(DHY 050) (CDR/LP compilation by Dhyana Records)
ZBIGNIEW KARKOWSKI – ELECTROSTATICS (CD by Post Concrete)
DAVID GRUBBS/AVEY TARE – SPLIT (12″ by Fat Cat)
ROSE FOR BODHAN – DECORATION MONSTER (CD by Deathbomb Arc)
LUSINE – CONDENSED (CD by Hymen)
ZEITKRATZER ENSEMBLE – MORT AUX VACHES: RANDOM DILETTANTES (CD by Staalplaat)
SATURDAY MORNING EMPIRES (CD compilation by Intr_Version)
DOORMOUSE – THE METHOD/FREAKED OUT MESS (2CD by Violent Turd)
MOLASSES – A SLOW MESSE (2CD by Alien8)
AUX (CDR)
CLAUDIO PARODI – 11’39″+5’00″=20’00” (miniCDR by Rabbia)
STAPLERFAHRER – SCSI VS ATA (CDR by Tibprod)
STEVE RODEN – SPEAK NO MORE ABOUT THE LEAVES (CD by Sirr-ecords)
CARLOS ZINGARO & VOICE CRACK – BA KAGPJA (CD by Sirr-ecords)
DISJUNCTION REUNION – MODERNISM FOR NEWBORNS (CD by Couchblip!)
WILL GUTHRIE – BUILDING BLOCKS (CD by Antboy)
MATTHEW EARLE/WILL GUTHRIE/ADAM SUSSMANN – BRIDGES (CD by Antboy)
MATTIAS PETERSSON – MIMER (CD by Fylkingen)
IN ALLER FREUNDSCHAFT (CD and book by City Living)
SURFACE TENSION (CD and book by Errant Bodies Press)
SKELETONS – LIFE AND THE AFTERBIRTH (CD by Shinkoyo)
PETER B. – THE SOUND OF DOVES IN A CAVE (CD by Shinkoyo)
SEVERIANO MARTINEZ – CLOCKS AND PSANDAS (CD by Shinkoyo)
ALESSANDRO BOSETTI & ANNETTE KREBS (CD by Grob)
OVE-NAXX – BULLETS FROM HABAKINO CITY HxCx (CD by Soot Records)
NATHAN MICHEL – DEAR BICYCLE (CD by Tigerbeat6)
(DHY 050) (CDR/LP compilation by Dhyana Records)
Labels do tend to celebrate when it comes to important catalogue numbers, number 100 of course being something utterly important. And of course they do something out of the ordinary. Dhyana Records couldn’t wait for number 100, so they have a little party at number 50. Their out of the ordinary approach isn’t really that way out. They invited 60 (why not 50 I wondered) artists to contribute some sound of approx. two minutes. Then the tracks are split: one is in the left channel and the other in the right channel. Ok, so it’s not entirely new idea (the oldest one I know is a 7″ by Chris & Cosey and John Duncan) but it works nice here, certainly because it’s such a massive load of artists at work here, in some many different music styles. Things range from punk, techno, industrial, noise, singer songwriters – all in that good Do It Yourself spirit that Dhyana is known about it. You can create your own mix with the balance control knob – not that anyone probably does. Some choices are indeed a bit strange, but it’s fun at least. Some of the names included are Tarkatak, Troum, Kpt. Michigan, Sack, F.S. Blumm, Panzerboy 666, Onq, Die Weltraumforscher, Hate To State, Jesus Jackson and as said many more. Celebrate a party… (FdW)
Address: http://www.dhyanarecords.com
ZBIGNIEW KARKOWSKI – ELECTROSTATICS (CD by Post Concrete)
The latest work of Zbigniew Karkowski is dedicated to Raymond Cass (1921-2003), who was an investigator in EVP (electronic voice phenomena), that is dealing with voice phenomena from deceased persons. He was very much into the occult and used radio equipment to detect voices from the other side. So for his tribute, Karkowski uses ‘detuned shortwave radio signals, scanner, direct output of an antenna, direct output of a transformer and stochastic resonance of white noise’. For much of his solo work, Karkowski is known to be a heavy noise bloke (although there are softer spots in his catalogue). Here, with the electrostatic crackles at work, it may be no suprirse that this is also a work of tour de force. Highly minimal, as Karkowski has the habit sit around and watching sound work on it’s own. As a composer he sets the parameters, feeds live signals into lively processors and only occassionally he changes the menu. The one piece, forty two minute opus is a very fine Karkowski work, especially those who love his more static (pun intended) work. (FdW)
Address: http://www.postconcrete.com
DAVID GRUBBS/AVEY TARE – SPLIT (12″ by Fat Cat)
After reviewing the CD by David Grubbs and Loren Connors week before last, I found myself playing some Gastr Del Sol work, the band with David and Jim O’Rourke, and found once again a lot of pleasure in it. So much to my surprise I can review another Grubbs work, this time solo in Fat Cat’s split 12″ series. Even when I like Gastr Del Sol, from the solo work of Grubbs I am always more attracted to his more experimental and improvisational works, than to the more poppy outings (such as the ‘Rickets & Scurvy’ album, which is good solid popmusic, but for me of lesser interest). The first piece ‘The World Brushed Aside’ is a piano solo piece, with a strong interest in minimal music. Nicely shifting back and forth. The other piece is music Grubbs made for an installation by Angela Bulloch called ‘Horizontal Technicolor’ and is a likewise minimal piece, but much more distorted and layered. Here the main instrument is a guitar (I think). Two fine works.
On the other side there Avey Tare, aka David Portner, the founding member of the Animal Collective. I must admit I never heard of them before. ‘Crumbling Land’ and ‘Misused Barber’ made me think we were dealing with a singer songwriter here of a more outsider world and didn’t make a very big impression on me. But the ambient piece ‘Abyss Song (Abby’s Song)’ had also vocals but are washed away by a very grainy synthesized sound. Almost like Stephan Mathieu being a singer songwriter. (FdW)
Address: http://www.fat-cat.co.uk
ROSE FOR BODHAN – DECORATION MONSTER (CD by Deathbomb Arc)
It certainly is hard to pigeonhole the sound of the bizarre project called Rose For Bohdan. Behind the name are Grace Lee and Brian Miller both from the Southern California. Beginning their explorations of dark limbo of indie, punk and collage noise back in 1999, “Decoration Monster” happens to be the fourth release. The double disc constantly varies a lot from acoustic instrumental noise rock, into drones of noise built collages just to name a few elements. At other times the expression more points towards old 70’s krautrock with a sort psychedelic approach to early avantgarde music. The complex noise elements have been infiltrated into a more musical expression meanwhile the weird hypnotic effects gained by the repetitive use of percussion once in a while give some associations towards the ritual sound of The Residents. Sometimes the music moves towards idm-oriented electronic music with the use of breakbeats. Second disc are more chill-out focused at times and overall more straightforward electronic compared to the more abrasive sort of collage noise on the opening disc. No matter what, “Decoration monster” needs some repetitive listening before you will be able to decide whether you like or dislike it. I turned out to like it… (NMP)
Address: http://www.deathbombarc.com
LUSINE – CONDENSED (CD by Hymen)
Los Angeles based sound artist, Jeff McIlwain, has been on the music scene under the Lusine-project since 1999. Originally from Austin the artist picked some musical inspirations from Texas, before moving to L.A. to start at the California Institute of the Arts, CalArts. Thirteenth shot from Lusine, titled “Condensed”, is not a new full-length album. It is a compilation of earlier works either released on vinyl only, on compilations only, or simply just unreleased materials. The sounds of the warm sunny California shines clearly through on “Condensed”. The rhythmic texture varies between tight electro-beats and catchy breakbeats familiar to the style of the British drum’n’bass-scene around LTJ Bukem. Underneath the rhythm-section there is a warmly kind of melodic ambience adding a good atmosphere to the album. Only a few passages on the album are intervened by more distorted noisy sound loops. Elsewhere the music is open-minded in its form making it easily approachable for a wide range of electronic listeners. (NMP)
Address: http://www.klangstabil.com/hymen
ZEITKRATZER ENSEMBLE – MORT AUX VACHES: RANDOM DILETTANTES (CD by Staalplaat)
The Berlin based Zeitkratzer ensemble is mostly known for playing acoustic versions of electronic pieces, and mostly by non academic composers, such as Merzbow, Francisco Lopez or Bernard Gunter. Last year’s visit to Amsterdam show them performing Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music. The ensemble conists of 10 persons, playing accordion, violins, voices, saxophone and tuba. When they set out in the VPRO studios to record a radio session, they for once didn’t play an outsider piece, but an insider one: a piece by Rainhold Friedl, whom I believe is the founder of the Zeitkratzer Ensemble. The ensemble set out to play ten pieces of circa one minute after which all the members changed instruments with the guy next to his/hers and then record the next ten pieces. Then it was repeated until they had about 100 different music pieces. All of these pieces consisted of improvised playing, although there were agreements, I think, on intensity. Back in Berlin Friedl selected the fifty best pieces and placed them on the final CD release (which is, it must be said, packed nicely: the cover is covered with lottery stuff which you have to scratch away, before you can read any information at all – another one to drive shopkeepers crazy) which you can play in random or shuffle mode, or programm according to your own taste – not an entirely new idea, Staalplaat already has Ios Smolders’ ‘Music For CD Player’ in their catalogue. However, keep in mind: can play in random mode, since Friedl made his selection too and that is, for the lazy listener like me, to be played as a composition. It’s a very condensed and layered recording of improvising instruments, with in most pieces some repeating elements, which add a minimalist character to the pieces. It makes this more than just another work of improvisation, more like a crossover between composition and improvisation, and therefore should appeal to more than just the lovers of improvisation. (FdW)
Address: http://www.staalplaat.com
SATURDAY MORNING EMPIRES (CD compilation by Intr_Version)
Compilations are a nightmare to review, sorry. And unfortunally there is no label in the world that has not released one at one point. Intr_Version is a Canadian label run by Mitchell Akiyama and on this compilation he compiles twelve exclusive tracks by people that either released before on his label or will do so in the future. While compilations are a nightmare to review, some of them are excellent showcases of what a label sets out to do. Maybe some people out there might think that Intr_Version is y’r next techno label, this compilation might proof otherwise. There is indeed some sturdy minimalist techno to be found here, by Tomas Jirku or Mitchell Akiyama. But it’s the songs which have guitars that is the real nice germ here. Maybe the biggest surprise is Mitchell’s own contribution: a weird breakbeat rhythm, singer-song writer vocals and cello’s – a fascinating and weird combo going on there. Guitars play also a role in the piece by Loscill, maybe in a less rocking way, but still and in similar vein in ‘Leave Me On The Snares’ by Joshua Treble. The Beans are closest to post rock, I suspect they come from the circles of Godspeed You Black Emperor. This makes this into a well varied and in many ways a surprising good compilation, proving techno and guitar oriented music can sit along eachother very well. (FdW)
Address: http://www.intr-version.com
DOORMOUSE – THE METHOD/FREAKED OUT MESS (2CD by Violent Turd)
A double-disc package from the owner of the Distort and Addict labels, based in Milwaukee, Winsconsin, going by the name of Doormouse. The first disc, The Method, comes without any song-titles. It contains a non-stop mix of forty songs, divided in twenty indexed snippets of sound. Works of Count Basie, Neptunes, The Monkees, Ravi Shankar, Venetian Snares, Squarepusher, Ministry, Kid Spatula, Louis Armstrong, Evolution Control Commitee, Senor Coconut, Tom Waits, John Zorn amongst others are al fucked-up in a one-hour rollercoaster ride. Does there exist at least one style of music that’s not included in this mix? The second disc, Freaked Out Mess, proves to be a more coherent listen, where harsh drum’n bass and digital hardcore are combined into straight-ahead songs. Most of the times the beats are knitted together so tightly that they’ve become too mechanical to dance to. To compensate, they’re nerve shattering enough to make you climb the walls. Freaked Out Mess does contain original, Doormouse penned material – in the vein of Squarepusher, Alec Empire and Venetian Snares – but the disc ends with a reworked version of Black Sabbath’s classic song Warpigs. Make that reworked with a capitol R. Intriguing. (RT)
Address: doormouse@37h3r.net or addictrecords@hotmail.com
MOLASSES – A SLOW MESSE (2CD by Alien8)
Coincidence? I listened to this third release from Molasses, the folk-drone project by Scott Chernoff, while travelling by train. It turned out that this double-disc 26-track album contains sounds from railway-stations and trains, letting the music and my surroundings become one. A Slow Messe seems to be about travelling indeed. Painting pretty desolate pictures of endless railways, highways or electricity poles in line. Yes, this is definitely America. More precise: Montreal – the Canadian city Molasses resides. Scott Chernoff belongs to the same scene as Godspeed You! Black Emperor and A Silver Mount Zion and members from these groups are featured on A Slow Messe. 26 tracks, but only one atmosphere. A strong point for anyone that is into slow melancholy Americana, full of somewhat nasal, nagging singing and mumbling, strumming acoustic (slide) guitar and banjo, a weeping violin and a crying saw – at moments backed-up by the beautifully arranged, moody outbursts of an orchestra. Therefore, not the Godspeed lovers but especially the Will Oldham and Songs: Ohia addicts should check Molasses out. (RT)
Address: http://www.alien8recordings.com
AUX (CDR)
Behind Aux we find probably Greece’s most active person in underground music, Nicolas Malevitsis (known from his excellent Absurd label and website) who plays toys, tapes and toy walkie talkie and Leonidas Panourgis who plays tape machine, shortwave radios, objects and microphones). After their first performance they were joined by Anastasis Grivas (contrabass and lamp) and Stylianos Tziritas (performing everything/anything) – on the same night! The four guys played what is now available as a CDR. There is probably a very spontanous outburst of musical energy to be detected here, but for the most part it seemed rather grabbed together, four people doing four different sounds, without too much noting of the others and what they were doing. Sad to say, but I found the whole thing rather uninspired. Maybe if you were there and witnessed what was going on, things would be put in perspective, but for the outside listener, it’s not easy to capture – to say the least. (FdW)
Address: <trogal@yahoo.com>
CLAUDIO PARODI – 11’39″+5’00″=20’00” (miniCDR by Rabbia)
Parodi has a long, long list of projects he is or was involved in, with many big names from the world of improvisation. But so far his releases is just a short list. This may change since he just started his own label, Rabbia. The first release has a strange title ’11″39″+5’00″=20’00″‘ but the thing lasts only ten minutes. Parodi uses feedback created and manipulated by an old fashioned equalizer, using the various sliders to change the various frequencies. He plays this live, I think, in a rather improvised way. Quite noisy is the outcome, but it seems to lack head and tail or indeed any compositional structure. Rather, it is what it is: a guy switching knobs on a equalizer for ten minutes. Fine and good that people switch knobs for ten minutes, but why has the outcome be released then, I wonder. With such a name, I wondered if it’s just a parody on improvised noise. Sorry.
Address: <cla.parodi@libero.it)
STAPLERFAHRER – SCSI VS ATA (CDR by Tibprod)
Behind the funny but untranslateable name Staplerfahrer is one Stefan de Turck, from Tilburg, The Netherlands. I believe he had various self-made releases before but this is the first time I hear him under the name Staplerfahrer. Working at home on macintosh computer he crafts together nice pieces of microscopic sound. The first three tracks are part of the Dead Scsi project on Radiantslab.com (remixes of dying harddisc). De Turck opens up the entire box of Pandora with all the possible plug ins and outs to transform the sounds he has – of whatever source we don’t know. Rumblings, cracklings and processed static and feedback sounds alike, everything is down in bath of time stretching and max/msp work. Along the lines of Fennesz or Kim Cascone, but with enough tricks of his own. Nice work. (FdW)
Address: http://www.tibprod.com
STEVE RODEN – SPEAK NO MORE ABOUT THE LEAVES (CD by Sirr-ecords)
Hot on the heels of his previous CD on Semishigure (see Vital Weekly 389) another new work. This time Steve Roden is inspired by Arnold Schonberg’s ‘The Book Of The Hanging Gardens’ – and to that extent even more the poems by Stefan George used by Schonberg. In three tracks Roden uses the text and sound in his own way. In the first one he recites or sings the text but syllable and the syllables placed in alphabetical order forwards and backwards. In the second piece the vowel structure makes up the score for striking five tones on a small chime. And then in the third piece the singing on the first track is combined with samples of the Schonberg work. This new work continues the recent Roden output which is more musical than before. Especially in ‘Airria (Hanging Garden)’, the first piece on the CD, there is a very musical thing going. Don’t expect things to be popmusic, as Roden has a very distinct minimalist approach to his music. Things move always at a very slow pace, but not as a bunch of layered sounds being nicely mixed, but rather as a nice musical flow. The closest Steve gets to his older work is in the second piece ‘Speak No More About The Leaves’ with it’s closely layered sounds of similar origins. But the line set out with his Sonoris release, earlier this year, the work of Steve Roden has gotten more and more musically and this one is no exception – a damm fine work. (FdW)
Address: http://www.sirr-ecords.com
CARLOS ZINGARO & VOICE CRACK – BA KAGPJA (CD by Sirr-ecords)
I am pretty sure I already wrote that I am quite big fan of Voice Crack, the duo of cracked everyday electronics, made up of Norbert Moslang and Andy Guhl. Besides being a duo, they play concerts with various improvisers around the work (in Poire Z, their work with Gunter Muller and Erik M, with Oren Ambarchi, with Jim O’Rourke, with Jerome Noetinger), so here they team up with improvising computer musician Carlos Zingaro, who is also responsible for the only traditional instrument on this CD: a violin. It’s not that this violin is easily detected from the scratchy, cracky and hissy sounds coming from all directions, but it seems to me that the overall sound was clearly inspired by the violin’s capacity to produce more stretched sounds – to avoid the word drone. It seems that sounds are closer together here, more clustered as it were to eachother, although of course this never ever becomes anything close to being drone music. Therefore the added elements of all sorts of sounds that are played by Voice Crack makes this into a much hectic thing than drone would ever be. Though the work is quite nice and well executed, it’s nothing more than that. That is a bit of a pity. The result is not more, nothing especially great or strange, just solid good improvisation. (FdW)
Address: http://www.sirr-ecords.com
DISJUNCTION REUNION – MODERNISM FOR NEWBORNS (CD by Couchblip!)
The traycard graphics are all hairy – but this release is smoother than a babies bottom as the title would imply. With tracks titled ‘thickwig’, ‘cockhead’ and ‘arse/face uplink’ you might mistake Disjunction Reunion for ‘net-porn but stay tuned as these Aussies will put curvaceous grooves in the rough spots and wind you around their tentacles of groovy static. This is a cross-breed of ambient electro and downtempo fun, slipping ever so cautiously into a bit of Mum and a dose of melancholy. The mania of ‘chunk2’ catapults sleepie clicks and cuts into a snare like rhapsody made for your heel and toe. This would be dance music if the Earth was a hexagon and air was infused with whipped crème. ‘Modernism for Newborns’ is equal parts experimental fun and fantasy – a peculiar space-tronic arcade. (TJN)
Address: http://www.couchblip.com
WILL GUTHRIE – BUILDING BLOCKS (CD by Antboy)
MATTHEW EARLE/WILL GUTHRIE/ADAM SUSSMANN – BRIDGES (CD by Antboy)
In Vital Weekly 389 I reviewed a mini CD by percussion player Will Guthrie, who played a work with guitar player Greg Kingston. I am not sure if the two CDs reviewed now, were released after that one – could be, but it’s kinda quick – or before. ‘Building Blocks’ is a solo work by Guthrie. He plays amplified percussion, objects, record player, feedback and motor based toys. It’s kinda hard not to see this in similar works by people like Jason Kahn or Eric Cook (Vital Weekly 389) – also drummers who record as solo artists. The difference here is that Will is more a direct in y’r face musician. Using overtones produced by using motors against cymbals is of course not something new, but it lacks the refinement of the Kahn or Cook. It’s not that of a problem though, because I like the rawness of the sounds included here. The compositional aspect is kind of not always there. In ‘Blanket’ for instance, Guthrie shifts over the place using various sound sources, against a backdrop of the aforementioned cymbals, but a consistent built up is not necessarily there. I don’t know if Guthrie is working in real time here, or via means of multi-track. The last piece is certainly live and is the most raw sounding one of the three. It’s an overall pretty raw disc, but quite nice.
The other disc is a trio with Guthrie on drums, one Adam Sussmann on prepared acoustic guitar (on the first two tracks) and electric guitar/electronics on the final track and one Matthew Earle on electronics – all three are the next wave of improvisers from down under. Apperentely they want to deal with constant sound and ‘a focus on the quality and placement of sound that can move in and out of one’s immediate attention’. Underneath the music, on all three tracks there are sine waves played by Earle, which provide a backbone for the others to do their more improvised things. Sometimes Sussmann bursts out in feedback and drones and this is almost a drone work. It’s stripped down music, music that rather takes a course, than a deliberate development. They sit around and control their machines and instruments and then let things happen. The results are dense and intense layered pieces of music. (FdW)
Address: http://www.antboymusic.com
MATTIAS PETERSSON – MIMER (CD by Fylkingen)
One of the more disappointing tourist things I ever did was drive a long way to copper mines in the middle of Sweden, which could be visited, but it turned out you could walk for a couple of meters, heard some water dripping and nothing else was to be seen. It was sold as a major local attraction… I am not sure if the fieldrecordings used on the CD by Mattias Petersson was recorded in a similar mine, although it is a defunct Iron Mine, in Norberg, Sweden. Let’s hope it has some more sound activity going on. In this work, the debut album by this guy who recentely graduated in electro-acoustic composition in Stockholm, he wants to capture the days when the mine was still busy and also the decay of the mine now being all silent and abandoned. I can relate to that. It is indeed at times a busy and hectic life underground and at other times it’s a more silent and contemplative world. Petersson uses per track one of nine loops selected from the original recordings which are treated with various techniques. I must admit, I didn’t think this was a particular strong work. It was quite cold and distant kind of music that never made any big impression, no strong movement or depth. It passed by without being noted too much. (FdW)
Address: http://www.fylkingen.se
IN ALLER FREUNDSCHAFT (CD and book by City Living)
SURFACE TENSION (CD and book by Errant Bodies Press)
Two publications with similarities and differences. They both have a CD and they both deal with ‘space’ in the widest sense of the word. The differences are that ‘In Aller Freundschaft’ has almost no text and similar styled music, and ‘Surface Tension’ has a lot of (theoretical) text and various styles of music.
The first one ‘In Aller Freundschaft’ shows us pictures of architecture and spaces, sometimes with people in it. The music here is made by twelve Italian djs and musicians, all from the electronic music scene in Torino. The music is all techno inspired, mostly minimal (without going too much in the clicks and cuts scene) and fits quite well the more or less empty spaces of the photos. Musicwise it’s nothing much new under the sun (and so might be the photographic part) but altogether it’s a nice made, hardcover book.
But reading is more fun, I think and Surface Tension has a lot to offer in that respect. The book discusses things about ‘space’ in relation to globalization, cultural identities and how artists react to that. Paul Panhuysen for instance is interviewed and it deals much more with his visual arts in relationship to public spaces then about his music. Furtermore there is an interview with Gordon Matta-Clark and an article on women artists’ groups in London in the 1970s or a piece on the toilet. Altogether 326 pages of text and images. More than you can read while playing the CD. The CD starts out with a ‘coughing piece’ by Yoko Ono from 1963 and kinda sets the tone for the rest of the CD. A mixture of fluxus like artists such as Bruce Naumann, Paul Panhuysen or Terry Fox to modern day composers such as Seth Cluett, Undo (the duo of Christof Migone and Alexandre St. Onge) and Atau Tanaka. Noteworthy pieces are by Anthony Moore, using various microphones in a room to make a recording, Frances Marie Uitti minimalist violin playing and processing, Bruce Nauman’s ‘Rhythmic Stamping’ and Seth Cluett’s piece of water music. Certainly a publication to keep you occupied for a few days. (FdW)
Address: http://www.spazio.org/cityliving
Address: http://www.errantbodies.org
SKELETONS – LIFE AND THE AFTERBIRTH (CD by Shinkoyo)
PETER B. – THE SOUND OF DOVES IN A CAVE (CD by Shinkoyo)
SEVERIANO MARTINEZ – CLOCKS AND PSANDAS (CD by Shinkoyo)
Here is a new label that has spent some time thinking of an original package: an envelop with something attached to the cover and packed in plastic wallet. Kinda handmade style, but of a high quality. Shinkoyo doesn’t want to limit them to just CD’s, but they also plan to release DVDs, paintings, cassettes, instruments and custome items. I am reminded of the good old days of Factory Records and Les Disques Du Crepuscule. The three releases so far are by people whom I never of. Behind Skeletons is Matt Mehlan, who occassionally works with other musicians. The CD opens with ‘The Telephone Rings’ and one assumes safety in microsound land. But that’s not all the case here. Matt uses laptop techniques to play popmusic; and he sings to it. It’s not the sort of voice I greatly admire, but the combination of synthesizer lines, voices and more computerized processing is quite fun. Maybe it’s like an electronic version of Jim O’Rourke’s ‘Eureka’ album: true pop music (not electro or robot pop, mind you) harking back to Vandyke Parks or Beach Boys, but, as said, in a more electronic setting.
Peter B. was a member of The Gongs and Mister Kilogram and released several solo albums. His solo album of Shinkoyo is kinda similar to the one from Skeletons. He uses analogue synthesizer modules patched to a computer and sings to it. The patterns played by the synths are not always in a linear way and chaos is always around the corner. Unlike Skeletons, Peter B’s music is less interesting. The songs are too similar and the sound is much outdated: I had the idea I was listening to an early 80s synth-song project, rather flatly produced and that is not a big challenge to the listener. A few songs are alright, but fourteen tracks is a bit much.
Martinez is ‘a conceptual artist from Canton, Ohio, who wrote two books, and is currentely working on a silent film and a supplemental audio album “The Dead Man”, based on the novel by Bataille. >From the press text nothing muc can be learned about this ‘Clocks And Psandas’: ‘is for early morning, empty rooms, actors seated on stools, opening false doors, lying in fake beds. Dance music for closing clubs’ – I hear three tracks of minimal rhythmical music, played on samplers. Maybe the samplers are loaded with the sound of clocks? Here too, just like Peter B. there is a strong retro thing going on. Electrical minimalism in a fine Crepuscule tradition going on here. A bit cold, clinical and distant but also at the same quirky and uptempo. Inspired by Micheal Nyman, The Lost Jockey and Piero Milesi – who they? (FdW)
Address: http://www.shinkoyo.com
ALESSANDRO BOSETTI & ANNETTE KREBS (CD by Grob)
Some background information on these two players first. Annette Krebs studied classical guitar in Frankfurt. She lives and workes in Berlin since 1993. As a freelance guitarist she crosses the borders between improvisation and composition. She is involved in numerous collaborations with musicians and groups in and outside of Berlin.
She did duos with Andrea Neumann (cd on Charizma) and Taku Sagimoto (cd on Slub Music). Played in trio-format with people like Andrea Neumann, Kaffe Matthews and Radu Malfatti. Also she released a solo-cd.
Krebs is also involved in several interdisciplinary projects with artists from others domains, like video, dance and literature.
Alessandro Bosetti from Milan (Italy) plays soprano saxophone and has his background in several ensembles of improvised and experimental music. In his acustic art he likes to move on the line between – what he calls – ‘sound antropology’ and composition.
As a saxplayer he developped a language that incorporates extended techniques, noises, and a strong influence from electronic music.
In july 2001 Krebs and Bosetti recorded some improvisations that are now published by Grob. Six improvisations, recorded in real time, show Krebs and Bosetti as musicians that leave traditional playing far behind them. If you don’t know what instruments they play here, it’s often hard to guess right what instruments they play.
Krebs and Bosetti focus on subtle, soft and non-significant sounds, as if they are very shy musicians. No dynamic playing but carefully building up structures with little elements, that’s what they are doing here. The music makes an introvert and reflective impression. This means that you really have to dive into this music in order to graps what is happening here. Because in their improvisations sound as such and noise are important they can be placed in the english tradition of improvisation (AMM, Evan Parker). (DM)
Address: http://www.churchofgrob.com
OVE-NAXX – BULLETS FROM HABAKINO CITY HxCx (CD by Soot Records)
NATHAN MICHEL – DEAR BICYCLE (CD by Tigerbeat6)
Ove-NaXx hails from Osaka, Japan. On his Bullets From Habakino City HxCx he has pasted four basic ingredients – traditional Asian music, loud distorted guitars, dub-influenced drum’n’bass and western classical music – together into an abstract half-hour breakcore kindergarten. Refreshing is that although this is a full-speed ahead, completely over-the-top album, the overall atmosphere is one of supreme delicacy. Reason could be that Bullets From Habakino City HxCx indeed sounds like it’s a kiddies-album, with its high-pitched notes and funny melodies, in a way comparable to the merry-tunes by The Residents. Classical schooled American composer Nathan Michel works in the same vein, although his music is more melodic. Fairytale melodies for children, again, but now combined with those from game-computers. With these two sounds’ Michel not only gives us drum’n bass but also pure pop and interludes full of even fusion-like electric guitar, peeling away it’s surreal notes over a meandering electronic background. Both this albums come with the highest possible recommendations. (RT)
Address: http://www.negrophonic.com
Address: http://www.nathanmichel.com