of electronics. After the first three short
tracks there are two longer ones, track four a gradually changing
drony piece and track five an almost melodic one (the track titles
suggest a concept album, btw). So, onwards to the remixes: the first
is by Brian Lavelle, a very light affair with tremendous space,
sounds approaching slowly. Very subtle work, very well done. Next up
is Marcus Maeder with a very good piece, based on the second track.
It moves from atmosphere to atmosphere in a quiet but steady fashion
and has been put together very carefully. Scanner is next with a work
that is surprisingly exciting: a piece that gets denser over time
before it closes in a quiet manner. 833-45 is a name (?) I have never
heard before (maybe because it doesn’t seem to cling to my grey
cells) and that is a shame because the track they present here is
just as good as the others so far. This one is the first with an
overt rhythm and that seems to be the only problem with it: there is
not enough happening twith this rhythm to keep it strong for the
whole duration of the track. Other than that it’s a piece with a very
good sound texture andf a lot to listen to. Kotra is another unknown
name (to me) and is the second one with a certain rhythm: a steady
pulse is the basis under the first part of the track, then a break
and the track seems to get lost a little until the beat returns.
Violet are doing some heavy distorting in their remix (it makes me
wonder if this is a remix at all….). Sounds do not seem to stem
from Kiritchenko’s tracks but are field recordings with some
electronics on top (that’s probably Kiritchenko’s material then). A
very interesting and exciting piece, because it combines these two
different sound worlds. Well done. The Moglass seem to work in a
somewhat similar way as Violet, but a lot more subdued and with a lot
more FX added. At some points one is even able to hear voice and
instruments. This is the most psychedelic track so far. Kim Gascone
is next, with a track consisting mainly of hisses of all kinds and a
variety of clicks. This is a pretty ethereal piece, inducing a
somewhat lost state of mind (which seems to fit to the title ‘Dead
World’ …). Cray’s Moonshinermx 56 seems to be a more or less live
manipulation of the original material, using digital means to do so.
It sort of gets stuck in this manipulation and doesn’t develop into a
real piece which is a shame, because there is potential here,
certainly in the sounds. Last one is Freiband with an extremely
electronic remix, reducing the original material to shreds of what it
was and therewith building a very dense track of power electronics,
only not so loud…Then ending with a very nice tone. As a conclusion
I would like to say that this disc is without doubt a very good
collection of contemporary ‘ambient glitch’. Kiritchenko fits into
this category very well and has placed himself accordingly with this
CD. And rightly so, I might add. A good release. (MR)
Adress: www.zeromoon.com
GI JOE KILLAZ (CD by Cobra Records)
It’s probably blasphemy, but I must admit I never like rap. or Hip
Hop. or R&B. Except for some of the productional aspects of the
music. Otherwise I always think they are doing a worldchampionship of
saying all the dirty words in thirty seconds over some lame music.
There it is. Does this change if the band is called G.I.Joe Killaz
with a guy called Destro, a girl (sorry that should be bitch, but I
was raised properly) called the Baroness and the Cobra Commandor
doing the beats? Not really. Does it change when the Cobra Commandor
is called Tomas Jirku? It shouldn’t but it does change, at least for
me as a Jirku aficionado. I listened with a keen ear to what it would
sound like, Jirku doing hip hop beats, a bit of techno and acid
thrown in. It sounded nice, sometimes with the same lameness as other
hip hop records that occassionally see and hear on MTV or such like.
I even heard some funny lyrics in the raps. It seems to me a pisstake
on the real gangsta raps, ridiculing that a bit, so that’s always
good. Let’s hope they don’t kill the band members. Do I like this?
Well, I played it with mild enthusiasm and will probably give it some
more spins, but I don’t think I will ever be big fan of rap. Or hip
hop. Or R&B. (FdW)
Address: http://alien8recordings.com/store
ORA – AFTER RAINFALL (CD by ICR)
PAUL BRADLEY – TWENTY HERTZ (CDR by ICR)
COLIN POTTER & PAUL BRADLEY – BEHIND YOUR VERY EYES (CD by ICR)
PHIL MOULDYCLIFF & COLIN POTTER – SHELLFISH IN KETTLEBLACK (CDR by ICR)
Maybe to the superficially interested bands like Mirror, Monos and
Ora and all the various solo projects by members thereof (Colin
Potter, Andrew Chalk) may all sound the same. But to the real lovers
this ain’t so. Mirror deals more with drone music played on
instruments, Monos adds a lot of field recordings and Ora is the more
abstract of the three. Ora is a mixed company of people, including
Darren Tate, Colin Potter and Lol Coxhill, although I can’t be sure
since the cover doesn’t list any names. The music on this new CD
dates back to 1996 tot 1999. They should have been released before
but it was assumed that the masters got lost. They aren’t. Ora is at
it’s best here. An overwhelming but open drone sound, loaded with all
sorts of electronic effects, field recordings of water dripping and
manipulations of wind instruments. In five lengthy pieces they
display their quality quite well. In the title piece the waving sound
is connected to some sort of metallic percussion. In ‘Gnome Culture’
a guitar plays the main role and is almost psychedelic in approach
and in ‘Darkness’ a desolated saxophone imitates a cat in a likewise
desolated atmosphere. After a lot of hard to get CDR releases and
some limited vinyl releases, this may be the first proper
introduction to Ora. If Mirror or Monos are already your tea then I’m
sure that the more abstract drones of Ora will come down with you
quite well.
On the same label, but then as a CDR, comes a release by one Paul
Bradley, a new name for me and I don’t know much about him, besides
that he is from England. His five pieces do relate quite nicely to
the works of Ora et al, but have their own place in this particular
universe. It’s not music made with sine waves, as the title suggests,
but in a rather old-fashioned ambient way. Mostly relying on a wall
of synthesized sounds he paints a rather spooky sight. As a
counterpoint to these stretched sounds, he uses loops of sounds, of
various sources unknown, which act as rhythm but which fade in and
out. In ‘Overcome’ things reach almost a noise level, but it stays
within the right amount. Overall it’s a nice work, that bridges the
eighties industrial and the more contemplative drone music of recent.
Around the same time a collaborative album with Colin Potter was
released, with four long ambient pieces. Here it seems to come
together, the more industrialized sounds of Bradley and Potter’s work
with Ora, Monos, maybe even Nurse With Wound and his solo work. Both
synthesized sounds and environmental sounds (the latter being heavily
processed though) are blended together. A piece like ‘Decline’ has
siren like sounds, sea wave like synths and something that is a like
highly processed pool table game. These guys work in a strict minimal
way. ‘Flattered To Deceive’ for instance is a hardly moving, almost
static piece of music, but full of atmospheric tension. I think
musicwise, this work comes close to that of Mirror with sam, hermetic
closed sound. A great CD.
And then finally comes another collaborative work of Colin Potter,
this time with one Phil Mouldycliff, a person I never heard of
before. He is listed on the cover playing ‘audio debris field’,
whatever that may be. Colin’s work is down to ‘processing and mix’. I
have been thinking about this audio debris field – it sounds good, it
leaves something to imagine. Sounds from erased tapes, magnetics that
try to erase information from magnetic tapes, or any other form of
sound residue? It’s hard to tell by just hearing this. Maybe it’s due
to the heavily processings by Potter that the sources can not be as
easily recognized. There were moments when I thought of short or
long-wave signals, going through an endless line of sonic processing,
knitting them together in an endless string of sound. On this release
the pieces reach their longest duration, but keep on changing through
each of the three pieces. In the second piece (that might be called
‘In’) whispering voices against a chilling electronic background play
a role. Strange and compelling release. (FdW)
Address: http://www.icrstudio.co.uk
BIG CITY ORCHESTRA – MOISTURE (CDR by Reduktive Musiken)
It may have gone unnoted, but in September 2001 Big City Orchestra
toured Europe a bit and now, two years later, those recordings are
edited into a release. It’s kinda hard to tell what is what here, but
I believe track one to seven are highlights of various concerts and
tracks eight to twenty seven are the usual Big City Orchestra sound
effects (for those who do not know: on every Big City Orchestra CD
one gets a whole bunch of short sounds to be freely used – strange
though that there has been no project of people using them). To be
noted is also that this release includes recordings made at
Amsterdam’s Radio 100 on the night of September 11th, 2001, but it’s
not noted which track that is. Included are also tracks Big City
Orchestra (core members Das and Nina Pixie on tour, Rob Wortman and
Russ Kent supplied the backing tapes) recorded with Phil Knight (aka
Silverman of Pink Dots fame) in a camper along the river banks in
Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Maybe it’s due to his influence that this
particular Big City Orchestra is a more spacious one than some of the
other recent releases. The seven ‘tracks’ are lengthy jams of
synthesized sounds, swirled tightly together in a labyrinth of sound.
Big City Orchestra has covered many subjects inside popmusic, and
here they thread the paths of cosmic/kraut rock, and they do a good
job. And that library of sound effects keep calling for a remix…
(FdW)
Address: http://www.reduktivemusiken.de
TIM CAITLIN – SLOW TWITCH (CD by Dr Jim’ Records)
It is doubtful whether we should Tim Caitlin a guitarist, even when
his album, his first I believe, is full of guitar originated sound.
He doesn’t play the guitar in any regular sense, but approach the
machine with six guitars with fans and e-bows and creates his own
underworld of overtones. None of these four tracks were in any way
manipulated in the computer; it’s a rather ‘live in studio’ approach
Caitlin has, in an almost scientific way. Placing a fan on the
strings in such a way that only a few or maybe all start to vibrate
and to search were the nice modulating overtones are kept. The result
is a complex of sounds, minimalist – of course, what else could be
done – in approach, but which are an isolationist, ambient joy to
hear. It’s not clinical and cold as one would expect from a
mechanically played instrument, but it’s warm and feels like a bath.
Of course the idea to play guitars mechanically isn’t something new
(think Arnold Dreyblatt, Remko Scha or Shifts), but it’s still a
relatively unknown territory in music. Tim is a good discoverer. He
shouldn’t stay too long in there but find more and new ways also.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.drjimsrecords.com
PLANKTON – CELESTIAL PAD (12″ by Digital Kranky)
DOUGHNUT DONGLE – FRESH FOR YOU (CDR by Digital Kranky)
Releases on the German label Digital Kranky are indeed a bit kranky.
One guy named Christian, now living in Berlin, just released a 12″
with some strange, slow, maybe techno inspired music that was
inspired by his youth in a small village. It’s the kind of music I
have trouble with: it’s not very well recorded, it doesn’t have much
ideas of his own, it’s rather mininal but not intruiging etc etc. It
seems to be made by someone who wanted desperatly to have a record
out too, for the sake of releasing a record. Maybe it gets a spin or
two at an underground techno party, but you won’t catch me on its
dancefloor.
On the same label is Doughnut Dongle, which is not, as the presstext
says, from the USA, but one of the guys from Koenigjohannes (see
Vital Weekly 322) and someone else who forgot all the names he worked
under. They present themselves as fake rock stars on the cover,
including what kind of strings they have on their bass guitar, but
this release was entirely conceived on a few keyboards and
drummachines. Unlike Plankton, they have a much clearer idea of what
good music should sound like. They have a more downright inspiration
from techno and ambient music and know how to come up with some
decent tunes. Spooky in ‘Klopfen’ or downright uptempo in ‘Foggy
Frogger’. One may object that at seventeen tracks with a playing
length of just under seventy minutes, this is maybe a bit long
(what’s wrong with a good solid forty minute album?), but there is
enough fun in here. I could find some tunes here that would be doing
something on vinyl… (FdW)
Address: http://www.digitalkranky.de
JACKIE-O-MOTHERFUCKER – THE MAGICK FIRE MUSIC/WOW (2CD by ATP Recordings)
Now here’s a band that has gathered some fame through a well-known
music magazine who didn’t dare printing the entire bandname on the
front cover. I came across their name before, but I don’t think I
ever reviewed their works. The band was founded as two piece in 1994
and has released five LP’s (including two double), one split 12″ and
two CDs and now has a floating membership of twenty people. In
anticipation to their appearance at All Tomorrow’s Parties in April
2004, the label of the festival decided to release this double CD
which were released in 2001 as LPs by Ecstatic Peace and Fisheye and
went into obscurity a while ago. Both LPs, or should I say, the two
CDs have similar material: free jams of rock material that is less
hermetically closed as Godspeed You Black Emperor, more improvised
then Mogwai and less noisy then Sonic Youth. They sound alike the No
Neck Blues Band. Somebody plays a tune on say the guitar, and others
then start playing along or against that tune and during the piece
other instruments take over with a new theme or idea and the same
procedure is followed. Like the No Neck Blues Band, it’s music I
quite enjoy, having a weakness for this sort of loosely, somewhat
lo-fi improvised music, that sometimes goes on and on, on end,
without being a hippy myself. (FdW)
Address: http://www.atpfestival.com
FREIE HAND (CDR by Reduktive Musiken)
The name Freie Hand roughly translates as ‘Free Hand’, and is a duo
from Hamburg, consisting of Jan Ivers and Thomas Beck. The first has
a label called ‘No Records’ which apperentely releases ‘unusual
formats’ and Thomas Beck has the more well-known label Wachsender
Prozess aswell as his solo project TBC. They started Freie Hand in
1998 and they describe it as nonmusic. I think most of these pieces
were generated in a live manner, as the volume sometimes drops or
raises quickly. The interest of Freie Hand lies mostly in the use of
high pierced tones, played on a whole bunch of old synthesizers. The
material is not overal quite good – it’s more right moments then
right tracks. Their use of rhythms operate also on the brinks of
lo-fi industrialism, but here any sort of the raw power lacks. Only
in the fifth track (all five tracks last at least over 10 minutes) a
bit of musique concrete tension comes alive in the use of static hiss
and cracks. The release is a bit too underground to ever reach the
overground, which is a pity. A bit more thought would have certainly
been an improvement. (FdW)
Address: http://www.reduktivemusiken.de
JONATHAN WRIGHT – AI UI AI (CDR by Evelyn Records)
CULVER – METAL BREAST (CDR by Evelyn Records)
MINMAE – REMEMBER THESE CHORDS IN THE MORNING (CDR by Evelyn Records)
OPAQUE – COSMETIC (CDR by Evelyn Records)
STREETLIGHTUNIT – MERRY XMAS (CDR by Evelyn Records)
ID – FROM CAUSE TO EFFECT (CDR by Evelyn Records)
MIDWICH – NATURAL WASTAGE (CDR by Evelyn Records)
SON OF MUMRAH – SUCH A WASTE (CDR by Evelyn Records)
JAMES P KEELER – POLELIGHT (CDR by Evelyn Records)
PORCH – ][ (CDR by Evelyn Records)
The whole pile of releases on Evelyn Records looks like the eighties
cassette scene turning towards CDR format. White envelop sleeves with
stickers and simple xeroxed inserts. So far they released ten CDRs in
two different series. The first series is vague centered around
guitar music and organic ambience and the second series around
abstract electronica, drone and collage. Most of the artists have
releases on various other CDR labels too.
Series one open with Jonathan Wright and besides the title no other
information is given and no track title. Wright has released also on
Sunny Days Out. He claims to be using environmental recordings,
drones and loops. It seems that the drone’s he using stem from the
field recording – processed hiss. It’s hard to tell what kind of
field recording this is – it’s too vague to say anything about it.
This makes this thirty minute piece into quite a closed work but a
nice one. No guitars though.
Guitars can be found on the Culver release. Culver is a little bit
more known for his work and releases (on his Matching Head label) of
Reynols, Lasse Marhaug and EHI. His CDR has three tracks, and the
opener is layered piece of guitar drones. The second piece,
‘Collision’ has an acoustic guitar playing swirling around in loops.
‘Broadcaster’ has a few repeating loops of recognizable guitar
sounds, but lacks tension in the end. Especially that last track,
which takes up half the release, is a pity and leaves the release
only half good.
Behind Minmae is a US guitarist called Sean Brooks, whose previous
releases are on Rocker Racer, Blackbean And Placenta, Dogprint and
Blue Sanct. Nine tracks in just over twenty minutes is what he
offers. Sean also plays drums, bass and does the vocals parts. He’s
singer songwriter, playing simple tunes on guitar and singing. A bit
country like but in a sort of alright, lo-fi manner. In ‘This
Grateful Hour’ he uses sampling. And so this release swings back and
forth and lacks his own face.
Opaque have been reviewed before in Vital Weekly, especially their
releases on the Scottish Consume label. They are a three piece post
rock band of a more improvising kind. Their thirty minute excursion
seems to be recorded live and is a raw and untamed diamond. Fuzzy
guitar, pounding drums, occassional excursions in feedback. A very
free psychedelic jam session. One of the finer moments in free noise
rock.
The final release in the first series is by a London lo-fi guitarist,
who is also part of the streetlight Collective, ‘an improvised guitar
band’. For this release he plays acoustic guitar, violin, voice and
radio samples aswell as some live drumming. Maybe it’s the title at
work here, but the whole thing has a pretty intimate, lo-fi air
around it. Simple strumming on guitars, some voice humming. It’s like
being with someone in the same living room. He’s trying out some
tunes, and you are watching falling the snow outside. Both won’t help
making you happy, I guess.
The first release in the second series is by ID, a soloproject of
Ashley Davies of Project D.A.R.K. and C4I and he has a 10″ on
Speeding Across My Hemisphere. This work, one piece at forty four
minutes, was recorded with a champagne hangover after a Project
D.A.R.K. concert and uses a tone generator. The outcome of this
hangover is a minimal, beating and biting piece of music, with a
constant drive and changing pitch. Maybe it’s a bit too minimal and a
bit too industrial, but it has an overal ok feeling.
Also among the more well-known acts on Evelyn Records is Midwich, the
musical outing of Fencing Flatworm owner Robert Hayler. In his own
musical outing, Midwich does what he can do best: play minimal drone
music on a small bunch of synthesizers. This one piece release has a
simple organ tune, which is stuck to what it is, with the sound being
fed through maybe another synth or effect boxes and that’s it. It’s a
simple, but hallucinating thing. Towards the very end things go out
of control and the piece stops there. Simple, but trance enough.
The guy who calls himself Son Of Mumrah also works as Tungsten
Grasshopper, Hedren and Fencepost, but none of these names mean
anything to me. It seems that he makes his music creating ‘organic
samples processed through a laptop’. He does this in twelve tracks,
which are not very long in length, but which seem to explore one idea
per track – feeding any sound through some filters and that’s it. I
am quite surprised at the rather low quality of the recordings – this
is a CDR? and recorded with the use of a laptop? Why does it sound
like a cassette then?
‘Polelight’ is not the first release by James Keeler aka Wilt under
his own name (see Vital Weekly 348), but it’s a distinct breakaway
from his isolationist drone rumblings as Wilt and on his previous 3″
CDR. The sounds he uses here act as a ‘fictitious biography of my
experiences on the farm’ – and uses samples, found objects, handheld
tape recorder, microcassette recorder, microphones, guitar and
others. Fifteen short tracks of indeed a personalized form of musique
concrete, with processed sounds, that have more thoughts, ideas and
structures than in some of the other releases on Evelyn.
And then the final release in the second series is the first release
by a duo calling themselves Porch, ‘using keyboards, organic samples
and a variety of effects’. Their organic drones are of a more extreme
nature than the usual isolationists play. It’s at times quite noisy
and loud and do not lull the listener to sleep. As such it’s quite a
nice release, though maybe not altogether very original. (FdW)
Address: http://www.evelynrecords.cjb.net
POLMO POLPO – THE SCIENCE OF BREATH (CD by Substractif)
Behind the name Polmo Polpo is one Sandro Perri, a guy from Toronto.
He opened up for bands like Do Make Say Think, Pan Sonic and Oval and
has released a couple of 12″ on his own Audi Sesna label, four tracks
of which are now included on his debut CD for Substractif plus four
new tracks. It’s good to notice this, since the four tracks taken
from previous 12″s are a bit different than the four new tracks. The
‘old’ tracks are up tempo, spacious and minimal beat driven pieces of
music – maybe the good old Chain Reaction of Basic Channel
inspiration. But the addition of a slide guitar (or a sample thereof)
in ‘Acqua’ is a nice touch to the genre. The four new tracks are
shorter and less beat oriented. Here Polmo Polpo explores the world
of microsound. These are a bit ambient and are apperentely based on
processed guitars, slides and cellos. It’s a pity that they are so
short, because they sound quite alright, really. Now they act more or
less as intermission pieces between the more dance oriented pieces. I
would be interested to know which direction Polmo Polpo will choose
from here: both directions he explores well, and does nice stuff, but
not always new. To make a choice would not be a bad thing. (FdW)
Address: http://www.substractif.com
FHIEVEL – VERTRI DI CARTA (CDR by S’Agita Recordings)
KAR & TIZIANA LO CONTE – CHECK & SET (CDR by S’Agita Recordings)
ALESSANDRO FOGAR – TRANSMUSTATIONS (CDR by S’Agita Recordings)
CLAUDIO ROCCHETTI – BUT SPEAK FAIR WORDS (CDR by S’Agita Recordings)
DALE LLOYD – ELEMENTAL DIALOGUE (CDR by S’Agita Recordings)
Five new releases on Italy’s S’Agita Records, who seem to have chosen
for a new direction in cover design. All of them have similar shapes
and do not look as handmade as before. Luca Bergero is the man behind
Fhievel and ‘Vetri Di Carta’ is his third release (I don’t know the
other ones). Luca is not a man of many words I’m told and his music
shows that. His music is minimally made. Using just a few sounds,
culled from field recordings (birds is the only source one can
recognize at one stage), changing them endlessly via means of
software, his music hoovers on edges of silence. Overal there is both
a classical, almost Stockhausen approach in his compositions, but in
a modern approach of silence. Although it is possible to link his
music to people like Bernard Gunther and Richard Cartier, the most
strong influence seems to me Roel Meelkop. The same approach in sound
treatment and composition can be noted. Luca Bergero may or may not
be aware of this, so it’s probably unfair to call him a copycat. The
four pieces show a great talent.
Kar is a duo from Rome who team up with Tiziane Lo Conte, a singer
who joins them during live concerts. Of the two pieces on this disc,
the first one is a studio recording and the other is live. The studio
track is very short (just over two minutes) and too short to say
anything about it. It could have been a live piece aswell. The live
piece is an improvised affair, around (off and on) a rhythmic sample,
sounds that may come from a computer and voice that howls, groans and
is fed through some echo. Quite unfocussed music, without any tension
or good, skillful improvisation.
I’m told that most soundwork by Alessandro Fogar is for sound
installations, but this new release on S’Agita (he has some CDR
releases on his own) has seven pieces that are not connected to any
installation. The transmutations mentioned are all related to
chemistry connections (Pb 82, FE 26 etc.) and all last seven minutes
exactely. Fogar uses field recordings and computer processing for
them. All pieces can best be described as dark ambient music –
closed, densely layered pieces of music of dark atmospheric hummings.
It fits the dark edges of the Hypnos label, Vidna Obmana and Steve
Roach. Strong pieces of hermetically closed music.
The for me unknown Claudio Rocchetti is a live improviser, working
with electro-acoustic sounds. This is second release, after one on
Wallace Records. He plays around with his sounds (which also include
electric and acoustic guitars) by means of sampling and fiddling
about with laptop techniques. At times one is reminded of Fennesz and
the likes, and sometimes to more traditional improvising and
electro-acoustic musics. Five pieces with a total of twenty minutes
is about enough to serve as an introduction but it’s hard to say much
about it. It’s nice stuff indeed, but too short to form a well
founded opinion.
The only none Italian in this new lot of releases is Dale Lloyd, who
is known for his And/Oar label as well as the nice Phonography
compilations (and website). For his release he uses recordings from
fire, air/wind, earth, coal, glass to electricity and electromagnetic
fields. In the nine pieces Lloyd is mainly busy on the lower side of
audibility: very soft sounds, sometimes surprisingely unprocessed,
but in a collage form. It’s a bit like the Luca Bergero work, but in
the Lloyd release the field recordings remain the number one sound
source and at times recognizable. A strong work of field recordings.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.sagitarecordings.vze.com
FORMATT – EXEMN (mp3 by Earlabs)
Formatt is the project name for Peter Smeekens from Belgium. Exemn is
his 3 track ep for the growing library of mp3 releases on Earlabs,
and its one of the best ones yet. The sonic vocabulary is a familiar
one, composed of digital sounds culled from a laptop. But how
Smeekens articulates these sounds is what makes it work. The
compositions are short and focused, without the seemingly randomness
that plagues alot of laptop music. Tight use of repeating motifs help
give the compositions structure and forward momentum. The first track
reminds me of a mix of gamelan music and P16D4 in form and content.
The ep comes with a bonus remix track, that only will play using
Winamp, which I was not able to play. But judging from the first
three tracks, I bet its a worthwhile addition. (JS)
Address: http://www.earlabs.org
POLYVOX POPULI 2 COMPILATION (mp3 by Nexsound)
This compilation is the follow up to the first compilation, the
difference being that volume 1 was a CD focusing on artists from
Ukraine, while this second edition expands to feature artists from
Russia, Estonia, and Belarus and is released in mp3 format with a
pdf cover. This is a nice way to learn about artists that do not get
enough exposure due to their geographic locations. For the most part
the artists here work in the area of IDM/experimental digital musics,
and its quite a pleasant mix. All of the tracks display strong
compositions and enough individuality to encourage one to seek out
more of their works. Included are artists such as Eloshnye Igruski,
Klutch, Ambidextrous(who provides a pleasant track with his
unmistakeable analog keyboard melodies and who just now has a release
on BipHop), Novel 23, Infra Red Army (with a very effective track
based on themes by Henry Purcell), and other Nexsound stable artists
Kotra, the Moglass, Alphonse de Montfroyd, and Andrey Kiritchenko.
(JS)
Address: http://www.nexsound.org
ARC – FERAL (CDR by Arcolepsy)
ARC is a Toronto based trio composed of Aidan Baker on guitars,
woodwinds, strings, vocals; Richard Baker on drums, percussion,
guitar; & Christopher Kukiel on percussion. Their music is a mixture
of Popul Vuh acoustic compositions and dense, organic drones with
enthno rhythms. Feral displays some strong focused playing with
interesting textures. At times all of the instrumentation blurs into
a warm droney mass, probably do to the use of a battery of signal
processors and loops. It is very pleasant music, one to turn on and
space out too. The final track is the a wonderful appex to the
release, a long stellar groove to return you from your trip. ARC has
alot of ideas here, and while this was obviously recorded on home
equipment, I would like to hear what they can do in a proper studio
setting. (JS)
Address: http://turn.to/arcolepsy
THE BOOKS – THE LEMON OF PINK (CD by Tomlab)
This is the second CD by The Books, and I must admit, I didn’t expect
that to happen. The Books is the working principle of cello player
Paul de Jong (a Dutch guy now living in New York) and Nick Zammuto,
the laptop artist. Why I never expected this? It’s mainly the person
of Zammuto. He released an excellent CD on Apartment B, plus another
good one for Infraction and disappeared after that. By that time, the
first Books CD was already done. Since we still didn’t hear anything
from Nick, it’s surprising to see his collaboration with Paul
continues. That’s good news! They exchange their music via e-mail and
CDRs and which is put together by each seperate. The sounds they
exchange are mainly cello, guitar and banjo, which are a bit treated,
but never much, but they spliced out in small particles and then put
together again, adding voices or some extra sounds. The whole
laptopness of the first one, which was already not very present, is
even less on this one. The computer is mainly there to put the music
together, for small minor treatments (loops, reversing some sounds,
mix), but it’s nowhere a laptop record at all. Then what it is? Good
question. I would mumble: pop music of the future. Even when this is
mainly an instrumental piece (save for some of the voice samples,
some even in Dutch!). Nice little melodies, vague ethnic in ‘Tokyo’
or as close as it gets to popmusic: ‘Take Time’. This follow up to
‘Thought For Food’ is a great one. Let’s hope for two things: a third
release by The Books and the return of Zammuto solo. (FdW)
Address: http://www.tomlab.com
MARKUS KUERTEN – SCHEUSALPUSIK (CDR by Bruit)
So far Markus Kuerten worked for his two previous releases with Paul
Wirkus (see Vital Weekly 307), but now he has his own release. I,
with my limited knowledge of the German language, don’t know what
‘Scheusalpusik’ means, but what I do know is that this is a work of
extreme minimalism. The cover, just a flexible cd pack, with just a
sticker with artist name and title, do promise that and the piece
doesn’t fail. A simple, rhythmic piece of two colliding pulses are at
work for just under an hour. Maybe, just maybe with some simple
changes in tonecolour, nothing much seems to be happening. I don’t
think this is the kind of minimalism Steve Reich would have dreamt of
when he wrote his early pieces – they are a wealth of sound and
changes compared to this. It’s clinically cold work, but somehow it
has captured my attention. Waiting and waiting for something to
happen, but nothing really does. Mesmerizing some would say, but I
can imagine it works on someone’s nerves at the same time. Not an
easy work to access really, but then life can’t be easy all the time.
Do I like this? Well, give me some more time to think about that.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.bruit.de
DANIEL MENCHE – BEAUTIFUL BLOOD (CD by Alien8 Recordings)
Some weeks ago I mentioned that I hadn’t caught up with the recent
Daniel Menche works, so Alien8 thought it would be a good idea to
send me this CD, which was released earlier this year. ‘Invoker’,
reviewed in Vital Weekly 385, had an overall ambient character and
some weeks ago I wondered how Daniel came from an good noise artist
into more ambient areas. ‘Beautiful Blood’, recorded before
‘Invoker’, I guess, might be the key. In the two lenghty pieces,
Daniel starts leaning towards the ambient sound, especially in the
second piece, but certainly in the first piece, things are noisy,
like in his old days. Noise music according to Daniel Menche is never
the pointless hour of feedback noise, but changing patterns noise
works colliding together, eroding and rusty. I must say that the new
style by Menche, started with ‘Beautiful Blood’ and later on
‘Invoker’ is a beautiful one. Atmospherical, long drones, great
textures: let’s hope he stays around here for a while. (FdW)
Address: http://www.alien8recordings.com
ILLUSION OF SAEFTY – TIME REMAINING (CD by Ossosnossos)
This year we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the very first
performance by Illusion Of Safety and maybe by odd coincidence, this
CD is also the 20th CD by Illusion Of Safety. Twenty years ago, I
assume Illusion Of Safety on stage was Dan Burke plus a couple of his
friends who were member then (Thymme Jones, Chris Block, Jef Bek,
Rross Feller) and over the years, membership has changed but with Dan
to be the core member. Since a couple of years, all the studio work
is also done by Dan Burke, with no-one else on the side. Just like
the membership changes, the music is subject to change too: from free
improv industrial to techno to musique concrete to sound collage and
plunderphonics: all of these have been investigated by Illusion Of
Safety, and some with more good result then others. ‘Time Remaining’,
compact disc number twenty, seems for me to sum all of this up.
Somehow it reminds me of ‘Historical’, compact disc number one.
Drones, noise and sound collage – each seems to have it’s own place
on this CD. Whereas a lot of other CDs were in one direction, this CD
is in more places, sometimes even within one track. I was thinking
that despite the various tracks (each having their own title), this
is more a continious work, just one long piece of music, each track
flowing in the other. With this CD one can hear the experience of Dan
Burke, both as a studio musician and a live one – the sheer elegance
with which is this is made. Unlike many others, Illusion Of Safety
changes all the time, and comes up with something new, based on
twenty years of experience. Let’s hope there is a lot of remaining
time, for lots more. (FdW)
Address: http://www.ossosnossos.com
correction: The 3″ CDR by Palsecam is not released by Absinth Records
but by Polychephal. Their website is at: www.polycephal.terra.pl