Z’EV – LIVE 5.14.93 (3″CD by Crippled Intellect Productions)
APERUS – TUMBLEWEED OBFUSCATED BY CAMERA FAILURE (CDR by MPath Records)
CHEAPMACHINES – SUBFUSC (CDR by Kabukikore)
OVO LACTO – THE RUBBERPLANT SOUNDTRACK (CDR by Authorized Version)
KOMPRIMATUM (2XCDR by Avult)
NO COMMERCIAL VALUE (CDR by Authorized Version)
KAN DAISUKE – EP (self-released CDR)
SO – SO (CD by Thrill Jockey)
HDJ TOM – TASTE (CD by Inflatabl Labl)
PIN PIN SUGAR – LATEX DUELLOS (CD by Bar La Muerte / Megaplomb)
RONIN – RONIN EP (CD by Bar La Muerte)
CREMASTER – 32,41 N/M2 (CDR by Absurd)
UTON – TAIVAAN JOKA KOLOSSA (CDR by Musically Incorrect Records)
VERDE – LIVE (2XCDR by Musically Incorrect Records)
CLAY FIGURE – GO FIGURE (CDR by Musically Incorrect Records)
SKULLPTURE – SKULLPTURE (CDR by Musically Incorrect Records)
POP – WORK HARD PLAY HARDER (CDR by Absurd)
SPIDER COMPASS GOOD CRIME BAND – THE CARRION LUGGAGE ORGAN (7″ by Crippled Intellect Productions)
IVERSEN – THE BOOK (BIBLEBABBLE) (CDR by Tibprod)
IVERSEN – GHEYE (CDR by Tibprod)
RECONSTRUCT 1 – IVERSEN REMIXED (CDR by Tibprod)
RICHARD CHARTIER – ARCHIVAL 1991 (CD by Crouton)
VERT – SMALL PIECES LOOSELY JOINED (CD by Sonig)
VIC RAWLINGS & MIKE BULLOCK – FALL OF SCIENCE (CD by Chloe Records)
LIONEL MARCHETTI – DANS LA MONTAGNE (KI KEN TAI) (3″ CD by Chloe Records)
DRAWING ROOM – MUSIC FOR PERFORMANCE (CDR by Krkrkrk Recordings)
LABOR SONOR/KULE/BERLIN (2CD by Charhizma)
Z’EV – LIVE 5.14.93 (3″CD by Crippled Intellect Productions)
For more then twenty five years now Z’ev is on the fringe of industrial music and percussion. In recent years there have been more releases than say a decade ago, which shows some new directions for him. It’s quite a surprise though to receive this 3″CD with live recordings from a concert in 1993 (I then always wonder: why this and why now?) in New York, apperentely his first New York performance in ten years. The performance is called “The Accident” and the first piece is a metallic but hypnotic sounding piece. There seems to be slight electronic modification on the playing, but I bet it’s nothing like that. The second piece here has a different built-up. It starts with a stacatto playing which over the course of the next eleven minutes grows into a dense playing of metallic sheets. With his two hands he layers and layers overtones until it reaches its logical conclusion. Great recording – and that answers my question: why this? It’s a great recording. (FdW)
Address: http://www.crippledintellectproductions.net
APERUS – TUMBLEWEED OBFUSCATED BY CAMERA FAILURE (CDR by MPath Records)
This is Brian McWilliams of Remanence’s side project. Remanence’s CD Lamkhyer was reviewed in Vital Weekly 358. Here in solo mode he goes all the way into ambient land. Brain cites Eno, Budd, Vidna, Roach to his influences, but also somebody like Lustmord. His synth heavy music goes from dark to light and back – as these influences show. Brian plays loads of synths, piano, bass but also rocks and metal plates. Quite a musical and cosmic affair this release. A clever combination of field recordings (pouring rain in ‘Leaves, Waves’), light percussion and deep synth lines. This is the kind of ambient music that follows the lines set out by somebody like Steve Roach and in that sense this might not be an original album. I am never sure if what possible way this kind of music should or could progress, but maybe that is not necessary and is this music a fairly fixed set of musical idiom which needs no change. So if you are looking for something new, this is not the place. If you are looking for a good, sturdy set of ambient music, this is the right place. (FdW)
Address: http://www.mPathRecords.com
CHEAPMACHINES – SUBFUSC (CDR by Kabukikore)
Just in case you didn’t know, Cheapmachines have been around for quite some time now. Their many releases usually find their way into the market via CDRs (and in some cases even cassettes). But who or what Cheapmachines are, is not really clear. On their new release ‘Subfusc’ all the tracks are constructed entirely from manipulated field recordings, so we read on their webiste. The source tapes were recorded from 1994 to 2002. I have no idea what Cheapmachines are and this time I’m referring to their instruments. I don’t think a laptop or computer counts as a cheap machine, but it seems to me that this is what they are using to manipulate these sounds. These eight tracks are some fine examples of extreme (ment not in a noisy way but in terms of radical altering) manipulations of the material, so that the original source material is not to be recognized. In some ways this kind of music is related to somebody like Roel Meelkop or Justin Bennett, but maybe it’s less rigid and more naive and maybe even more funny? Quite nice stuff going on here. (FdW)
Address: http://www.kabukikore.net/
OVO LACTO – THE RUBBERPLANT SOUNDTRACK (CDR by Authorized Version)
Behind Ovo Lacto is one Richard Atkins from Wales who produces ‘disturbing electronic soundscapes’ – soundscapes for sure, but disturbing? Not really. Maybe it has something to do with the relative softness that I play music with, but the nine tracks captured on this disc are far from disturbing, although there is a certain unsettling atmosphere hoovering about in most of these tracks. Odd metallic percussion, a synth that produces bubbles but by and large this is quite pleasent music to hear. Ambient music maybe, but unlike Aperus (see elsewhere) this is played on much more low tech equipment and with a much more naive touch. A primitive Oval meets the infant Brian Eno. (FdW)
Address: http://www.a-version.co.uk
KOMPRIMATUM (2XCDR by Avult)
A most curious package made out of cork, holding two business card CDRs, so in total six minutes of music, by five hungarian and one romanian musician. Each has a track of minute. The music was part of an exhibition of microscopic paintings by RR Habarc (who is an excellent producer of music aswell, but not part of this. On the first CDR the three bands seem to deal with likewise microscopic music, centered around beats, of which the last one, Nicron, is much louder than the other two (XRC and Raphael Lostak). Minimalist technoids at work. More ambient textures are to be found on the second disc. The three pieces here (by Prell, Kopott and Kovacs Zsolt) sound alright, but are too short to leave a big impression. Music like this needs time to develop, me thinks. A very curious item indeed. Quite nice, overall. (FdW)
Address: <r.r.habarc@axelero.hu>
NO COMMERCIAL VALUE (CDR by Authorized Version)
The title might be programatic for many of the releases reviewed in Vital Weekly, but of course counts for MP3s. All of the fourteen tracks on this compilation were originally made MP3 release only, maybe for the Authorized Version (the cover is not clear about this). Many of the names on this compilation are unknown to me, just Cheapmachines, Jason Campbell,, Chaos As Shelter and 8rolek sound familiar. The music found here is all over the place: from downright noise of Groyxo, microsound field recordings of Maciek Szymczuk, ambient industrial by Chaos As Shelter and the punk of Nxfxtxex. Maybe for some people a too varied bunch of musics, but regard it as a very alternative radio station and you’ll be happy for the next hour or so. (FdW)
Address: http://www.a-version.co.uk
KAN DAISUKE – EP (self-released CDR)
Kan is from Japan, he’s a friend of Aoki Takamasa and he has just released an EP with 5 tracks (that are also downloadable from Kan’s site as mp3s) and 20 minutes of music, trying to get more attention. And that’s great, because the music is good and worth hearing. It’s not electronic or experimental music at all, but it’s done in a rather post-rock way with a distinctive japanese touch. Four of the tracks are a solo work of Kan Daisuke and the last fifth track is a collaboration with Ogurusu Norihide. All of the tracks are quite short, very much laid-back, airy (like Aerial M) and done mostly with acoustic/electronic guitars and drums. It sounds like Kan is inventing the post-rock sound now from the begining, without knowing about it at all. Very sincere and personal. (BR)
Address: http://homepage.mac.com/gumcum
SO – SO (CD by Thrill Jockey)
So is a collaboration between Markus Popp (well known from Oval and Microstoria) and Eriko Toyoda. They are both responsible for the sound and Eriko also sings, but her voice in So’s music is used as a part of the sound (like in Dorine Muraille’s music). Also, her singing and voice are not used in all 10 untitled tracks from this album, but even when they are, the music sounds instrumental, because Eriko’s voice, when it’s present (natural or processed and manipulated), it’s completely merged with the other sounds. The whole sound of this first self-titled album by So, while being openly experimental, it’s based on improvisation and melody. Of course that’s not pure melody with fixed rhythm, but it’s like the artists’ intention is to catch those beautiful pseudo-melodic moments while improvising, play with them for a while and let them go. It’s simple and meaningful. Sometimes there are general similarities with Oval, when the sound is repetitive, or with Microstoria’s microscopic approach. And the differences are that So is more melodic than Oval and with a stronger emotional impact. Excellent first album for this duo who will be touring with Oval in the fall of 2003. (BR)
Address: http://www.thrilljockey.com
HDJ TOM – TASTE (CD by Inflatabl Labl)
Strange name for an artist: Hdj Tom. That’s one guy Tamas Szoke who is also a part of the Hungarian pop duo Golden Army of which I’ve never heard before. Taste is Hdj Tom’s full-length album from november 2003 released as a 3rd release on the nice and little label Inflatabl Labl run by Matt Haines aka The Rip Off Artist. As they like to put it themselves, the mission of the label is to release stuff that sounds cool, with the emphasis on twisted rhythms and an avoidance of boring evolving dance-music cliches. The music of all 15 tracks from Taste is definitely avoiding being boring dance-music, but it is surely danceable, with the emphasis on listening. It’s clicky, crispy and crunchy in a very listenable way. It’s also rhythm-based but not fixed at all, it has little noises that are very much calm, even exotic sometimes but never disturbing. It’s varied and intriguing enough to keep the listener interested. And it’s tasty, like when we eat some tasty crispy food like biscuits, cookies or chips. Although the rhythms are varied, there is a cohesive atmosphere through all 55 minutes of this album, and also besides the rhythmic variations, the atmosphere is very much smooth and settled, oposite to the highly energetic and powerful new Books On Tape album Sings The Blues. Taste is very successful album with lots of fresh and inventive music. (BR)
Address: http://www.inflatabl.com/ or hdjtom@freemail.hu
PIN PIN SUGAR – LATEX DUELLOS (CD by Bar La Muerte / Megaplomb)
RONIN – RONIN EP (CD by Bar La Muerte)
Pin Pin Sugar is a trio of 3 Italians (Franz Scardamaglia – drums; Chet Martino – bass; Nicola Ratti – guitar) and Latex Duellos is released by 2 italian labels: Bar La Muerte and Megaplomb. There are 9 track-titles written on the cover of this release but there are 36 tracks on the CD (with total play-time of exactlly 36 minutes) and that’s because all of the main tracks (except one called Bei) consist of few shorter pieces of music. It should be mentioned though that there isn’t any obvious difference in the music divided in so many tracks, it actually sounds like one longer 36-min track. The main base of the music are 3 instruments: guitar, bass and drums. Musically it sounds like rock music that’s trying to evolve. It’s not rough hardcore, although the people from Bar La Muerte label are with a hardcore punk background. It’s also not jazz, but Pin Pin Sugar are trying to fuse some jazz (or jazzcore?) elements with their mostly progressive rock oriented music. There are similarities with the music of the obscure japanese band Ruins. There is a constant mixture of (more) weaker and (less) stronger moments in both of their music. It often sounds like the ideas are not developed properly and like it might sound better.
The second release is a nice EP with 5 tracks and 14 minutes of music. All tracks are written and composed by Bruno Dorella, the owner of Bar La Muerte and also a member of few other bands like OvO (with a harsh and rough guitar hardcore sound, completely oposite of Ronin), Lava and Allun. Three tracks of this EP are played by all 5 members of Ronin who play guitars, bass, accordion, sax and drums (all instruments are equaly important when they are used) and 2 of the tracks (Nada and the short last one called Outro) are a solo work of Bruno on guitar. Two most important tracks (or songs!) here must be Ronin Theme and Nada. The atmosphere is idyllic melancholy, like in one track by Tortoise called I Set My Face To The Hillside, the great forth track from their classic album TNT. Nice and intriguing EP from Ronin. (BR)
Address: http://www.barlamuerte.com or http://www.pinpinsugar.it or Address: http://www.megaplomb.com
CREMASTER – 32,41 N/M2 (CDR by Absurd)
The work of two Spanish friends, Alfredo Costa Monteiro and Ferran Fages, also known as Cremaster was reviewed in Vital Weekly before (325, 363). For some reason they have something with Greece (their last CD ‘Infra’ was also on a Greek label) and this new album is also from Greece. The two men use objects on electric guitar and a feedback mixing board to create, at least on this new CDR, a pretty heavy type of improvised noise music. Even in the more subtle moments, they still have a certain aggressiveness buried in their sound. Things peep and scratch from all sides and on all levels, sometimes obnoxious loud, sometimes soft but the sounds are always twisted and on a great energy level. The cover reflects the uneasyness of the music: it’s made out of sandpaper. (FdW)
Address: <absurd@otenet.gr>
UTON – TAIVAAN JOKA KOLOSSA (CDR by Musically Incorrect Records)
VERDE – LIVE (2XCDR by Musically Incorrect Records)
CLAY FIGURE – GO FIGURE (CDR by Musically Incorrect Records)
SKULLPTURE – SKULLPTURE (CDR by Musically Incorrect Records)
The Finnish underground strikes again, this time through brother Musically Incorrect Records. Their releases recall the fresh spirit of punk design, but with better music. Uton for instance has xeroxes stuck on black cardboard. Originally this release came out in 2001 on Clay Records, the predecessor of M.I.R. in a limited edition but due to the never stopping demand this now re-issued in an unlimited edition. I have no idea who or what Uton are, but their CDR is actually quite nice. Lo-fi improvised music maybe a long the lines of releases on Corpus Hermeticum, with a big role for guitar and violin. The scrape and torture their strings. Towards the end the tracks get shorter and shorter which doesn’t do the coherence of the release right. The best bits are in the beginning.
Behind Verde is one Mika Rintala, who has released nine CDRs on his own label. This double CDR sums up his live work from 2000 to 2003. Quite a long drive these overlong CDs of guitar improvisations. Occassionally he is helped by other musicians, but in general he is there on his own, with his guitar, effects and a rhythmmachine. Not every moment is powerful here, but what else could you expect I guess. In a live situation things go wrong every now and then. But maybe upon compiling these recordings it would have been a nice idea to be a bit more selective…
Clay Figure is the solo band name from Pekka, the head honcho of M.I.R. This is fourth release and apperentely the first one which isn’t based around any sort of theme, but the music is quite coherent. Lo-fi and improvised are keywords here too, using anything from synths to drum(machines) and guitar. Crossing sectors are noise, industrial ambient and improvised textures played on guitar. The stronger moments prevail here and it sounds to me like the strongest musical statement by Clay Figure yet.
Not on M.I.R. but on Hammasratas is a CDR by Skullpture. That sounds pretty punk rocky, but it’s not. It’s MIR man Pekka and two of his friends doing an improvisation on drums and all sorts of noise making tools, plus drones provided by guitar playing and effect boxes. Short, sketch like improvisations with an emphasizes on metallic percussion. Quite raw and untamed, this one. (FdW)
Address: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/musically_incorrect
POP – WORK HARD PLAY HARDER (CDR by Absurd)
You like pop? As in popmusic? or as in pop goes the harddisc? Pop is the ongoing collaboration between Zbigniew Karkowski and Peter Rehberg, two big shots in twisting their harddisk with some of the craziest sounds. And both like noise. They have a LP on Tochnit Aleph, which wasn’t reviewed in these pages, but here is a live recording from the Electrograph festival in Athens last year. One rock solid block of noise music. Once it takes off like a jetplane it will never hold back and flies with the speed of light. A short but powerful noise blast. This release comes with a Zbgniew and a Pita version (read: remix) of the concert. The Zbigniew version is a likewise loud beast in which there is no room for anything else, no air, no breath just fierce noise. After which comes the Pita remix as a total relief. Putting the recording through some plug ins, he downsizes the material and puts an emphasizes on the high end, but relatively soft side of things. Pop isn’t a loud thing per se. That’s good to know. (FdW)
Address: <absurd@otenet.gr>
SPIDER COMPASS GOOD CRIME BAND – THE CARRION LUGGAGE ORGAN (7″ by Crippled Intellect Productions)
Quite a mouthful this name, band that is sometimes a duo and sometimes a trio, who play organ. They play this in a rather free manner, feeding the signals through some synth who seem to be set at a space/sci-fi setting (pattern number fifteen: laser gun sounds). They play their instruments like they were really drunk (or otherwise drugged), with dashes of lounge music, Bach, industrial music and permutated easy listening. Crazy stuff if you, as DJ, want to play something else for a chance. Will certainly appeal to those who love Caroliner or Sun City Girls or anything crazy on Meeuw. (FdW)
Address: http://www.crippledintellectproductions.net
IVERSEN – THE BOOK (BIBLEBABBLE) (CDR by Tibprod)
IVERSEN – GHEYE (CDR by Tibprod)
RECONSTRUCT 1 – IVERSEN REMIXED (CDR by Tibprod)
The rapidely increasing activities of Tib Prod include putting music online, but also releasing CDRs. In this case, three new releases by labelboss Jan Iversen, showing his various talents in producing diverse music. The first one is called ‘The Book (Biblebabble)’ and it’s mostly an ambient piece about the bible and it includes a complete reading of the bible. These arrive upon a multi-layered piece of people talking to which Iversen has added stretched organ sounds and percussive sounds fed through delay machines. Apperentely Iversen is not religious or un-religious, but it seemed for him an appropiate thing to do. A strange and hallucinating release here. Mimimal and conceptually interesting. One very long piece, followed by three shorter and similar pieces, but without text.
‘Gheye’, which is ‘red’ in Amharic (one of the languages of Ethiopia) is a collection of songs that were/are available through download. Here Iversen continues his love for ambient related material but mainly through shorter songs (the thirty four minute epos ‘Psycholympics’ not counting as a short one of course). Synthesized sounds play an important role, every time making the backbone of a track. On top Iversen adds various layers of rhythmical sounds, sometimes buried inside the drones and sometimes they appear more upfront. In general Iversen’s music is dark of nature, but carrying an intense atmosphere. For those who are too lazy to download (and yes, I’m one of them)
In Vital Weekly 379 I reviewed a CDR by Iversen in collaboration with Dangereux. Now it becomes a bit more clear: Iversen put some sounds on his website for other people freely to remix and Dangereux made a some remixes, which were in return remixed by Iversen. But Jan Iversen received also other remixes and this has led to ‘Reconstruct 1’, a compilation of remixes by various artists, many of which are connected to the Tib Prod label or known from various MP3 sites around the world. In this world they take the Iversen sounds and in general they make them more rhythmical. Working with loops of sound is apperentely popular when it comes to doing a remix, with of course some exceptions, like the track by Cadmium Dunkel (who have a set of sounds on Tib Prod for a new remix project). Other acts included are Staplerfahrer, Every Kid On Speed, Swamps Up Nostrils, Andre Borgen, Chefkirk, Jake Eliot, Sound_OO, Rupert Hype and of course Guignol Dangereux. Quite a nice but maybe too lenghty collection. (FdW)
Address: http://www.tibprod.com
RICHARD CHARTIER – ARCHIVAL 1991 (CD by Crouton)
Milwaukee’s Crouton imprint ought to be quite proud of themselves – what a coups! On ‘Archival 1991’ tracks locked away from the title year have been revisited as Chartier has taken two original tracks and used them as source material combined to form a new work that runs at almost 47 minutes. The piece is like traveling through a long tunnel, metallic and hollow, humming movement that has an oblong shape and plays with certain gravity. In ways this could be early works of Christian Renou if it weren’t for the label. But what may distinguish this effort from others is its take on his own earlier work, building from original ideas that have a distinctly different resonance – and making the cycle of time resolve itself. Often artists will plant a seed and leave it to grow on its own path, rather than nurture it – and move on to other ideas – but when reviewing old notes, sketches, incomplete works and the like you may dig up a cache like this one. Free from the linear evolution of consistence, works from the vault can often engage new ideas that delve in old passions. This piece is dark ambience in the path trod on by luminaries like Thomas Koner, Biosphere and Nigel Ayers
with multiple washes of edgy radiance. Its great to have something like this emerge from an artist whose work is often extremely formal and clean. ‘Archival 1991’ is not exactly pulling a 360, but Chartier has proven that he has ‘been there and done that’ – and with an inferred
fetish for the dark side. An evocative work of art. (TJN)
Address: http://www.croutonmusic.com
VERT – SMALL PIECES LOOSELY JOINED (CD by Sonig)
Adam Butler (Vert) has created a thematic circus jazz album that is as quirky as it is clever. When Vert toured the US a few years back I thought about how he might develop his sound – and he certainly has an aesthetic that is ripe in the era of Momus, Matmos and labelmates Mouse on Mars, ‘the 3Ms’. ‘Everything From Shells’ is like miniature techno that just bounces flagrantly and suddenly stalls with a crash only to meander itself back to a sense of consciousness. ‘Small Pieces Loosely Joined’ takes on a flavorful sense of the discreetly free-wheeling – always tonally colorful. It’s in the playful, paced nature of tracks like ‘Octatone Rag’ that harkens back to themes effortlessly tossed off for Charles Schultz’s Peanuts gang. But just when you think this is a standard drone in contemporary style, he changes the pitch, adds a bit of poppy beat and happy-go-lucky electronica into the mix. Primaly offbeat with hooks aplenty and far from slapstick, these diddies are central to the pavement Vert lays. ”Til Morning’ is a nearly 35-minute floating drone customized to sound like a cross between a Philip Glass score and an endless one-note from Laurie Anderson’s ‘Big Science’. (TJN)
Address: http://www.sonig.com/
VIC RAWLINGS & MIKE BULLOCK – FALL OF SCIENCE (CD by Chloe Records)
LIONEL MARCHETTI – DANS LA MONTAGNE (KI KEN TAI) (3″ CD by Chloe Records)
From the ever so active Boston are improvisation musicians a duet by Mike Bullock, who plays contra bass and a tone generator and Vic Rawling playing amplified cello and electronics. Together they recorded this album in an antique wooden gymnasium in the middle of the winter. It’s quite a curious meeting between the analog instruments and the electronics used to process the sound with. Standing waves of the tone generator, along with crackling of the electronics guide the sometimes gentle, sometimes fierce playing of the cello and the contrabass. They come via thirteen short tracks, each which it’s own character. These two seperate elements mix very nicely and towards the end of the CD, it seems like a coherent thing. Am I hearing a cello, or a tone generator, is that a cracky pick up on the bass or the open circuit electronics of Vic? Of course the music is all highly improvised, so better not touched if that is not your sort of thing, but for fans of Grob and Erstwhile this is certainly a CD to have. A fine work of improvisation, a meeting of analogue and electronuca.
On the same label a new 3″ CD by French composer Lionel Marchetti. Although new… it’s actually recorded in 1996, but good music can always be released, of course. The source material on this twelve minute piece is by Kendo, the Japanese art of swordplay – although here rather bamboo rods, instead of swords. I can’t help it, but I think it’s a scary piece of music. Sounds fling around, screams chill and there is also the sound of what seems to be a pack of wolves (probably the processed sound of breathing). It’s almost like listening to the fireworks on new year’s eve, but it’s way more scary and alienated. This is not the soundtrack to a fightfilm like ‘The Matrix’, but rather the soundtrack to a slasher movie in which the Japanese man kills innocent people in a rather bloody way. As said, a very frightening piece, twelve minutes long. (FdW)
Address: http://www.chloechloe.cc
DRAWING ROOM – MUSIC FOR PERFORMANCE (CDR by Krkrkrk Recordings)
Following ‘The Garden’ (see Vital Weekly 344) which wasn’t very much to my liking, Drawing Room, aka David Kahn, returns to the world of ambient music. ‘Music For Performance’ has two lenghty tracks, made with such diverse sound sources as virbraphone, paper, plastic, toy glockenspiel, digital sample piano and ‘reverberation of electric heater grille stroked with kitchen knife’. These two pieces are studio versions of music that was performed live. In ‘Voices In A Room’ the chilly screams are fed through more effects, but slowly the piece evolves along the lines of more regular ambient music. A nice piece, but the second one, ‘Evolving Sequence No.2’ is the better one. Here the Eno-esque ambient tinkles nicely away, with piano notes along the lines of Harold Budd. Again regular sort of ambient music, but quite a nice listening experience. (FdW)
Address: http://go.to/krkrkrk
LABOR SONOR/KULE/BERLIN (2CD by Charhizma)
I have been to Berlin before, but I never heard of a place called Kule, but if I’m to believe this CD – and why shouln’t I? – this is a lively performance space there. This double CD presents the work of no less than twenty-one artists. The first CD contains just audio, and the second one contains just video. Kule is not a performance space for just musicians, also performers and visual artists can work there. In the films this is nicely seen in cut up ‘Labor Sonor Clip’: diverse shots of an improv guitarist, a drummer & laptop, but also a rock band and some performances. The nicest clip as with regard to documentation is the one by the ‘Sweatshop Orchester’, a large group of people knitting with sounds being amplified. On the music CD there is the same diversity: from microsounding experiments on regular instruments to singer songwriter stuff by Asi Focker and Margeret Kammerer. Of all the featured artists I recognized only one name (Alessandro Bosetti) and the rest were all new to me. Also featured are: Phospor, Andrea Ermke, Gregor Hotz, Robin Hayward, Merle Ehlers, Fernanda Farah, Istvan Scheibler and many more… A fresh and nice compilation. (FdW)
Address: http://www.charhizma.com/labor