VROMB – RAYONS (CD by Ant-Zen)
H18 (CD by Helicopter)
TTRIOSK MEETS JAN JELINEK – 1 + 3 + 1 (CD by ~Scape)
HELLER – .09..03. (CD by N-REC)
ROBERT HENKE – PIERCING MUSIC (CD by Imbalance Computer Music)
TAKU SUGIMOTO – CHAMBER MUSIC (CD by Bottrop-Boy)
EINÓMA – MILLI TÓNVERKA (CD by Vertical Form)
SELECTIONS FROM GOODBYE, BABYLON (CD by Dust To Digital)
DUUL_DRV – FADE WITH CONSEQUENCE (CDR by And/Oar)
ANDREW DUKE – ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS (3″CDR by And/Oar)
MAGWHEELS/STONE GLAS STEEL – PANE (CD by Ad Noiseam)
MOLJEBKA PVLSE – DUHKA (CD by Isoramara)
HEATH YONAITES – ABYSSAL PLAIN (CD by Mystery Sea)
CORDELL KLIER – WINTER (CD by Ad Noiseam)
SECULAR MUSICS OF SOUTH YORKSHIRE – REPRODUCTION (CD by Bottrop-Boy)
SCREAMERS – MAGAZINE LOVE/CHOLO JUMP (7″ by Meeuw Muzak)
PRIMITIVE CALCULATORS – GLITTER KIDS/SIGNALS/LULLABY (7″ by Meeuw Muzak)
FELIX KUBIN/MARK BOOMBASTIK – I HATE ART GALLERIES/STELLE AM MUND (7″ by Meeuw Muzak)
RLW – MERRY MERRY/IHR KINDERLEIN (7″ by Meeuw Muzak)
GRIDLOCK – FORMLESS (CD by Hymen)
WEVIE STONDER – KENYAN HARRY EP (CD Single by Skam Records)
DAVID GRUBBS – COMIC STRUCTURE (LP by En/Of)
NOBEKAZU TAKEMURA – ETUDE (LP by En/Of)
ROB MAZUREK – THOUGHT FARMING (LP by En/Of)
VROMB – RAYONS (CD by Ant-Zen)
Canadian Hugo Girard continues his voyage into futuristic soundscapes of cold steel drones on his 6th release under the name Vromb. Having existed in a decade the brand of Vromb separates from the main part of the other artist in Ant Zen Recordings camp with his ambient approach to technoid sounds. If not totally beat-less the rhythmic textures seem so absorbed into the hypno-sphere that the overall expression is drifting rather than up-beat. As the title of this album reveals, the music are concentrated around different sorts of rays translated into sonic expression. Everything from sunbeams to optical rays have been generated and manipulated in the Vromb-laboratory of analogue and digital synthesizers. What characterizes “Rayons” compared to the earlier albums is the exclusion of the French spoken voice of Hugo Girard, which normally has a certain impact on the overall sound of Vromb. In addition to that the rhythmic texture on the album seem further suppressed giving more space to the ambient sounds of oscillating frequencies, static noises and pulsating electronic signals. Ambient listeners not familiar with Vromb should give the album a chance. The experience is quite
spectacular! (NMP)
Address: http://www.ant-zen.com
H18 (CD by Helicopter)
This is claustrophobic chamber music for our times. H18 has developed a pure drone of wind and metal that might irk the most radical sensibilities. This live recording was performed in Japan in 2000, produced by John Wiese. These mysterious laptop plus players take us on a journey on ‘Ice Epoch’ where we are participants in what might be an aerial view of the emptiest cities at dusk, complete with bowed steel and spirit. In 70+ minutes we are treated to two long playing sequences that levitate and hallucinate. Things get quiet and just slowly simmer in space as ‘Hidden Object Emission’ disintegrates to sleep. (TJN )
Address: http://home.earthlink.net/~johnwiese
TRIOSK MEETS JAN JELINEK – 1 + 3 + 1 (CD by ~Scape)
This may be the first refreshing collaboration/clash between straight ahead jazz and quintessentially spare electronics available for consumption. Jelinek’s work has always has an ear and a soul for the warmer, more jazzy side of electro, but here, while working with jazz trio Triosk the synergy is instantaneously kinetic. After sitting through some experiments by DJ Spooky and others on Thirsty Ear as well as some earlier ‘acid jazz’ experiments that went plurally into pop form, this is a perfect blend of simultaneous forms that feed spiritually off each other (no preaching to the converted here). They lead each other into the temptations of each others’ respective fields of sound and out comes a fusion of full-bellied bass, vibes for days and deliciously dealt with percussion – sometimes filtered and re-sorted by Jelinek’s electronic meandering, sometimes leading and soloing like a power jazz set. Save for the more experimental ‘out jazz’ heard on imprints like Thrill Jockey and Constellation, this is upbeat and the playing is a contemporary take on some traditional sounds ala Mingus and maybe even Grant Green. Some of the material is recycled from Jelinek’s earlier ‘ice compositions’ (released on Bottrop-boy) it is a seamless blend up against Laurence Pike’s suspended vibes, Adrian Klumpes lovely piano playing and Ben Waples completely floored double bass! (TJN)
Address: http://www.scape-music.de/
HELLER – .09..03. (CD by N-REC)
Fresh French label N-Rec, curated by Benoît Courribet, has released a new full-length recording from electronic duo Heller. The tactile vibration immediately reminds me of aesthetics in similar electro-indie labels 12K and the Bay Area’s Auscultare. The overall feel is minimal, yet rich in tone and color. This is no copycat feel, indicative of any French ‘scene’ though its deep austerity may create its own. The nine tracks herein are seemingly dated (categorized) with titles like ‘SPT02.2’ and ‘ETE02.3’. This may be post-glitch or it may be one of those types of in-between label/genre recordings that bathe in betweeness. The crunchy appropriations and soothing drones contradict and dance with each other. The melancholy atmosphere is heightened by percolating softened blips and smothered high frequencies. There is something hiding, waiting to escape, and the listener can only wait and not assist. Access may be temporarily restricted, but the dreamy techno play will have your brain twitching. ‘.09..03.’ is a bracing experiment in primordial alienation and its play on the invisibility of forgone sound instruments like the turntable reinvents its absence without its presence.. (TJN)
Address: http://www.n-rec.com/
ROBERT HENKE – PIERCING MUSIC (CD by Imbalance Computer Music)
Robert Henke (Monolake) has released a production of a decade ago. ‘Piercing Music’ is a one hour long piece that was recorded in 1993 and sounds astonishingly fresh and fluid. With the barest bones of ambient atmospheres Henke utilizes quirky bubbly sounds and various pitches and tones that are evocative of stepping dead center onto the set of Blade Runner. The statics and droplets create a restrained electric distraction and tension. This is music for the subconscious. With ‘Piercing Music’ you do not need a fountain or Japanese garden. This should be piped through an entire city as a public art work. At times it sounds like a brewing, boiling cauldron and suddenly I am in a rainforest and yet again I am lost in time with all sorts of weird radio-meter frequencies ala 60s sci-fi. This is a delightfully original take on modern ambient music, walking the important edge of the physiologically mysterious. (TJN)
Address: http://www.monolake.de/piercing.html
TAKU SUGIMOTO – CHAMBER MUSIC (CD by Bottrop-Boy)
The second release for Taku Sugimoto for Bottrop-boy is another ‘composed’ work. After his guitar quartet (see Vital Weekly 355), he now offers three works of ‘Chamber Music’ – the classical term for a works for two or three players (violin, piano, cello for instance). Taku chooses to name also quite classical, ‘Sonata For Violin And Piano’, ‘Music For Violin, Cello and Piano’ and ‘Dotted Music No.1’ (although I readily admit that sounds a bit Fluxus like). In the first piece the violin player makes a short scraping sound, with maybe irregular intervals – long gaps of silence appear, too long for doing a count – and irregular lengths (maybe not, again) and there is an occassional strum of a piano note. This minimal piece last half an hour, but it bears some audible sound throughout, if you don’t mind the occassional thirty seconds of silence. In the other two pieces sound seems almost absent – even when there are more instruments listed (more is less here for once). All three pieces are of an utmost minimalism – and one could begin to wonder: what’s next? Seventy minutes of silence with one note being played somewhere? Don’t confuse me rambling with being negative about the CD. Actually I do like this CD a lot, in all it’s sparseness, quiteness and austereness – even when there are more notes in the last minute than on the entire CD. Sugimoto is king of the acoustic minimalism. (FdW)
Address: http://www.bottrop-boy.com
EINÓMA – MILLI TÓNVERKA (CD by Vertical Form)
Percussion is alive and well and living through the new effort by Einoma. There is chant and other ethnic musics on ‘Khanin’. Liquid filters and other fairytale sounds gently help to shape the tone of this recording. There are a series of discontinuous beats and pauses and funky punctuations that recall some of the more recent recordings on the Bip-Hop label with a slight less formality and a broader sense of attention to the organic edge of their sound than on the former efforts. ‘Vetrarvelin’ meanders and dawdles through a patchwork of slow-motion kinetics. A pending implosion can’t be far as this teases the ear with swirling rough ends and unmetered frequency pops. Thoroughout ‘Milli Tonverka’ there are tribal and other classical electronic overtures that flawlessly create a multi-filtered charade. This is soft techno with a kick and at times you just want to snuggle right in, at others you may just want to risk it. (TJN)
Address: http://www.verticalform.com/
SELECTIONS FROM GOODBYE, BABYLON (CD by Dust To Digital)
Christianity is just not my cup of soup, like any other religion. I’m not against it, not an atheist or some such. If people are, fine, go ahead and never impose it on me, or start a discussion about the existence of life here after, god or some such. I will not argue. Period. This CD is a taster for a five CD filled with 135 songs, one Cd with 25 sermons and a 200 page book with Bible verses, notes and transcriptions for each recording. Included are field recordings, guitar evangelists, holiness string bands etc from the last fifty years. You get the drift. From the point of a (audio-) historician an interesting document, and so maybe if you are Moby or DJ Shadow (or sample to be them), but otherwise I am not sure what to think of it. Nice to hear, but it didn’t convert me. (FdW)
Address: http://www.dust-digital.com
DUUL_DRV – FADE WITH CONSEQUENCE (CDR by And/Oar)
ANDREW DUKE – ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS (3″CDR by And/Oar)
If you thought that the label And/Oar was mostly about field recordings (such as on their Phonography compilations), then these two proof you right and wrong. Right in the way that these use field recordings in some way, but they are processed to a certain extent, and not presented as clear, unprocessed events. Work by Duul_Drv, aka S. Arden Hill was previously available on 12K/Line and here presents material along similar lines. Duul_Drv does what some people denounce as ‘laptop ambient’ (and they don’t mean it in a very positive way): sparsely orchestrated software synth lines, with occassional and likewise sparse clicks. At times a deep bass thump. Bits of field recordings zip through the mass of ambiente sounds. It’s altogether a nice release, maybe a bit on the safe side of things, not aiming for something radically new, but operating in a safe genre that microsound can be.
Based on recordings made in cities, Andrew Duke has two relatively short tracks and one long one. The first piece is entirely based upon an one-second sound, being filtered, stretched, looped and otherwise electronically changed, whereas the recording of water is the basis of the second piece, which is quite noisy (and short). The final piece, over thirteen minutes long is also based on an one second sound sample, but it seems here just basically stretched out, with just a few minimal alternations going on. A bit too minimal for my taste, although it brings the work of Duke into different fields, away from the more rhythmic outings of recent. (FdW)
Address: http://www.and-oar.org/
MAGWHEELS/STONE GLAS STEEL – PANE (CD by Ad Noiseam)
Quite a surprise to see this in the mailbox. It’s a split CD with two bands. Magwheels, of whom I never heard, and Stone Glass Steel, which sounds like a cry from far far away. Their 1993 CD ‘Industrial Icon’ was indeed an industrial icon, at least in the areas where I was hoovering about, back then. It seems that Stone Glass Steel, aka Phil Easter, isn’t y’r Merzbow releasing type and that he is rather involved in mastering music, rather then producing it. So, this thing has seven original Magwheels tracks and two remixes of the whole Magwheels discography by Stone Glass Steel.
Magwheels is David Sullivan from Portland, Oregon and he plays guitar, pedals and samplers. One could easily classify this as another example of ambient music played with guitars, but the seven tracks are quite nice for a start, and they are also quite short – ranging from forty-three seconds to eight minutes. Each of the tracks tells its own story and there is a lot variety amongst these small, almost sketch like pieces. It’s where post rock and ambient industrial meet indeed, but the coloring is enough of it’s own.
Stone Glass Steel goes through the entire discography of Magwheels, but I only know these twenty or so minutes I just heard. In ‘The Last Rays Of Sunlight’, Philip opens up the whole black box of studio tricks and comes with a pretty strong, heavily layered ambient industrial sound piece that is quite close to the work of Lustmord. In exactely the same length comes ‘Paint Fire On The Window’, which moves along similar lines, however the sound is at times more fragmented and at others more rhythmical. Less industrial than I had in mind, this Stone Glass Steel, but for the lovers of this genre, this is a must have. Excelentely executed dark atmospheric music. (FdW)
Address: http://www.adnoiseam.net
MOLJEBKA PVLSE – DUHKA (CD by Isoramara)
The signs for this release where not very good. With previous releases on Old Europa Cafe and Cold Meat Industry, I feared this would not be my cup of coffee. “The group works with both electronic and acoustic instruments to create hypnotic meditative music” – it sure beats me what they do here on this release, which is exactely one hour, eleven minutes and one second long. Because it seems to me that this one piece drone trip comes entirely out of some synths, maybe a sampler and some computer doodling. Quite opposed to what I was expecting here with those labels as reference. Just one very long and very dark drone trip, maybe a bit on the synthetic side of things, which makes it remotely distant and alienated, but I assume it would appeal to lovers of Mirror, Ora or Monos, if course these lovers would step out of their normal routines and get something they don’t know. Yeah, quite nice. (FdW)
Address: http://www.moljebka.com
HEATH YONAITES – ABYSSAL PLAIN (CD by Mystery Sea)
Most of the releases on Mystery Sea are in some way connected to water, oceans and streams of sound. Heath Yonaites, who is a visual artist aswell as a musician from the USA, and whose ‘Where’ release was reviewed in Vital Weekly 327. On ‘Where’ he played the Charango, a small, fretted ten string andean lute. I am not sure whether this new release also sees the re-appearnace of the Charango. It’s hard to tell in this swirling mass of electronic sounds, which wash ashore or that are like a maelstream of plug ins. A thunder comes over, rain pours down, but inside it’s warm. Whatever Yonaitas put into this, instrument wise, I don’t know, but it’s indeed a trippy affair. The four pieces flow (pun intended) nicely into eachother and everything unfolds slow and majestically. Mysery Sea has built a fine collection of drone works by a varying bunch of musicians, and this new is no exception. (FdW)
Address: http://home.planetinternet.be/~chalkdc
CORDELL KLIER – WINTER (CD by Ad Noiseam)
Along similar lines as Duul_Drv (see elsewhere) moves Cordell Klier. He works under his own name, as well as names as Kreptkrept, OF or Monstrare and runs his own label Doctsect. Part of what he does as a musician can be classified as ‘click n cuts’, but he combines this with a love for ambient music. Although I assume mostly everything he does is derived from the computer and working with software – say, as opposed to using old analogue synths – there is indeed old fashioned warm synth sounds. It is, looking at it, an odd combination: cold cliks and warm synths. ‘Winter’ is maybe something of a concept album. Depicting cold, glacier like movements of sound, distant and alienated, but embedded in a warm bath of dark drones. Maybe at ten, considerable, long tracks it is a bit too much and some of the material is too similar, but overal quite enjoyable as a long flow of icy sounds. (FdW)
Address: http://www.adnoiseam.net
SECULAR MUSICS OF SOUTH YORKSHIRE – REPRODUCTION (CD by Bottrop-Boy)
With the odd exception I don’t like Retro. Electro music from the early 80s is fun, but there is no need to copy the sound with the exact synthesizers and drumcomputers, just get the old stuff (out again). So imagine my reservation against a CD called ‘Reproduction’ with tracks titles like ‘Circus Of Death’, ‘Almost Medieval’, ‘Blind Youth’ etc. Hold on, you may know this: its ‘Reproduction’ by The Human League, their first LP from 1979, even the track times are almost similar. Oh no, what is this? Behind Secular Musics Of South Yorkshire we find Mark Fell, known as one half of SND and one half of Shirt Trax (although after their CD on Or nothing much was heard from them). Here he is solo, for the first time. I do hope out of love for a good album, he pays hommage to it. So nothing retro about it – luckily. Mark takes computersoftware to treat the entire LP and make his own, reproduced, version of it. A hommage along the lines of Roel Meelkop’s ‘Favorites’ project of even Freiband’s ‘Homeward’ (the latter on Bottrop-Boy too). Mark is quite clear as to whom he is paying his hommage to (unlike Meelkop and Freiband), which make it even more conceptual (apart from similar track times, he has printed the lyrics in alphabetical order on the inside – not that he uses any). Musicwise he takes the familiar SND sound into a more abstract territory. Although it’s quite rhythmical, it’s not in any sense a dance oriented record. The beats stutter around, while in the background software synthesizes hack up the original sound. The less hectic and nerve wrecking pieces are most to my liking, tracks like ‘Circus Of Death’ or ‘The Word Before Last’. The radical changes in dynamics among the tracks is something I am not particular fond of. In his tribute, Mark doesn’t care that much about the tone of the original but is rather more interested in creating his own atmosphere for a particular piece, sometimes they match and sometimes they don’t. This is not an easy album to access, but it unfolds some beauty if you take your time. One thing that I didn’t understand where the images on the cover (DNA structures and a biological drawing), they don’t seem related to the original artwork. But maybe I missed that finer conceptual point. (FdW)
Address: http://www.bottrop-boy.com
SCREAMERS – MAGAZINE LOVE/CHOLO JUMP (7″ by Meeuw Muzak)
PRIMITIVE CALCULATORS – GLITTER KIDS/SIGNALS/LULLABY (7″ by Meeuw Muzak)
FELIX KUBIN/MARK BOOMBASTIK – I HATE ART GALLERIES/STELLE AM MUND (7″ by Meeuw Muzak)
RLW – MERRY MERRY/IHR KINDERLEIN (7″ by Meeuw Muzak)
Meeuw and I enjoy similar things, and 7″ vinyl is one of them; but he actually makes them. Apart from two 10″s and one 8″ release all of his releases are on 7″, big hole and always coloured. Music on Meeuw can either be serious art related or wacky and pranky. However with the release of Screams and Primitve Calculators, Meeuw adds something new to his class: old and forgotten synth punk/no wave music. Screamers where a band from the West Coast, from the late 70s and whom, to my knowledge didn’t release much when they existed. Mr. Meeuw has delved two live recordings from the concert at the Whiskey in Los Angeles from 1978. ‘Magazine Love’ is more punk then synth, but the flip ‘Cholo Jump’ has a synth/organ line that is crude and intens. Screamers are more punkrock oriented and the synth provides a wacky sound behind. The live sound makes it all the more intense, more intense, I’d say than Suicide. I am told a live double CD also exists.
I heard of Screamers before, but not of Primitive Calculators. Their LP from back then will be released on CD soon. Here too Meeuw releases three live pieces, recorded live at the Champion Hotel in Fitzory in 1979. Primitive Calculators are more synth than punk. They use synthesizers and rhythmboxes and distorted guitars and vocals – they particular remind me of Johnny Lydon in ‘Lullaby’. Both Screamers and Primitive Calculators are too early to put in the electro corner: both a much cruder and intenser than the more drier recordings of the early 80s. Indeed a forgotten part in music history.
Back to today brings a wacky and pranky record by Meeuw’s drinking partner Felix Kubin. he played, together with Mark Boombastik at the opening of an exhibition of Helgi Thorsson (of Stillupsteypa fame) in march. To upset the wine zippers the vocals are reduced to ‘I Hate Art Galleries’ (which brings Cultercide’s ‘Consider Museums As Concentration Camps’ to memory), but the backing vocals (by Klaus Oldanburg of Diskono and one Lucile Desamory) save it by singing ‘I Like Art Galleries’. A, in many ways, crude piece. A good way to end a night of an alcohol flued vernissage. The b-side is a studio piece is also by Kubin & Boombastik and sung in German. A strange song about desolation – ‘nothing is here’ and ‘get out of my dream’ – maybe the perfect music to end a hangover.
And in good spirit of the forthcoming holiday madness (I share with Meeuw a sincere hate for christmas), Meeuw releases a christmas 7″. On the a-side RLW’s daughter is sort of singing ‘Silent Night’, which is nice for an anti-xmass party and an audio picture of domestic life at RLW’s, but the better thing is on the other side. A remix of the a-side, in which the original is only faintly present. A strong collage of electronic sound aswell as something that can be played throughout the entire year. (FdW)
Address: http://www.meeuw.net/
GRIDLOCK – FORMLESS (CD by Hymen)
One late summer night back in 1989 some friends and I sat in a car on the way to some grindcore gig. As we sit in the car listening to the radio the Station runs a portrait of Richard D. James. Driving along the highway at sunset while listening to the soundscapes of Mr. D. James was a sublime experience. I was completely intrigued by the “Selected ambient works”-releases of Aphex Twin. Although the music was rather subdued the electronic soundscapes on these albums managed to stay alternately quiet and confrontational. Considering the talent of making dreamlike emotional ambience there certainly are some common grounds between Aphex Twin and San Francisco-based collaboration-project Gridlock. Gridlock is one of these artists that I have only followed on a regular basis meaning that I have only heard single tracks from the project on various compilations etc. But every single track that I have listened to, on any compilation ended up as one of my favourite tracks of that certain compilation. The unique ability of keeping one foot in the spheres of beautiful ambience and one in the dark territories of rhythmic power electronics makes this project somehow unique – and definitely one of the most underrated projects within the Industrial/power noise scene. There is a supreme balance between ambient beauty and harsh distorted rhythm textures. Take a listen to a track like “36:6:116” from the Masonic-compilation released on Hymen back in 2002, and you must be convinced. On this third full-length titled “Formless”, Gridlock have left the most extreme expressions behind giving more space to the eerie ambientscapes. Still there are lots of distorted chaotic rhythm textures on the album, but the melody is the driving force here. A variety of uniquely arranged soft and hard soundscapes provide a range of aural mood. The expression of Formless reminds me of something between the first selected ambient works-album of Aphex Twin and the harsh rhythmic ambience of certain tracks of Speedy J’s “Public Energy No. 1”. The sheer brutality have been suppressed on “Formless”, the rhythmic power electronics has disappeared. Still this is not pure ambient. Call it rhythmic Industrial ambient, IDM or whatever. No matter what this is an essential album!!! (NMP)
Address: http://www.klangstabil.com/hymen
WEVIE STONDER – KENYAN HARRY EP (CD Single by Skam Records)
Humor hijinx by these Skam residents. What a euphoric celebration of everyday banality! Funny guitars, cats licking ladies’ legs, cheese and bladders…one thing is clearer than crystal – these guys are kings of the dancefloor. Funky, flouncy beats are peppered with funny sprites and Prince mockery. There is some distant relation to the People Like Us posse – but this time around the sampled speakers seem to be less matter-of-fact and a bit more looney than the latter. On a record where there are inflections of high concept electronics to base faux folk they sing about making love like fat gay men and neo-nazi’s on speed. ‘The Rooney Man’ might recall Aphex Twin’s ‘Milkman’ for some in search of higher wisdom by way of a sinister smile and a slight bit of assumed confrontation. (TJN)
Address: http://www.skam.co.uk/
DAVID GRUBBS – COMIC STRUCTURE (LP by En/Of)
NOBEKAZU TAKEMURA – ETUDE (LP by En/Of)
ROB MAZUREK – THOUGHT FARMING (LP by En/Of)
Releases on the En/Of label always in sets of three, so they are always reviewed in sets of three, unfortunally. The concept might be clear by now: a gatefold sleeve with one LP or 12″ in one end and on the other an original, numbered artwork by a (reknowned) visual artist. More and more the series is discovered by well-known musicians who want to contribute, here in this new bunch of three people like David Grubbs, Rob Mazurek and Nobukazu Takemura.
David Grubbs plays guitar, some forty minutes long. Alone in desolation. Added (or is it aided?) with some reverb. Pure, and alone. Desert-like music. David sits there, plays his guitar and there is nothing else to see – not in eye-sight around. Maybe even for the Grubbs purists a bit too austere? I quite enjoyed it on this grey afternoon, sitting behind the computer and the central heating system humming nicely along. The record comes with a photo by David Shrigley.
More minimalism is to be found on the record by Nobukazu Takemura, of which the artside is a silkscreen print by Franz Ackermann. Takemura plays two unlikely Takemura pieces, both are are called ‘Etude’. The first is ‘Etude For Contrabass’, which is a beautiful but sparse played piece for several layers of contrabass. There are not many and therefore not really dense, but just enough to create a nice flow. The other side contains ‘Etude For Videoimages’ and this is also minimal (in the world of En/Of tracks usually are a side long). It consists of a few loops of which the origin is not very clear, at least not to me. Some water-like sounds, sounds of people walking, the sound of a semishigure and a lot of abstract electronic sounds. A bit unfocussed this side.
Something likewise is going on with the record by Rob Mazurek, of Chicago Underground Duo and much more Chicago related. His 12″ (spinning at 45 RPM) has an ultra minimal a-side, which comes close to techno minimalists, with a faint bass sound and reptitive layers of sound on top. The b-side is more noisy with a bit haphazard use of found sound. Maybe a bit more focussed than the b-side of Takemura, but lesser organised than his own a-side. Still a nice record of minimalist works. The artwork is from Liam Gillick and is an off-set print. (FdW)
Address: http://www.bottrop-boy.com
correction:
In the Ohne review of last week I mixed up Dave Philips and Tom Smith. The latter is the singer for Ohne and member of To Live And Shave In LA. Incidently the Belarus is of course a different country than Russia…